Hello friends!
Thanks for sticking with me as I slowly re-enter the world of edu-blogging. I'll be currently aiming for one blog a week, just like back in the old days when I first began this process.
Right now, I'm taking blogging inspiration from the workshops I'm building and running here, there, and everywhere. Today, I'd like to share with you something from a recent workshop I ran with some colleagues called Get Smart With Art. (Who doesn't like a workshop with a rhyming name?)
We were focused on preschoolers (a nice leap for me from my days of teaching high school!). I've always loved the concept of Readers Theatre, but, in my recent exposure to lots and lots of preschool-aged kids (thanks to my toddler son), I've been wondering . . . can the concepts of Readers Theatre apply to pre-K? I've watched my own son at the tender age of 2 act out story after story, leading me to think -- what would Readers Theatre look like for non-readers, or (most) preschool students?
Well, I've researched, ran a few practice classes with kids, and thought and thought and thought about this. I've come up with lots of answers that I'll be sharing with you over the next few weeks.
Today's share is one strategy to incorporate Readers Theatre with preschoolers called Soundtrack. It's fun, and gets kids using the full range of their voices (something most little ones looooove to do). Here's how it works:
Read a story to a group of children, pausing at each picture (or you could just choose to pause at only the "exciting" pictures if the text is rather long). Stop and look at the picture with the students. Ask about what sounds we might hear based on this picture. Students will most likely provide you with the "surface level" sounds they see -- "moo-ing" from a cow in the picture, "vroom vroom" from a car, etc. Encourage them to also dig deeper: "I see a windmill way over here in the background . . . what sound do you think that makes?" or "Hmmmm . . . what does the mother's face tell us in this picture? How does she feel? What kind of sound might go with that?"
Once you've made your way through the entire story in this manner, it's time to read it again from the beginning, this time asking for students to collectively provide the "soundtrack" each time you pause at a picture.
This is an energizing way for students to interact with text, follow along with plot details, go beyond the surface level, build early literacy skills, and develop empathy for characters.
I'm hoping you enjoy my upcoming posts about this whole Readers Theatre for Non-Readers concept as I'm pretty jazzed about it! But, don't fret, my secondary education readers . . . I've got stuff coming your way, too (just a quick preview: I'll be delving into lots of differentiated instruction and classroom management techniques for grades 6-12 in the next couple of months).
Glad to be back to blogging! And Happy Spring (even if the weather doesn't quite feel like it yet)!
Tuesday, March 28, 2017
Wednesday, January 11, 2017
The Workshop Model: Not Just for Elementary Classrooms
I'm back, blogging world! It's been awhile!
Here's what I've been up to . . .
When I last posted in this blog, I was SUPER pregnant. In fact, my last post was two days before I went into labor! Since then, I made the big decision to stay home with my son, a decision that surprised me but that led to one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life.
That first year of infancy was a blur. But since my son turned one, life started to normalize a bit and I began taking education consulting gigs and running workshops here, there, and everywhere. I'm really enjoying being able to delve deeply into the content of my workshops, focusing on the needs of my participants and trying my best to meet them.
Which brings me to my blog topic today. I'm in the middle of preparing a follow-up workshop on differentiated instruction (loyal readers know this is a passion of mine, so yippee!) for middle and high school ELA teachers and it's reigniting my belief in the following concept: THE WORKSHOP MODEL IS NOT JUST FOR ELEMENTARY CLASSROOMS, Y'ALL.
As a former high school ELA teacher, I can tell you that whenever I read or heard about the workshop model, I sort of labeled it as elementary and moved on. I know I wasn't alone in this way of thinking, because once I became an instructional coach and really studied the concept (and also observed its SUPREME effectiveness at the elementary level), I tried to convince several secondary ELA teachers of its merits, only to be met with what was once my own pre-conception regarding the workshop model.
