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When we begin work in a school, we ask teachers three key questions: What can you tell us about your practice? In what aspects of your instruction do you feel strong? And in what areas would you like to grow? Over time, we noticed a pattern emerging in teachers' responses to this final question. Teachers overwhelmingly want to grow their capacity to confer with readers in order to create joyful independent reading.

To learn more about Trusting Readers visit Heinemann.com.

As consultants, we are fortunate that we get to confer a lot. We confer with Kindergarteners through 5th graders. We confer with students who love reading and students who have yet to find themselves lost in a book. And the more we confer, the more we find ourselves listening to students describe how they Students are experts in naming the reading work that feels important to them in the moment feel about reading and less time listening to them talk about the skills and strategies they're working on. When we listen closely to the stories readers tell about their reading lives, we are better able to name their strengths as a reader. , and that trusting their self-awareness creates clear, transferable instructional pathways for future conferences.

Reading Identity Defined

Intrigued, we wondered what might happen if we centered our conferring work more intentionally on the stories students tell about themselves as readers. We began all of our conferences by saying simply: Tell me about yourself as a reader. And then we would listen. Sometimes this short prompt would open a flood of answers, as if the student had been just waiting for someone to ask them that. Sometimes we were met with a puzzled look and a request to explain what we meant. However the conversation started, students welcomed the opportunity to reflect on themselves as readers. We welcomed the opportunity to learn about the student within and beyond the data. As one teacher with whom we work said recently, "I learned more about that student in the last five minutes than I have learned about him all year."

After delving into the research on reading identity, we mined our copious conferring notes, looking for patterns. Using lots of sticky notes and chart paper (we are teachers, after all) we categorized student responses to develop a working definition of reading identity. We define a students' reading identity as consisting of five aspects: attitude, self-efficacy, habits, book choice and process. The chart below from Trusting Readers defines each aspect.

As we built our definition, we spent a lot of time considering engagement. Engagement in reading is not fixed; it is fluid and all students move in and out of various states of engagement throughout the school day. Is engagement a separate aspect of reading identity, or is it woven into all aspects? Engagement may show itself when a student laughs out loud while reading, tiptoes over to a friend to share a good part of a book or does not want to stop reading. Ultimately, we view engagement as playing into all aspects of reading identity.

We suggest devoting time to get to know students' identities as readers at various points throughout the year. This allows us to offer more relevant feedback and bring other sources of small data we use to make instructional decisions come to life. Centering students' reading identity allows us to confer about topics that are relevant and student driven, not led by labels.

Here are 3 tips for getting the conversation about reading identity started (or restarted):

1. Start with inquiry Pose the question to your class: What is a reading identity? Facilitate reflective conversations, allowing students to share their thinking with partners and small groups. Highlight the strengths you observe across the class, think aloud about your own identity as a reader and grow a definition of reading identity together.

2. Start sharing Offer a variety of ways for students to share their reading identities with the class. Students can draw and write about their reading identities. Designate a space in the classroom for students to post (and repost) what they know about themselves. Model for students how this information can guide their book choices, partnerships and responses to text.

3. Start reflecting: Invite students to reflect on their identities as readers at strategic points during literacy instruction. You might ask questions or make suggestions such as:

o How does this book fit into or stretch your reading identity?

o Where do you tend to read at home and at school? What does that teach you about yourself as a reader?

o Keep a list of the books you read for a week. Reflect on the list.

As you delve into discovering students' reading identities, we also recommend that you prioritize conferring . Use and build upon prompts such as "tell me about yourself as a reader" and "what do you pay attention to or think about when you read?" Take notes to capture the students' language so you can repeat it to them in future conferences. Here are some ways to invite students to share more about themselves:

You might ask, "How did you choose these books?"

Invite them to talk about their engagement.

"What does it feel like when you are engaged in your reading?"

"Tell me about a time when you felt really disengaged from your reading..."

Ask them about their interests and lives outside of the classroom. Use those as entry points for supporting book choice and inviting engagement.

What would you like to work on in your reading? How can I support you?

When we set out to support teachers with their conferring work, we had no idea that we were about to embark on a journey that would lead us to better understand reading identity and its importance in independent reading. We had yet to realize how much the seemingly simple act of talking to and connecting with children about their lives as readers would inform and shift our own practice. We invite you to explore reading identity with your class as a springboard for impactful conferring, which in turn, will lead to creating opportunities for more joyful independent reading.

To learn more about Trusting Readers visit Heinemann.com.

Dr. Jennifer Scoggin has been a teacher, author, speaker, curriculum writer, and literacy consultant. Jennifer's interest in the evolving identities of both students and teachers and her growing obsession with children's literature led her to and informs her work. Jen began her career teaching first and second grades in Harlem, New York. In her current role as a literacy consultant, Jennifer collaborates with teachers to create engaging literacy opportunities for children. She holds a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from Teachers College, Columbia University and has previously published two books about literacy instruction and life in the classroom.

Hannah Schneewind has been a teacher, staff developer, curriculum writer, keynote speaker and national literacy consultant. She brings with her over 25 years of experience to the education world. Hannah's interest in student and teacher agency and her belief in the power of books informs her work with schools.

