Reading and Writing Workshop

The School Talk article named Reading and Writing Worshop was a great summary of Balanced Literacy. I especially found the part about the Wrtier's Worshop to be helpful. It explained in depth each component of the Writer's Workshop.

Reading and Writing Workshop: What Is It and What Does It Look Like?

Reading and writing workshop organizes reading and writing experiences in meaningful ways.
The majority of the time is used for reading and writing experiences and the reminder of the time is used for mini-lessons, recording the status of the class, for record keeping and assessment for the group share. The workshop is learner-centered and involves collaboration with teacher and peers. The author suggests that workshops take place 3-5 times per week for 45 minutes. The workshop should have predictable structure and routines. The students should be allowed to make decisions for their reading and writing. The teacher should have resepectful interaction with the students.
Reading Workshop should have these components:

• read-aloud
• shared reading
• mini-lessons or demonstrations
• guided reading
• independent reading
• literature study
• inquiry
• opportunites for response

Writing Workshop should have these components:

• write-aloud
• shared writing
• mini-lessons
• quided writing
• independent writing
• opportunites for response

I was confused after I read this article because it seems like alot of activities in one 45 minute period. Is it 45 minutes for each writing and reading or 45 minutes combined?

Watching and Listening to Children Read

Reading this article reminded me how important non-standardized assessment is to the optimal growth of a learner.

Watson says, “Standardized measurements for non-standardized kids fall short of helping teachers watch, enjoy, and describe…A score of 3.2 doesn’t begin to describe a child’s ability to use language.”

Through strategy mini lessons, guided reading groups, and individual reading and writing conferencing, a child is continuing to grow as they acquire new knowledge. As an educator, we need to be acutely aware to their zone of proximal development and strive to keep the student learning. By constantly conducting informal observations through kid watching or observational notes, the teacher has access to the most reliable recent data to continue the students learning.

Standardized test often do not paint a true picture of a learner. The test is hit or miss as the student may be sick, or had a bad experience on the bus ride to school. A high stakes standardized test should not be the sole indicator of a child’s learning.