So, hear me out. In secondary ELA classes, students are often assigned all or most of their reading for homework. This helps out with logistics as most teachers are trying to "get through" a certain number of lengthy texts in a semester. BUT, the result is -- we don't really know what our students' reading skills are like. Sure, we can give a reading check quiz the next day, but those don't usually tell us much and we can't even really swear that the student didn't just skim Sparknotes right before our class. Here's the issue: we are not seeing our students do the work of reading right in front of us. Arguably, reading takes up a huge percentage of what the core work of an ELA class is, and yet, we aren't observing our students in the act.
Go into a secondary science or math classroom. You'll see kids DOING the core work of that content area right in the classroom.
We need to start re-defining what class time is for in secondary ELA. With a workshop model, we can! Start off with a mini-lesson during which you introduce a reading strategy (or writing strategy, if that day will focus on writing). Using a gradual release of responsibility, model it for your students (I Do). Practice it together (We Do); here you can already start to formatively assess who's "got it" and who needs more support. Then, use workshop time (this should be the bulk of the class period) for students to independently practice the strategy while reading a given text. It's helpful to require a note-taking device so that their use of a reading strategy is recorded in some way. While students engage in this core work of the ELA class, you can circulate, continuing to formatively assess, working with individual students or small groups as needed. Pull everyone back together at the end for reflection and closure and further assessment of that day's objective.
This pumps me up! Workshops are exciting and effective and give us tons of chances to guide by the side of our students. Let's create these opportunities in secondary ELA classrooms so we can SEE our students reading and writing live and in person!
Here's what I've been up to . . .
When I last posted in this blog, I was SUPER pregnant. In fact, my last post was two days before I went into labor! Since then, I made the big decision to stay home with my son, a decision that surprised me but that led to one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life.
That first year of infancy was a blur. But since my son turned one, life started to normalize a bit and I began taking education consulting gigs and running workshops here, there, and everywhere. I'm really enjoying being able to delve deeply into the content of my workshops, focusing on the needs of my participants and trying my best to meet them.
Which brings me to my blog topic today. I'm in the middle of preparing a follow-up workshop on differentiated instruction (loyal readers know this is a passion of mine, so yippee!) for middle and high school ELA teachers and it's reigniting my belief in the following concept: THE WORKSHOP MODEL IS NOT JUST FOR ELEMENTARY CLASSROOMS, Y'ALL.
As a former high school ELA teacher, I can tell you that whenever I read or heard about the workshop model, I sort of labeled it as elementary and moved on. I know I wasn't alone in this way of thinking, because once I became an instructional coach and really studied the concept (and also observed its SUPREME effectiveness at the elementary level), I tried to convince several secondary ELA teachers of its merits, only to be met with what was once my own pre-conception regarding the workshop model.
So, hear me out. In secondary ELA classes, students are often assigned all or most of their reading for homework. This helps out with logistics as most teachers are trying to "get through" a certain number of lengthy texts in a semester. BUT, the result is -- we don't really know what our students' reading skills are like. Sure, we can give a reading check quiz the next day, but those don't usually tell us much and we can't even really swear that the student didn't just skim Sparknotes right before our class. Here's the issue: we are not seeing our students do the work of reading right in front of us. Arguably, reading takes up a huge percentage of what the core work of an ELA class is, and yet, we aren't observing our students in the act.
Go into a secondary science or math classroom. You'll see kids DOING the core work of that content area right in the classroom.
We need to start re-defining what class time is for in secondary ELA. With a workshop model, we can! Start off with a mini-lesson during which you introduce a reading strategy (or writing strategy, if that day will focus on writing). Using a gradual release of responsibility, model it for your students (I Do). Practice it together (We Do); here you can already start to formatively assess who's "got it" and who needs more support. Then, use workshop time (this should be the bulk of the class period) for students to independently practice the strategy while reading a given text. It's helpful to require a note-taking device so that their use of a reading strategy is recorded in some way. While students engage in this core work of the ELA class, you can circulate, continuing to formatively assess, working with individual students or small groups as needed. Pull everyone back together at the end for reflection and closure and further assessment of that day's objective.
This pumps me up! Workshops are exciting and effective and give us tons of chances to guide by the side of our students. Let's create these opportunities in secondary ELA classrooms so we can SEE our students reading and writing live and in person!
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