Hannah began her career as a first grade teacher at P.S. 321 in Brooklyn, New York, and her classroom was used as a model classroom for teachers around the city and country. The trust the administrators placed in her along with the culture of collaboration in the school formed her beliefs in the power and possibilities of schools.

Together, Jen and Hannah created Trusting Readers, a group dedicated to collaborating with teachers to design literacy opportunities that invite all students to be engaged and to thrive as readers and writers. You can connect with them on Twitter at @TrustingReaders.

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Reading Identity And Why It Matters by Jennifer Scoggin And Hannah Schneewind

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When we listen closely to the stories readers tell about their reading lives, we are better able to name their strengths as a reader.

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Classroom Routines Eliminate Chaos and Confusion - Dr. Catlin Tucker

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Classrooms with clear systems, routines, expectations, and workflows run more smoothly, eliminating behaviors that can derail a class. Our work as educators is not simply to teach students content and skills related to our subject areas. It's our responsibility to cultivate independent, self-directed learners capable of sharing the responsibility for learning with us, their teachers.

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You never get a second chance to make a first impression. We've heard that many times before, right? I believe that life is full of second chances, but it's an adage that I do pay close attention to when I meet a new group of students. Starting off on the right foot can do wonders for classroom management, and I have some favorite first day of school activities that I use every year to get things rolling with my students.

One thing I know for sure is that the worst thing you can do on the first day is put kids in hard chairs and make them sit still and listen for hours at a time. Think about it: they have just come off summer break and have had quite a bit of freedom. Even at most jobs, they are up and moving and doing activities that require them to be active, rather than passive.

Then, on the first day back we subject students to class after class where they have to sit and listen to each teacher explain their syllabus and expectations. Don't get me wrong - these things are important. But is there a better way to deliver it?

An Ice-Breaker Activity with Multiple Purposes.

One of my go-to activities is perfect to use when you want to break up a class and get your students more actively engaged in the process.

There are two sides to this handout: the first one allows students to tell you a bit about who they are while showing you their knowledge of some basic English terminology. For example, they are asked to create a smilie and a metaphor. So, when you look over your students' sheets, you'll get a good idea of who understands these concepts and who doesn't.

The back side of the sheet requires the students to go and talk to some of their classmates. I always encourage them to find people they don't already know, but I don't enforce that, as I want them to be comfortable on the first day. This also serves multiple purposes: you can start building classroom community, and it gives the students a chance to stand up and stretch their legs.

Finally, the handout asks students to write a letter of introduction. But this isn't the typical one they are used to writing to teachers. Instead, we "pretend' that there are so many seats in the class, and they have to write a letter that convinces me to keep them. Most of them enjoy this twist on the usual, and I get letters that are fun to read - and that help me get to know my new students.

👉🏻If you'd like a copy, one that you can edit to suit your own purposes, click here.

Use Stations to Deliver Information

As I said above, students are used to moving from class to class on the first day, listening to teachers drone on about their classes. Important info, yes, but what if we delivered it in a far more engaging way - one that will likely help students absorb it better?

My back-to-school stations do just that.

These stations allow students to get up and moving, and will give them some voice and choice, something all secondary students appreciate. Also, the activities require active participation in things like looking over your syllabus, rather than them passively tuning you out when you go over it.
Not sure how to implement stations? Read this post.
Other activities in the back to school stations include:

Getting to know you activities: this station allows you to tell the students a bit about yourself and them to introduce themselves to you.

Exploring your syllabus: tasks make sure students focus on the important information they need about your class.

Setting goals: students will reflect on their strengths and weakness and set goals for the course.

Classroom expectations: tasks at this station ask students to individually reflect on the expectations they have of you, and the expectations you can have of them. Then, they work together to suggest ideas for a classroom code of conduct.

Interviewing Classmates: here students talk to their station-mates, getting to know them better and practicing speaking skills.

Making suggestions: tasks ask students to individually reflect on things they have enjoyed-and learned from-in other classes. Then, they will work together to suggest ideas for your class. This is a win-win: you get inspiration and they feel like they have a voice.

Six word memoir: at this station, students will reflect on a significant memory or event from their lives and write a six word memoir.

Learning Styles: here the kids will explore their preferred learning style and temperament.

Do I use both of these? Yes. Our first day usually includes an assembly and activities organized by student council, so the getting-to-know you activity is perfect for the amount of time we have. Then, on the second day I use the stations to introduce the course and my expectations.

Interested in more activities for active learning?

Let me know if you have any questions, and be sure to grab the free activity:

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My Favorite First Day of School Activities

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You never get a second chance to make a first impression. We've heard that many times before, right? I believe that life is full of second chances, but it's an adage that I do pay close attention to when I meet a new group of students.

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Where do I start with reading workshop with middle and high school students? I get this question a lot, and it's not surprising. If you have never run a reading workshop in your middle or high school classroom, starting one can be very overwhelming.

