1. Readers’ Workshop
Overview August 30, 2016

2. Why Readers’ Workshop? Research - volume
Built in differentiation - fluid movement among levels
Ability to track / monitor growth in effective way
Know your readers like never before
Constant formative assessment
Flexible grouping
Engagement / love of reading - student choice

3. Powerful Teaching:
Must know reading progressions - not just grade level standards
Must know your readers’ strengths and areas for growth - “diagnose your reader”

4. Prior to starting... Level your classroom library…
F & P - text complexity
Bookwizard (site, app)
Fountas & Pinnell website

5. Assessment

6. Readers’ levels tell us so much...
Type of inferential thinking they need to be doing.
Inferential thinking coming up in next level...
Fix-up strategies they should be using
Decoding they are encountering

7. Incredible insight into readers’ abilities...
Formative Assessment - Daily running records, discussion during active engagement, written responses from mini lesson, written responses from partner read and partner discussions, as well as monitor literal and inferential comprehension, decoding, and vocabulary growth
Benchmark/Summative Assessment - 3 times throughout year a formal reading assessment is done to monitor progress

8. Partnership Buckets Partners select a book
that they both read at their
level.
These buckets contain
3 copies of various realistic
fiction titles.
Blue tape to distinguish
from class books (each
genre has a different color).

9. Student Book Bins Partnership book Books for independent read
Reading notebook
Post-its
Pencils

10. Read Aloud and / or Shared Reading
Purposeful - springboard for mini lesson
May be interactive
Match genre being taught / read by students
Mini lesson connect for all readers - universal access
All students can do high level comprehension work
Thoughtful selection - use across subject areas

11. Reading Workshop - 1 Hour
Mini lesson - 10 to 15 minutes at most:
Connect, Teach, Active Engagement, Link
Read aloud is “glue” for all readers (read aloud done outside RW)
May include:
Launching / “selling” reading
Comprehension lessons
Vocabulary
Growing conversations
Select partner read / determine partner assignment / partner preview, etc.
Silent reading or combo of silent / partner reading - goal is to build stamina to minutes of silent, independent reading
Teacher is conferring and flexible grouping during silent reading
Partner talk / home assignment / reading logs

12. Conferring Most crucial component of readers’ workshop
Chart - assign readers to see each day
Confer with less able students several times each week - meet with most able teacher
Post-it on bin with reading strategy if recurring issue
Flexible grouping or one-on-one reading work

13. Conferring
Confer notes - Reading Glue anecdotal notes - special area teachers / volunteers, great for SSTs and referrals
Note taking: Positive and Teaching Point
Move students (fluid levels) - independent may be different than partner level
May need / want to redo partnerships if levels become too disparate

14. Readers’ Notebook / Post-it Notes
Readers write about their reading - goal setting
Writing tied to mini lesson or comprehension strategy focus
Stop and jot: questions, confusion, clarification, vocabulary, etc.
Written reading responses / vocabulary work, etc.
2 and 3 column notes, Thinking Maps

15. Partner Talk
Teach how to have a conversation - groups of two and then four
Discuss books
Determine reading assignment - push each other
Respectfully disagree
Paraphrase / synthesize, etc.

16. Make it a powerful message for all readers.
Precious Reading Time
Make it a powerful message for all readers.