TDoss

I am reading "Revisiting the Reading Workshop: Management, Mini-Lessons and Strategies" by Barbara Orehovec and Marybeth Alley. In the first chapter, the book does a good job at outlining exactly what Reading Workshop is. It has four main components -- the mini-lesson and read aloud, independent reading and conferencing, response and reflection, and sharing. It also shares research which supports Reading Workshop and how Reading Workshop compares to traiditional classrooms.

Chapter 2 gives a complete overview on how to manage Reading Workshop in your classroom, from setting your expectations, setting up a schedule to meet your needs, and designing your classroom to accommodate for Reading Workshop. It gives detail instructions on how you can set up your classroom library and how to deal with parents. There are also several examples of forms that can be used in the Reading Workshop process.

Chapter 3 talks about the importance of planning your mini-lessons in Reading Workshop. The mini-lesson is the most important component of Reading Workshop because it provides the focus for the day. Planning needs to be done in both a long-term and short-term method. It talks about the teacher's role in the mini-lesson and the students role. It also gives some helpful hints on how to transition smoothly into independent reading.