Recently I shared a bunch of blog posts on Instagram with those who were unsure of the process, and as I did so, I realized that even they were a little overwhelming. So, this post is an attempt to take away some of that confusion.

(I've also decided to start a free masterclass to help people get started. If you're interested, you can get started by clicking here).
So where, oh where, does one start?

1. Start your workshop with the end in mind

Unlike a novel study when everyone is literally on the same page, students in reading workshop will be reading different books at their own pace. That means that as a teacher, you are focusing on skill development, not answers to questions about one text.

So, you need to sit down and decide on the skills that you want your students to attain by the end of your time together. Likely, your curriculum already does that, so you need to just make an easy-to-read checklist of them, so you can see what your goal is. If you want more info on this, click here.

2. Plan the order that you will teach these skills during workshop

You will want to scaffold your students' skill attainment, so you need to make an organized plan to do that. With the above example for character, students need to understand the basics of characterization before they can get into analyzing complex motivations.

So, early in the semester, I will begin with mini-lessons on understanding the various ways that authors develop their characters. We will spend a week or more on that, focusing on a different method each day.

Then, we will build toward analyzing how the writers use characters to develop a theme. By focusing on individual skills, rather than on specific texts, you can easily make a reading workshop work with middle and high school students.

3. Plan your workshop mini-lessons & activities

Once you have your road map, it's time to get specific about how you will teach these skills. I will present the concept/skill during a mini-lesson using a mentor text, and then ask students to apply the skill using their novels. What does that look like?

Let's say we're looking at the ways that authors develop character through what they say. I will find samples of passages with dialogue that illustrate character development and project them on my screen. I will model my thought process as I read the samples and make notes about what the passage says about the character.

Then, I'll give my kids time to read and tell them to mark, with sticky notes, passages that illustrate how their writers develop character through dialogue.

After their reading time, they will discuss what they find with a partner. Often, I will provide other skill building activities like the one I explain on this blog post. Sometimes, I'll follow it with a response in their notebooks.

4. Rinse and repeat

While my focus is on character, I will keep giving lessons like the one above until we have covered all of the strategies that authors use to develop character. Then we'll move on to how they use their characters. I give a lesson with mentor texts, students look for the same thing in their novels, and then they will either share verbally with a partner (or me in a conference), and then they may write about it.

5. Assess student understanding

This is one of the harder things to adapt to with a middle or high school reading workshop: how do you assess students when they are all reading something different? I've already got a focused blog post on that so I'm going to b) Conference with students regularly. Once a student has achieved the skill, check it off or give them a grade. The secret here is getting organized ahead of time. You can read more about that c) Take in student notebooks every few weeks. Have a checklist ready to assess whether they have done all of the required entries and then d) Decide on So those are the broad strokes. If you want some help, I do have a send you over there. However, here's the short version:
a) Create forms and checklists that correspond with the skills you want students to achieve.
here.
ONLY READ SOME OF THEM. You can't read them all - randomly choose some to read and let the kids choose one of their favorites.
major assessments and make a plan for when you will assign them. These might be longer assignments like the traditional essay on character or theme, or more creative ones like the multi-genre project. Don't worry if you haven't read the students' texts. After all of the scaffolding you have done to show them how to analyze their texts, and if you have done the work to show them how to write their analysis, you will be able assess their ability to write about and analyze a book you have not read. Trust me on that!
reading workshop bundle. If you aren't ready for the bundle, or you want more direction, here's what I'd start with (in order of importance)

Resources for Independent Reading:

Independent Reading: Goal Setting & Assignments: if you want to start with the basics, this will help you do that.
Literary Elements Mini-Lessons: These lessons can be used to introduce or review these basic elements of fiction writing: opening lines, setting, point of view, tone, characterization, theme and author style.
Activities for Independent Reading: This product offers you a variety of activities that you can use to help your students become active readers who can effectively analyze their texts. These activities will teach them the habits of active reading and will guide them to have meaningful discussions about literature.

Stations for Learning to Respond to Text: This is a great jumping off point to teach your kids how you want them to respond to text. They also provide you with some awesome classroom posters!

Independent Reading Learning Stations: The tasks at each station require that students look for, and write about, different elements of fiction. Included are titles and task cards for: opening lines, setting, point of view, tone, character, conflict, author's message, author's style, great quotes and questions.
Prompts for Independent Reading: T hese writing prompts are perfect to use as bell ringers for independent reading or reader's workshop. Each one asks students to reflect on - or connect to - some aspect of their reading, such as character, theme, point of view, conflict, or setting. Some prompts ask them to make a creative connection.

My Teacher Planner: lays out a lot of the ways that I unfold my workshop. If you're looking for step-by-step, this will work!
Reading Conference Guides: these will help you plan, organize, and assess your conferences. All of this and more is available in the reading workshop bundle.
I hope that clears up some of the confusion about using reader's workshop in middle or high school! Please leave questions if you need some more clarification.

And if you'd like more help with reading workshop, check out my choice reading membership.

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Reading Workshop in Middle and High School

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Where do I start with reading workshop with middle and high school students? I get this question a lot, and it's not surprising. If you have never run a reading workshop in your middle or high school classroom, starting one can be very overwhelming.

