CNewman

Chapter 7 goes into detail about the reading part of the Reading Workshop (independent reading, conferring, responding and sharing).  Some of the things teachers should do are demonstrate thier own love of reading, have an orderly environment which has rules of voice levels and material use, and help children choose the correct book.  Activities during workshop time are story chats (to get them to think about what they are reading), guided reading groups (to help understanding of text) and flexible grouping (to work on specific skills certain students need help with).  This chapter goes into great detail about conferencing with students:when to conference, what a teacher's role is, different types of conferences and what questions to ask, interventions for certain behaviors and forms for documentation of conferences.

Chapter 8 helps teachers with assessment and reconciling the report card grades with workshop grades.Cheklists and rubrics are provided and running records are recommended.  If you have clear checklist and ideas about how you are going to assess using workshops there will be less questions/problems when grades are assigned.

There are a few ideas in this book that I can use in connection with the workshop system I already have in place.  I like the list of books used for mini-lessons.  The books were well matched with the skills that need to be taught.