EDU 307 - Reader's Workshop

Reader's Workshop is known as a more effective way to teach reading. After reading the article, "Organizing for Effective Instruction: The Reading Workshop," written by Reutzel and Cooter, I plan to have five components of RW in my classroom. First, there will be sharing time. This will last between five and ten minutes. During this time, myself as the teacher, will share new things about literature with the class. If I have nothing to share on a particular day, I will use this time to introduce the mini-lesson. The mini-lesson comes next. The mini-lesson will last for about ten to fifteen minutes. This is where  I will lead a discussion pertaining to the skill I want my students to focus and improve on. I can also use this time for pre-reading activities. Following the mini-lesson will be state-of-the-class. This will last for around three to five minutes. We will have a state-of-the-class chart in our classroom. This will help to keep track of the students' progress. So during this time I will quickly review the progress made as well as telling my students their responsibilities during the workshop period. The workshop period is known as self-selected reading and response time. This will last for forty minutes. During this time, the students will do self selected reading, literature response, and individual reading conferences. For the conferences, I plan to meet with students individually and privately. During these conferences I will discuss with the children their progress and I will give them a goal to work on during this period. Reader's workshop will begin and end with sharing. After the workshop time, it will be time for student sharing. This will only last for around five to ten minutes. Students will have the opportunity to share books, poetry, projects, etc withe the class. I will make sure that this sharing time doesn't go over ten minutes.


I see mini-lessons as a crucial part of reader's workshop. I think that mini-lessons are perfect for getting something important across to my students, while keeping their attention because it is such a short lesson. My mini-lessons can focus on skill and strategies, different genres, and sustainable habits and behaviors. Mini-lessons will last for about ten to fifteen minutes. Each mini-lesson will end with some type of model that students will use in their own learning. I will use mini-lessons after the short teacher's sharing time. The role of the mini-lessons is to give students something to work on during workshop time. For example, for my mini-lesson I can talk about predicting. During the workshop time, the students can practice predicting on their own and in groups. I really believe that mini-lessons are important and should be incorporated in reader's workshop.