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Writing Workshop

Looking for writing workshop tips? Ways to make it easier?

I've got you covered!

Teaching writing is challenging! But this post will help you!

I've written several articles about it - and collected them here to help you find the answers you need.

Let's get started!
I want you to know that this post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small fee from any qualifying purchases you make. You can read more here.
Let's start at the beginning

If you're not sure you should use writer's workshop, this is a good post to start with:

This is helpful for Back-to-school events or conferences when parents may have questions about how you are teaching writing and why you use a workshop to do it.

It will also help you clarify what you want your lessons to accomplish.

The big picture

To get a good overview of what to expect, you'll want to check out this post.

This is probably the hardest part of starting workshop - envisioning how it will all work together.

The hardest part is figuring out how all the pieces should work together.

Getting Set Up

This next post will give you an overview of the steps you need to get started.

What do you need to set up and what systems do you need to put in place to have a successful workshop? This post clarifies that.

Understanding the Mini Lesson

Modeling and mini lessons are at the heart of writing workshop.

If you are wondering how you will manage them, read this.

One of the most important tips for mini lessons is to pay attention to your time! If you need to, use a timer to make sure your mini lesson is mini!

Managing the rest of the class

Another big question about writing workshop is: What is the rest of the class doing while you are conferencing with students?

This post shows you exactly how to set up your class so that students can work independently while you are conferencing.

Once your students understand what happens when during workshop time, they can manage their own tasks.

This post will help you get there!

Building in Student Choice

One of the fun things about workshop is the fact that students are working on projects they're interested.

You'll still want to give them guidance, though.

You can find ideas here:

The Power of Conferences

Another element that makes writing workshop so awesome is the student conferences.

This is where you will really see your students grow as writers!

If you don't do anything else with writing workshop - at least give conferencing a try. It is a game changer!

You can find a post that shows you how to get the most of it here:

What about assessments?

Teaching writing means that you'll have a lot to assess!

You'll want to be able to quickly and efficiently assess student writing.

Especially if your students are at various points in the writing process.

This post will give you tips for quick assessments and keeping track of where students are as they write.

Questions about Writing Workshop?

Other questions? You might find the answers in this post of frequently asked and answered questions.

If there is something else you need help with, just let me know!

With gratitude for all you do,

Looking for writing workshop tips? Ways to make it easier?

I've got you covered!

Teaching writing is challenging! But this post will help you!

I've written several articles about it - and collected them here to help you find the answers you need.

Let's get started!
I want you to know that this post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small fee from any qualifying purchases you make. You can read more here.
Let's start at the beginning

If you're not sure you should use writer's workshop, this is a good post to start with:

This is helpful for Back-to-school events or conferences when parents may have questions about how you are teaching writing and why you use a workshop to do it.

It will also help you clarify what you want your lessons to accomplish.

The big picture

To get a good overview of what to expect, you'll want to check out this post.

This is probably the hardest part of starting workshop - envisioning how it will all work together.

The hardest part is figuring out how all the pieces should work together.

Getting Set Up

This next post will give you an overview of the steps you need to get started.

What do you need to set up and what systems do you need to put in place to have a successful workshop? This post clarifies that.

Understanding the Mini Lesson

Modeling and mini lessons are at the heart of writing workshop.

If you are wondering how you will manage them, read this.

One of the most important tips for mini lessons is to pay attention to your time! If you need to, use a timer to make sure your mini lesson is mini!

Managing the rest of the class

Another big question about writing workshop is: What is the rest of the class doing while you are conferencing with students?

This post shows you exactly how to set up your class so that students can work independently while you are conferencing.

Once your students understand what happens when during workshop time, they can manage their own tasks.

This post will help you get there!

Building in Student Choice

One of the fun things about workshop is the fact that students are working on projects they're interested.

You'll still want to give them guidance, though.

You can find ideas here:

The Power of Conferences

Another element that makes writing workshop so awesome is the student conferences.

This is where you will really see your students grow as writers!

If you don't do anything else with writing workshop - at least give conferencing a try. It is a game changer!

You can find a post that shows you how to get the most of it here:

What about assessments?

Teaching writing means that you'll have a lot to assess!

You'll want to be able to quickly and efficiently assess student writing.

Especially if your students are at various points in the writing process.

This post will give you tips for quick assessments and keeping track of where students are as they write.

Questions about Writing Workshop?

Other questions? You might find the answers in this post of frequently asked and answered questions.

If there is something else you need help with, just let me know!

With gratitude for all you do,

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Writing Workshop Activities: Everything You Need to Know

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Looking for writing workshop tips? Ways to make it easier? I've got you covered! Teaching writing is challenging! But this post will help you! I've written several articles about it - and collected them here to help you find the answers you need. Let's get started!

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Listen to my interview with Pernille Ripp (transcript):
Sponsored by Kiddom and simpleshow videomaker

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. When you make a purchase through these links, Cult of Pedagogy gets a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.

