Reading Workshop
March 19 2015
Dianne Wilkinson
Start Up Write
What do you know about Reading
Workshop?
 Share your thoughts with the person next
to you
 What questions do you have about
Reading Workshop?

Purpose
To gain an understanding of the Reading
Workshop
 To investigate the CAFÉ system as a way
of facilitating a reading workshop

Learning A New Skill
Think about a new skill you learned
recently
 What was the process involved in you
learning the skill?
 What conditions helped you to learn the
new skill?
 Share at your table
 Whole group share
Conditions for Effective Learning

Demonstration
◦ An expert shows how the skill is applied

Practice
◦ Guided by the expert
◦ Independent
◦ Lots of time

Feedback
◦ From the expert
◦ Regular
◦ Specific
Independent Reading
“Good teachers create effective
independent reading programs by
motivating students reading, guiding student
book choices, conducting effective
conferences, maintaining careful records,
and encouraging response to literature.”
Barbra Moss and Terrell Young – “Creating Lifelong Readers Through
Independent Reading”
Typical Structure of an Independent
Reading Workshop Session:
Whole class focus (mini lesson)– Teacher
explicitly teaches a comprehension strategy.
Usually by modelling in a think aloud
 Independent reading for all students.
Students read self selected texts
independently. Teacher works with a small
group for part of the time and then confers
with individual students
 Whole class teaching share or partner share

60 Minute Reading Workshop
Workshop Section
What happens
Whole Group
(10-15min)
Mini Lesson:
• Incorporating a ‘think aloud’
Independent Reading
(20-45min)
•Independent Reading
•Guided Reading
•Strategy Group
•Conferring
•Whole Group
(10min)
•End of Workshop Teaching Share
The Mini-lesson

“ A Minilesson is a short lesson focused
on a specific procedure.” (Calkins, 1986)

To explicitly teach workshop expectations
and comprehension strategies

Think alouds:
◦ Teacher’s thoughts are verbalised so the
students can see how the strategies are used
to enhance comprehension
Independent Reading Time
Independent reading for all students on
self-selected texts
 Guided reading P-2 and at risk students
 Strategy group for students needing
support on the same strategy
 Conferring one on one with the teacher

After Workshop Teaching Share

The share always includes teaching
◦ State the skill/strategy
◦ Explain when and why to use it

Ask students to share how they
successfully used the strategy taught in
the mini lesson
Research on Independent Reading
Better Fluency and Comprehension
 Increased Vocabulary Development
 Greater Domain and Background
Knowledge
 Builds Language Syntax
 Increases Engagement and Motivation
 Improved Reading Achievement

(Creating Lifelong Readers Through Independent Reading, Barbara Moss, Terrell A.Young)
Read, Write, Pair, Share
Read the excerpt from
 Reading Essentials by Regie Routman
leaving tracks of your thinking as you go
 Share your thinking with a partner
 Whole group share

Photo Gallery

What does reading workshop look like?
What does Independent Reading
Workshop look like and sound like?
Looks like
Sounds like
Kids reading avidly
Writing about their reading
post-it notes
notebooks
margins
Filling in reading logs
Choosing books from the classroom library
Kids sitting comfortably around the room –
sitting, lounging, lying down
Some kids sharing a book
Teacher sitting with one kid
The teacher writing in an assessment folder
Kids organising their book boxes
Quiet
Some kids talking about their reading
Some kids sharing a book – reading to each
other
The teacher and a student chatting about
the kid’s reading
The teacher working with a small group
The Role of the Student
 Self-select Just Right books
• Interest
• Level of appropriate ability
 Practice reading goals
 Accountability
• Maintain a reading log
• Respond to their reading:
The Role of the Teacher
 Provide a supportive reading environment
that includes a classroom library
• Texts - quality, quantity & variety
 Engage with students around their reading
/texts being read – conferencing
• Provide support and guidance for
students’ choice of Just Right books
o reader’s notebook entries
• Monitor student progress by
conferring with students
o annotations on post-it notes
• Support goal setting
o think sheets
o talk about their reading
 Explicitly teach comprehension strategies
in mini lessons
 Self-assess their reading progress
 Reinforce norms and expectations
 Engage in conferences with the teacher
 Provide structures and opportunities for
substantive conversations
 Engage in substantive conversations with
peers
 Continuously read students’ reading
responses
John Hattie Research
John Hattie Research






