Refining Your Reading
Workshop
Session 4
Agenda
 Mini-Lessons
 Sharing
 Journals
 “People who do not trust children to learn, or
teachers to teach, will always expect a method (or
program) to do the job.”
 Frank Smith
Whole Group Instruction
Mini-Lessons
Mini-Lesson Refresher
 5 – 15 minutes
 Mini-lessons
- introduce a comprehension strategy, skill, or
concept
- think aloud
- apply strategies to text
- students share/participate
- based on student NEED &
curriculum
 Book Talks (optional)
5 Types of Mini- Lessons
** Skills and Strategies that ALL students at your grade level should
know or learn.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Procedures and Organization
Strategic Reading Behaviors
Comprehension Strategies
Literary Elements and Techniques
Vocabulary
**Kids who struggle with these skills then get more supported
practice during small group instruction so they can practice these
skills with text at their reading level. “training wheels”
Video Clip
 TDC – Mini-Lesson (Angel for Solomon Singer)
 What did you notice about the level of thinking from
the students?
Think Aloud as a model
 Make your thinking “visible” to kids.
 Demonstrate the thoughts that might come to your
mind while reading.
 How would this help you?
Give One – Get One
 Share ideas of great mentor text ideas for the
comprehension strategies.
 Give one idea and get one idea from as many people
as you can.
Website links…
 http://reading.ecb.org/teacher/strategies.html
 http://www.mauryk12.org/Literacy/reading%20mentor%20text
s.htm
 http://www.thelearningpad.net/readers_mini_lessons.html
Sharing
Optimal time for informal
assessment.
Sharing



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Make share time purposeful
Not all students will get to share every day
Share time is a form of assessment
Sharing options
 Whole class
 Turn and talk
 In small group
Video
 Teaching for Deep Comprehension
 Clip on Authors Study Share time
Sharing Discussion
 Share ideas about how you structure share time in
your workshop.
 What ways could you take informal assessment
information during the share time?
Independent Reading
and Journals
“Our understanding is enhanced when
we communicate with others about our
thinking. It is a way for readers to
construct knowledge, generate new
ideas, clarify their own thinking…”
-Fountas and Pinnell
Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency p.
438
Learning to write about
reading
“Writing makes thinking visible and
more tangible, thus promoting
conscious awareness and deeper
comprehension.”
- Dorn
 The evidence is clear: writing
can be a vehicle for improving
reading.
Important
Points
 In particular, having students
write about a text they are
reading enhances how well
they comprehend it. The same
Carnegie Report 2010 result occurs when students
write about a text from
different content areas, such as
science and social studies.
Differentiation through Independent
Reading and Journals
 What should they be reading?
 How often do they read?
 What if they aren’t choosing the right books?
 What do they write about?
 How often do they write?
Purpose of the journal
 Writing about reading improves comprehension.
 Moving beyond just “retelling” what is happening.
 Use writing to develop ideas about the story or the
characters.
 Connect the story to their own lives and make predictions.
Gradual Release – From Demonstration to
Informed Choice
 Teaching these forms using interactive read aloud as a
common text experience.
 Writing for students – writing with students – supporting
students with writing – writing independently
Good beginnings..
 Teach students to “hold their thinking”
 Informal notes, phrases on sticky notes or notebooks
 Younger students take less formal approaches
What to expect……
 Primary (K-2) – Begin with shared and interactive
writing. Group compositions to independent
drawings and letters or words.
 Intermediate (3-5) – Some shared writing with
overheads and charts. Graphic organizers begin to
support. Increasing sophistication of independent
writing.
Responding options
 Look at some samples
 Mark ideas that are interesting and discuss with a
friend.
Journal Discussion
 Strategy entries ideas
 P. 37 – 38 (primary)
 P. 45 – 56 (2+)
 Deeper comprehension entries
 P. 36, 44 (primary)
 P. 39 – 43 (2nd – 3rd)
 57 - 58
 How often do they respond in their journal?
Reflect and discuss….
 Look through p. 36 – 58
Write a --- ! -- ? – VIP.
Share with neighbor.
Sections in the notebooks - ideas

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Reading Log – lists of books
My Thinking – student responses
Genres and Strategies – mini-lesson topics
Powerful Language – word study
Goal Setting
“Less is Best!”
Journal Discussion
 Strategy entries
 Deeper comprehension entries
 How often do they respond in their journal?
J0urnals
 Get into grade level teams.
 Share ideas for structuring your students’ reading
response journals.
 Keep in mind…less is more in terms of sections.
Website
 http://www.wblrd.sk.ca/~bestpractice/response/index.html
 http://www.middleweb.com/MWLresources/dbova1.html
 http://www.justreadnow.com/strategies/response.htm