If I had to pick one thing that makes the biggest difference in the quality of any person's education, the quality of their life, really, it would be reading. And I'm not really talking about basic literacy-not about the ability to read-I'm talking about reading for pleasure, to satisfy curiosities, to understand how people work and find solace in knowing we are not the only ones who think and feel the way we do.

That kind of reading.

But when I see what my kids do in school for "reading," it doesn't really look like reading. I ask them what books they are reading in school, and a lot of times they give me a blank stare. What they do in reading, they tell me, is mostly worksheets about reading. Or computer programs that ask them to read passages, not books, and answer multiple-choice questions.

Knowing this has bothered me a lot, and it led me to Donalyn Miller's book, The Book Whisperer, and then to Kelly Gallagher's book, Readicide. Both of these books show us that the reading programs and activities schools are using don't work very well to raise students' reading proficiency, especially if they take the place of real interactions with real books. And they certainly don't do anything to turn our students into people who love to read.

The only thing that can do that is books. Reading actual books alongside other people reading actual books.

What baffles me is that this message still hasn't reached so many schools. Schools are still shelling out thousands of dollars on expensive programs, putting pages and pages of passages and comprehension questions in front of our kids every day, sending them through the system without ever having them read a real book. Just excerpts. Just passages. Just reading-related "activities," but little to no time with actual books.

So today I'm going to do what I can to get the message out there by having my friend Pernille Ripp on the podcast. Pernille is a seventh grade English language arts teacher in Wisconsin. She has been blogging for years, she speaks all over the country, and she has written several books about teaching.

Her most recent one is called Passionate Readers, where she writes about her own journey from teaching reading through programs and activities to teaching in a way that honors books and develops a love of reading in every child. It's an awesome book. The best thing about it is how transparent Pernille is about her own doubts and struggles in this process.

In our interview we talk about why she made the change, what her reading instruction looks like now, and how other teachers can change their own practices. The key takeaways are summarized below. You can read a full transcript of our conversation here.

What's Wrong with the Way We Teach Reading Now?

In many classrooms that are feeling the pressure of high-stakes testing, instruction tends to emphasize what researcher Louise Rosenblatt called efferent reading, the kind of reading we do when looking for information, as opposed to aesthetic reading, which is done for enjoyment. Reading for information is a vital skill-without the ability to tackle challenging texts, locate evidence to support claims, summarize important ideas, and identify bias, students' academic progress will be stunted.

Unfortunately, our push toward developing close reading skills has had collateral damage. In far too many schools, reading for pleasure has been treated as an afterthought, something we encourage but don't really make time for. Instead of giving students time to read, we're giving them activities, projects, computer programs, reading logs, and worksheets that detract from actual reading.

"We're constantly reading for skill," Ripp says. "We're constantly asking kids to do something with their reading, and then wondering why they're choosing to leave us and never picking up another book. They can't wait to get out of school so that they don't have to read."

When she criticizes these practices, Ripp has no desire to teacher-bash. "I get it," she says. "We are all kind of facing the pressure of our districts and our government and our testing and our parents and everybody's focus on the data to show that these children can comprehend and compete with this global market economy that we're a part of."

"But unfortunately," she explains, "what that has led to is just this further step away from what we know works within reading instruction."

Even when we do have students read for enjoyment, we require evidence-reading logs, book reports, quizzes-to prove that the reading actually happened.

This was how Ripp taught for several years: "It was exhausting," she says. "When we did book clubs, it was all about me, and I was reading five different books and coming up with all of the questions. All the kids had to do was show up, read aloud. There was no discussion about which book we were going to read or anything like that. It was just all teacher-centered, all the time, book reports just to prove they had read rather than doing meaningful work after they had finished the book."

The Catalyst: What Caused the Change

Then one day a student said something that stopped Ripp in her tracks.

"I was doing the 'reading is magical' lesson that I think we all do at some point in the beginning of the year, and a kid in front of me whispered to his friends, 'Reading sucks.' And you know, I wanted to jump on him and be like, 'Oh, you just haven't found the right book,' because how often have we said that?"

Instead, she asked him to tell her why.

That's when the floodgates opened: Invited for the first time to honestly share their thoughts about reading, students told Ripp that they didn't like having to sit still. They wanted to be able to choose their own books, rather than being limited to a certain level. And more than anything, they hated the fact that every time they read something, they had to do some kind of activity related to the reading afterward.

Thus began Ripp's journey toward what she calls a common sense approach to reading.

Returning to a Common Sense Approach

Once her eyes were opened, Ripp found herself drawn to the people she calls the "pioneers" of a type of reading instruction: Nancie Atwell, Donalyn Miller, Penny Kittle, Kelly Gallagher, Kylene Beers, Stephen Krashen, and so many others. She began to understand that scripted programs and reading-related activities-teacher-centered reading instruction-were not the way to help students become life-long readers. Over time, she shifted to a different approach.

When she talks about her current practices, she emphasizes over and over again that this is nothing new. "We have so many years of really great reading research out there, and yet it seems to be forgotten."

Here are the most important components of Ripp's reading instruction the way it looks today.

