Refining Your Reading Workshop Session 4

Agenda Mini-Lessons Sharing Journals

“People who do not trust children to learn, or teachers to teach, will always expect a method (or program) to do the job.” Frank Smith

Whole Group Instruction Mini-Lessons

Mini-Lesson Refresher 5 – 15 minutes Mini-lessons - introduce a comprehension strategy, skill, or concept - think aloud - apply strategies to text - students share/participate - based on student NEED & curriculum Book Talks (optional)

5 Types of Mini- Lessons ** Skills and Strategies that ALL students at your grade level should know or learn. Procedures and Organization Strategic Reading Behaviors Comprehension Strategies Literary Elements and Techniques Vocabulary **Kids who struggle with these skills then get more supported practice during small group instruction so they can practice these skills with text at their reading level. “training wheels” Look through the handouts of ML from FP. Look over the ML checklist on the wiki.

Video Clip TDC – Mini-Lesson (Angel for Solomon Singer) What did you notice about the level of thinking from the students?

Think Aloud as a model Make your thinking “visible” to kids. Demonstrate the thoughts that might come to your mind while reading. How would this help you? See Think aloud notes in handout p. 33 - 34

Give One – Get One Share ideas of great mentor text ideas for the comprehension strategies. Give one idea and get one idea from as many people as you can. 1 hour 20 min.

Website links… http://reading.ecb.org/teacher/strategies.html http://www.mauryk12.org/Literacy/reading%20mentor%20texts.htm http://www.thelearningpad.net/readers_mini_lessons.html

Sharing Optimal time for informal assessment.

Sharing Make share time purposeful Not all students will get to share every day Share time is a form of assessment Sharing options Whole class Turn and talk In small group

Video Teaching for Deep Comprehension Clip on Authors Study Share time

Sharing Discussion Share ideas about how you structure share time in your workshop. What ways could you take informal assessment information during the share time?

Independent Reading and Journals “Our understanding is enhanced when we communicate with others about our thinking. It is a way for readers to construct knowledge, generate new ideas, clarify their own thinking…” -Fountas and Pinnell Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency p. 438

Learning to write about reading “Writing makes thinking visible and more tangible, thus promoting conscious awareness and deeper comprehension.” - Dorn

Important Points Carnegie Report 2010 The evidence is clear: writing can be a vehicle for improving reading. In particular, having students write about a text they are reading enhances how well they comprehend it. The same result occurs when students write about a text from different content areas, such as science and social studies. Important Points Carnegie Report 2010

Differentiation through Independent Reading and Journals What should they be reading? How often do they read? What if they aren’t choosing the right books? What do they write about? How often do they write?

Purpose of the journal Writing about reading improves comprehension. Moving beyond just “retelling” what is happening. Use writing to develop ideas about the story or the characters. Connect the story to their own lives and make predictions.

Gradual Release – From Demonstration to Informed Choice Teaching these forms using interactive read aloud as a common text experience. Writing for students – writing with students – supporting students with writing – writing independently p. 26 – modeling and demonstrations

Good beginnings.. Teach students to “hold their thinking” Informal notes, phrases on sticky notes or notebooks Younger students take less formal approaches

What to expect…… Primary (K-2) – Begin with shared and interactive writing. Group compositions to independent drawings and letters or words. Intermediate (3-5) – Some shared writing with overheads and charts. Graphic organizers begin to support. Increasing sophistication of independent writing.

Responding options Look at some samples Mark ideas that are interesting and discuss with a friend.

Journal Discussion Strategy entries ideas Deeper comprehension entries P. 37 – 38 (primary) P. 45 – 56 (2+) Deeper comprehension entries P. 36, 44 (primary) P. 39 – 43 (2nd – 3rd) 57 - 58 How often do they respond in their journal? Strategy entry ideas – p. 37 – 38, 45 – 56 Deeper comprehension ideas – p. 36, 39 – 40,

Reflect and discuss…. Look through p. 36 – 58 Write a --- ! -- ? – VIP. Share with neighbor.

Sections in the notebooks - ideas Reading Log – lists of books My Thinking – student responses Genres and Strategies – mini-lesson topics Powerful Language – word study Goal Setting “Less is Best!”

Journal Discussion Strategy entries Deeper comprehension entries How often do they respond in their journal?

J0urnals Get into grade level teams. Share ideas for structuring your students’ reading response journals. Keep in mind…less is more in terms of sections. p. 52 - 53 are ideas for journal stems….. 3 hours 45 minutes.

Website http://www.wblrd.sk.ca/~bestpractice/response/index.html http://www.middleweb.com/MWLresources/dbova1.html http://www.justreadnow.com/strategies/response.htm