PRussell

The authors continue to develop their case for a workshop approach to teaching reading.  There are specific examples of classroom sessions, booklists, and advice to avoid pitfalls associated with this model.  I was impressed by the lesson plans that gave a day-by-day outline to enable a gradual phasing of the workshop’s classroom procedures.  Short of actually observing a reading workshop in progress, this book does an excellent job of promoting it as way of teaching.  The authors also heavily emphasize literature appreciation and writing.  As I mentioned before, I would be interested in knowing from unbiased teachers about how it compares with text-based teaching, especially in the area of preparation.  I would like to know and be able to help secure resources for anyone who is going to try this. 

I am again struck by the fact that the authors seem to have had wide, professional latitude in deciding to use the Reader's Workshop approach(or not).  It seemed to spread from teacher to teacher as they experimented and saw that there were positive results.  They seemed to have time to revise and become comfortable with this approach.  I cannot discern that they were told, "Teachers, this year you will drop your old, bad ways of teaching reading.  You will now have a consultant tell you how to teach using a much better approach for all students.  Everyone in our school system will now be required to teach reading using Reader's Workshop."