Time to Read

Ripp's students are given ten minutes at the beginning of every class period for independent reading. "Every child, every day," she says. Even though she only has 45 minute blocks with each seventh-grade class, she makes sure they get that time to read every day. "It is sacred time," she says. When she taught at the elementary level, she was able to give students 30 minutes a day, but she no longer has that luxury.

During that independent reading time, Ripp does check-ins with students. "I'm sitting down and I'm simply saying, 'What are you working on as a reader?' And it gives me that two-, three-minute connection with a child if they need to book shop, if they're not doing well, to see what their reading identity is, where are they on their journey, and then I kind of pull all this information to think about what I still need to teach them (during the other part of class time)."

Students are not graded for this reading. "We can't actually grade their independent reading, because that's practice," Ripp says. So there's no other work associated with that time: no worksheets, no logs, no written reflections. "Nothing to do except to read. I want them to fall into the pages. I want them to reach flow. I want them to be silent and in this moment of their book."

Ripp uses the remainder of the 45-minute period to have students work on the other things you'd expect to see in an English language arts classroom. "When they come back to me (after the ten minutes), we then do a mini lesson on reading or writing or whatever it is we're doing, 10 to 15 minutes. And then they go and do something, and that's where I assess them." But those first ten minutes are always, always devoted to independent reading.

Choice

"Whenever I ask kids," Ripp says, "'What's the one thing you wish all teachers of reading would do?' (they say) 'Choice.' And yet, what do we do time and time again? We take away choice from kids, especially kids who might not be where we would hope they would be at this time. We end up with these limited choices for them, and then we wonder why they're the ones that distance themselves from reading the most, because they never get to develop their reading identity. They never get to go through the selection process. They never get to just read and struggle with text and have meaningful conversations and sometimes yes, make the wrong choice."

Students in Ripp's class always have free choice of what they want to read during independent reading time. Through lots of conversations, students practice getting to know who they are as readers so they can make choices that work for them. "They're constantly evaluating their book choices just either through conversation or self reflection or just their habits," Ripp says.

If a student finds that a book just isn't grabbing him, he is free to abandon it. "We should be celebrating when we abandon a book," Ripp tells her students, "because we know ourselves enough as a reader to know that this will not provide us with a reading experience that will matter to us. And we need to start building up that stamina, so we need books that work for us at that time, and that's really important for my students to remember, and to know and to recognize that what they need at this moment might be different than what they need a month from now."

A Robust Classroom Library

Ripp's classroom library houses several thousand books that students can check out at any time. You read that right: several thousand.

Why so many? "I need a book for every reader," Ripp says, "and I teach kids that read from about a second grade level to a college level. I teach kids with lives that share no similarities at times and others whose lives are very much like my own. And so I need to make sure that every child has a chance of finding a book that will speak to them."

Where do they all come from? "(At the time I had) three kids at home, you know, on a teacher's salary," Ripp explains. "I can't go out and spend thousands of dollars on books, and my school didn't have a lot of extra money, but I would rather that a child can go up to this bookshelf and find a high-quality book pretty much any time they go there rather than have to dig through the junk and hope they find something. So it just became my mission that instead of buying things to make our classroom prettier or anything like that, I bought books. I used Scholastic, I went to library sales and parents donated books, and I was always really picky. It was big for me that the books were good, and then I just purchased books."

Why not just have students use the school library? Ripp believes students need both. "Kids need to see the books staring at them at all times, and I think that has made the biggest difference for some of my kids who would go through the motions of going to the school library and they would even check some books out, but then when it came down to actually sitting down and read it, they didn't feel that same need or urge to read it." Her experience has proven the research that says students read more in classes that have good classroom libraries. "I had a seventh-grader come back to me my first year at the end of the year," she says, "and he said, 'You know what made the biggest difference? The books were always right there staring at me.'"

Ripp's classroom library also includes an incredible assortment of picture books. Having lots of picture books in the classroom helped remove the "babyish" stigma many middle schoolers attached to them. "If you walk into our classroom, yes there's all those books, the chapter books and all of that, but then all around us are picture books. And it's just a vibe, right? You feel it when you walk in that this is a classroom where you can have fun and where you get to read and you can choose whatever you want. No one cares what you're reading in our classroom, because you can pick up picture books at any time." To start building your picture book collection, take a look at the tons and tons of recommendations for picture books Ripp offers on her website.

Culture and Community

A constant thread that runs through Passionate Readers is the sense that a classroom culture is constantly being built, that every day, Ripp communicates how incredibly important books are to a good life, and how, if we get to know ourselves as readers, and have lots of conversations about our reading, we'll really get to experience the true magic of reading.

The 7th Grade Book Challenge is one way she encourages students to build more reading time into their lives. This was adapted from the 40-Book Challenge introduced in Donalyn Miller's Book Whisperer. Ripp participates in the challenge herself, just one of the ways she shares her own reading identity with her students.

Outside of things like the challenge, the culture is ultimately built on a day-to-day basis. "Teaching reading is not supposed to be quick and easy," she says. "It's supposed to be about human connection. It's one conversation at a time."