Meta-analysis of the research about student
achievement
Effect size answers the question ‘what has
the greatest influence on student learning?’
Ranks each influence according to its effect
size.
ES = 0.4 Average effect size
ES <0. 4 Are these influences worth it?
Cost? Interaction effects? Other non
academic achievements?
ES > 0.4 Worth having
John Hattie Research
John Hattie Research
Formative evaluation - .90
 Feedback - .73
 Direct Instruction (gradual release of
responsibility model) - .59
 Goal setting - .56
 Reading Comprehension Programs with a
dominant focus on processing strategies –
1.04

How can I facilitate the Reading Workshop?
C - Comprehension
A - Accuracy
F - Fluency
E - Expand Vocabulary
What Is CAFÉ?
A management system for reading
workshop
 A list of reading strategies that teachers
can teach to their students and refer to
when establishing goals in conferences
with students

Video of Wesburn PS

Write down any thought/questions you
have as you watch the video
..\..\..\..\Karoo\Wesburn IR - From GB.mov
Implementing a Reading Workshop

The first consideration is to establish a
comprehensive classroom library
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
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Attractive and inviting
A variety of text types and genres
A range of reading levels
Well known and popular authors
Books arranged cover out
Comfortable spaces to read
Classroom Libraries
Read the excerpt from Creating Lifelong
Readers by Moss & Young
 Share your thoughts with a partner
 Whole group share

Classroom Libraries





Research shows that students read 50-60%
more in classrooms with libraries
Many students do not have access to books
or rich reading material at home
Involve students in the choice of texts and
the arrangement of the library
Change the texts in the library on a regular
basis
Magazines comics and articles are great to
include in the library. They help turn our
struggling readers into competent readers
Photo Gallery
Room set up and classroom libraries
Steps to Implement a Reading
Workshop
Establish a comprehensive classroom
library
 Organise student tools for reading – post
its, book boxes, book marks, clipboards,
reading journals, reading records
 Organise teacher tools – anchor chart
paper, big book easel, conferring folder

Establishing the Reading Workshop
Begin by incorporating independent reading
after a mini lesson – gradually increase
length as student stamina increases
 Need to explicitly teach all aspects of the
reading workshop routine
 Develop a chart with students about what
reading workshop looks and feels like –
needs to reflect the guidelines eg remain
seated, quiet, have book box with you
 Create a chart that clarifies the student’s and
teacher’s roles during the reading workshop

Establishing the Reading Workshop

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Establish the reading workshop routine:
Choose a ‘good fit’ or ‘just right’ book that interests
you
Get enough books to last the whole reading session
Choose a place to read and stay there
Read quietly
Practice the strategy explicitly taught in the mini
lesson
Keep tracks of your thinking
Complete your reading log
Establishing the Reading Workshop
Teach students to select ‘good fit’ books
Teach ‘Why do readers abandon books?’
Teach how to keep a reading log and where to
store it
 Teach the importance of having a balanced
reading diet
 Teach students how to leave tracks of their
thinking. Create a chart and add to this over the
year– post-it notes, notes in margins, notes in
journals, think sheets. Sometimes students must
do a particular type, sometimes they can choose
a way to record thinking.



Establishing the Reading Workshop

Teach students about reading response
journals/notebooks
◦ What do we write in them?
◦ Suggested responses to our reading
◦ Where will we put our artefacts, such as postits in the journal?
◦ Where will they be kept for easy access?
◦ Where will we keep our CAFÉ menu or goal
sheet?
Establishing the Reading Workshop
Book Boxes
Contain books the
student is currently
reading and their
Reader’s Notebook.
Maybe some post-it
notes.
Questions
Revisit the questions you wrote at the
beginning of the session.
 Are there any questions that haven’t been
answered?

Planning for Launching CAFÉ
Discuss with a partner how you could
implement the CAFE approach to reading
workshop in your classrooms
 Write down 3 things you will implement
before the end of term

Contact

For further support in the
implementation of reading workshop
◦ Coaching
◦ Staff/team meetings
◦ Curriculum days
Email: diannea.wilkinson@bigpond.com
Phone: 0409401667