Over the past two years that we’ve utilized the literacy workshop model for reading and writing instruction, we’ve attempted to build our class library and become familiar with the books our students will be reading. It’s worked well. We now have hundreds of books in our class library and have read a good amount of them so that we can make recommendations. It’s helped us grow our program and make reading more engaging and relevant for our students. However, we know that’s not all we can do. We know there is more we can do to make our classroom and class more reader-friendly. We just don’t know about all of the possibilities that exist. So, one of my goals this summer is to read and research Reader’s Workshop and find out what other teachers are doing. How do they effectively implement Reader’s Workshop in their classroom? What do they do to get their students hooked on books and reading? What are some tricks of the trade that we could easily utilize in our classroom?
In reading Penny Kittle’s Book Love, a lot of what we already do in the classroom was reaffirmed. She provides fodder for conversations with administrators and department heads when they ask, “Why are you not teaching books as a whole class?” I’ve also learned a few new things I want to try come September to help beef up our Reader’s Workshop.
One great yet simple idea is Book Talks. Spend 4-6 minutes at the start of class introducing and discussing a book in our school’s library or class collection. Get students excited and interested in a book they might not have picked up on their own. Sell it like a product. Read a sample from the book and provide feedback on the book. Give those students struggling to find a good book an option. So easy to implement. Love it! I will totally try this in my classroom.
Another easy and cool idea is to have the students keep and maintain a To Read Next list which lists books the students would like to read next. It gives them goals and a way to remember a great book a student or teacher told them about. This way when the students finish a book, they don’t need to spend hours meandering through our class library looking for the next big thing. We sometimes had students waste entire class periods “looking” for a book. With a To Read Next list they already have their next book ready to go. Awesome idea!
While I love summer vacation, my reasons are probably different from those my students would detail. I love having more time to read books, develop curriculum, and grow as a teacher. I spent 30 hours last week while my son was away on a road trip working on the curriculum for my new STEM class. It was super fun just like learning about new ideas for utilizing Reader’s Workshop more effectively in the classroom.
Holteacher Perspective 