She admits that this new way of teaching is not perfect, and she's constantly reflecting on how she can do better for her students. "We cannot go in there and expect every child to change, but we can go in there hoping that we can help," she says. "I tell my students this: I'm not here to make you love reading. I'm here to make you hate it less. And if you already love it, then I'm here to protect it with all of my might." ♥

Pernille's book, Passionate Readers, goes into a lot more detail than I have room for here. It really walks teachers through how to implement a more reader-centered approach to teaching reading, complete with all the possible obstacles and pitfalls. I really encourage you to get a copy. To read more from Pernille Ripp, visit her fantastic blog at pernillesripp.com.

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Too many schools are producing non-readers at an alarming rate, but it doesn't have to be that way. Pernille Ripp and I talk about how to change things.

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Post: Strategies for a Successful Book Club

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Post: Strategies for a Successful Book Club

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There's nothing better for an English teacher to walk around the classroom, listening to multiple groups of students excitedly talking about the books they are reading. That's what can happen when you run a book club with your middle or high school students. But how do you plan one? How do you keep students accountable? Read on to learn strategies for successful classroom book clubs.

The best time to do a book club 🗓

Before we get to the strategies, let's discuss this: at what point in the year should you do the book club?

Well, it depends on what you want your students to be able to do. If your end goal is to just get them excited about reading and talking about books, you could start your year with a book club - or do it at any point, really.

However, if you want your students to be able to do more analysis, I suggest you do it later in the year. In my classroom, we start with independent reading, and students use their novels to learn about the basic elements of fiction. I keep my lessons and assessments short, because the focus at this point is getting students excited about reading.

Next, we do a full class novel or play, so we can all be on the same page and do more focused analysis. You can get the details on how I balance independent reading with the full class study on this post.

Finally, we end the year with book clubs because, at this point, students have the skills they need to work together - but independent of me - as they read their books.

Now let's look at the five strategies for running a successful book club:

Selecting the books for your book club

Ideally, each group will be reading a different novel, and you should have approximately five students per group. But it's not always that easy because the reality is that you have to have enough copies for each group. So, don't stress over that part. If you have more than one group reading the same novel that's ok. Or if you have uneven groups due to numbers of copies, that's ok too. Just roll with it and see how it goes!

If you can, try to choose a selection of books with similar themes. This way, you can create writing prompts or other activities that relate to each text. For example, I chose books that fit under the topic of power, privilege, and prejudice, and many of our discussions and writing assignments centered on that.

And, when we finished our books, I did an activity where we created new groups - with a representative from each of the original groups - and they talked about how their novels fit into this topic. That way, every student got to hear about each novel, and many decided to read one of the other selections.

Create excitement about the book club choices

Before we began, I tried to create a buzz, some excitement about what was to come. I book talked each of the books and found some youtube and TikTok videos for each one as well. Booktoks are popular now on TikTok, so take advantage of that resource! Type in booktok and the title of the novel in the search bar and you will probably get a great selection.

We also did a speed dating activity with the class. It's the same one I do at the beginning of the year, but this time they are checking out only the selections for the book club. I had students record their top three choices, then organized who was going to read what.

You could follow your speed dating activity with a class discussion, where students debate which book they thought looked most interesting and why. When students hear their peers extolling the virtues of a book, they might get more excited about reading it too.

Successful book clubs start with a plan

First, you will need to make a plan for when students need to complete their reading, and this will depend on the age and ability of your students. I was working with tenth graders and wanted to have them read their books in four equal chunks. So, I just looked at each book to decide on the best place to stop reading for each chunk.

The books, luckily, were similar in length, so I could make them more or less equal. However, if one group needs to read more each time, you can point out that they chose the book because it was of interest to them, so a few more pages shouldn't matter that much! (and you may want to point that out when you promo the books).

Then, if you want to build in time for them to get each chunk read, you will need to think about the activities you will have them do between each reading section. More on that to come.

Create an environment for meaningful discussions about books

I think this is key to a successful book club in the classroom. We English teachers know how to talk about books, but students may need a little more guidance.

Another key to success is that these discussions should be as natural as possible. Think about book clubs you may have attended - you didn't take turns reading your notes to each other. And you probably didn't have someone who had to create a drawing for the book or create a vocabulary list.

I'm referring, of course, to the traditional roles that have been assigned to literature circles. I do think students need guidance and focus while discussing their books, but I like to set it up so they are focused, but speaking to each other like friends would in a book club.

So we have a leader who takes control and keeps people focused and on task. That one is necessary; otherwise they may not get much done. We get someone to start with a quick summary of the key facts of the section. This helps everyone remember what it is they are about to discuss. Next I ask someone to come up with good questions about the chunk they have read, ones that would lead to a lively discussion. And finally, there is a connector who thinks of ways that what they have read connects to their own lives. I stress that these people are only there to ensure these tasks get done, and anyone can jump in with a good question or connection.

Students take turns doing each role (on different discussion days) and after each discussion, turn in the notes they made in preparation. They also do a peer assessment halfway through the unit and at the end.

