From
the "How to Teach Literacy" Mailbag Allison Demas
The
following exchange offers advice on guided reading and reader's
workshop.
When
I do a mini lesson on a strategy, then break into independent
work, do the independent readers do an exercise or activity
based on the mini lesson? Does the guided reading group
focus on the lesson just taught, or a completely different
strategy?
Thanks,
NC
Dear
NC,
After
your mini-lesson, before you send the students off to work
independently, you should remind them of their focus. Ideally,
they should be looking to use the strategy you have just
taught them. In reality I don’t believe every child
is able to do this or chooses to do this (Please remember
- I teach kindergarten). However, as long as they are attending
to reading and not getting into trouble I don’t mind.
If I have done a decoding lesson on chunking then I would
remind the students of this skill and tell them that I would
like them to try this themselves in their own books. I would
also remind them of other strategies they can use when they
get stuck (reread, find small words in big words, sounding
out, etc.). When we come back to the share session I have
the children share what they have done independently - especially
those who have managed to use the decoding strategy successfully.
Your
guided reading groups should not be static. They should
be constantly changing as the children’s abilities
are changing. The guided reading lesson is group specific.
For example, if the children in a group are not following
through words to the end, then that should be the focus
of your guided reading lesson for that group.
For
more on guided reading and guided reading groups, make sure
to read the articles by
former web mentor Miriam Bissu. You can also read my
article, Conducting a Guided Reading
Lesson.
Good
luck,
Allison
Dear
Allison,
Let
me see if I understand you correctly. I have a fourth grade
class. When they are doing independent work in the readers’
workshop, they shouldn’t be allowed to go into the
literacy center and do some language arts exercises such
as reading a story and writing another ending; or go to
a social studies center and locate countries on a map? Do
they strictly have to sit and read a book?
Thanks
for all your help.
NC
Dear
NC,
Readers'
Workshop is for just that - reading. I don't send my students
to literacy centers at this point of the year. I do send
them in the beginning and then I start weaning them off
the centers at the end of January. Many students just play
when they are at centers.
I
stress to my students that reading time is for reading.
Some of them are reading independently. Some are buddy reading.
Some are responding to books. Some are having discussions
about books they have read together. I do let them write
about the books they’ve read in their reading logs,
or about connections they have made between books or their
lives. Sometimes they make story maps of the books they
are reading, others make "before and after" charts.
They share these with us as a class during the last part
of the workshop.
I
do caution you against having the students write about their
favorite part; they tend to get stuck in the rut of "I
like the part when … "
Expository
writing (story writing) is done during the Writers' Workshop.
At times the activities in both overlap but you have to
be careful not to blur the boundaries.
If
you feel that they need more information in content areas
(i.e., social studies) you can have a basket of books on
this topic. I have a basket of autobiographies. I use an
enlarged copy of one of these to do a shared reading lesson
on the characteristics of non-fiction books and present
the class with a basket of smaller versions of similar books.
If they read these books during the Readers' Workshop they
are getting historical information as they hone their reading
skills.
Allison
|