And, if you want these discussions to be successful, you need to do two things: model one at the beginning, and moderate as they do them. Before we begin book club, I pick a short story for my students to read, and I get some volunteers to play each role in the discussion. You can read more about this here. The whole purpose is for students to see what a good discussion looks like.

Then, when students had their first book club meeting, I needed to be on my feet, circulating and listening in. I would help them prod with questions when needed or just listen quietly if they didn't need me. During the first discussion, several groups needed some prodding and redirection as they learned the expectations, but as time went on, I was less and less necessary.

Provide short assignments that don't bog down the process

One of the most important strategies for successful book clubs, is finding a balance between holding students accountable and allowing them to just enjoy the books. If you give them too many things to do, it slows down the reading process and can take the joy out of reading.

So what did I do? I had the students do a few short assignments while they read, ones that could build them toward a final writing assignment and a culminating project.

We read the books in four chunks, as I said, and I gave them a date to have their sections read. We would begin with a writing prompt that focused on some aspect of the theme that tied all of the books together. During the week or so of "chunk reading time," we alternated between time to read in class, and two types of short writing assignments: analytical paragraphs and creative writing that used their novels for inspiration. They also spent some time writing in "literary conversation books," an idea I borrowed from Penny Kittle.

Using their texts as models for good writing provided me with lots of material for mini-lessons on how writers create character, setting, theme, etc. I could do a lesson on the ways they use dialogue, for example, and then ask the students to note a good section of dialogue when they were reading. Then they shared this with a partner and/or used it as a model to write their own dialogue.

Plan a meaningful and engaging final assessment

When my students finished their book clubs, they wrote an essay on a lesson they learned via a character, so they had to focus on both character and theme. They also did a group project/presentation. They created a trailer for the book and had to plan a presentation where they taught the class about some of the literary elements of the text.

I can honestly say that these presentations were some of the best I've ever had 1oth graders do. The trailers were phenomenal and the presentations were well planned and sometimes insightful. The secret? They were very engaged in their books and discussions and couldn't wait to share them with the class.

I hope you've found some strategies you can use for your own book clubs. If you'd like to get more detail and the assignments and assessments I used, check out my Planning a Book Club resource. Or if need help planning a full class novel study, check out my short course.

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Strategies for Successful Classroom Book Clubs

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Would you like to run book clubs in your classroom but aren't sure how? Jackie from Room 213 shares strategies for successful book clubs.

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I recently posted about book clubs in my classroom and I have gotten tons of questions about how I run them on both of my posts.

I am going to try and answer them all here.

First and foremost, I try to make Book Clubs and simple as humanly possible. I used to be MUCH more involved in the book clubs when I taught fifth grade, but I only had 24 students then, and I had them all day long... and well, they were in fifth grade. I used the book clubs to support them and teach them as readers.

Now that I have progressed to seventh and eighth grade English, my procedures and management have most definitely changed.

I'm going to keep it as real as humanly possible, because when I first started looking into implementing book clubs at this age, I wanted the real truth.

Here is what I have learned and here are the facts.

HOW DO YOU PUT STUDENTS INTO GROUPS?

1. I don't do it by reading levels. GASP. I know, but honestly, I think that totally ruins the whole point of book clubs. I do it by 90% interest. I briefly show students ALL the options, my personal opinion of the book, who tends to like it, it's genre, and subject. Then they can walk around and look at them all. Then they have to give me their top 5 choices for book club books. It used to be 3, but now with so many students, I had to go to top 5, but I also have A LOT more book club choices.

2. I *try* really hard to put them with their friends. 90% of the time this works in my favor because friends have the same interests and hold each other accountable... the other 10% are a complete disaster (but I can usually predict that).

Sometimes I have kids that I know will make a book club difficult no matter which one I put them in. Not being mean, promise. Some kids just struggle with book clubs. I tend to put those 2-3 students in a book club together. Sometimes they set out to prove themselves and they have great success, or it's a complete disaster. I always have at least one group like this, but I would rather it being one group than 3 or 4 that are a total disaster, so I just prepare myself and check in with them A LOT. If one or some end up proving themselves, they go to different groups next round, which is really what I want anyway.

3. After students have given me their top five choices, I get to work making the groups. I almost always can give them one of their top two choices, but sometimes (due to not enough books, too many people in groups, or dynamics) I do have to give them their third, fourth or fifth choice. I also gave my 8th graders priority.

4. Again, I don't pay too much attention to reading levels, but I do pay attention to stamina. If I know a student struggles to finish books, if he/she has Divergent as an option, but also something like A Long Walk to Water (highly engaging, great book, but also short) then I will give them the shorter book, especially for the first time to set them up for success.

THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE UGLY

1. Wait to do book clubs. My mentor teacher told me to wait at least six weeks into school. SHE IS MORE THAN RIGHT. When I was in elementary that was really hard for me to wait that long because I loved them and management was simple. In middle school, sometimes it hasn't been until second semester, simply because I've had to wait until a point I thought they could handle it, and a point where I thought I could manage it.

2. Some kids will NEVER read and will NEVER do their book club work or homework. Or they will pretend and make up the reading and/or homework. I wish I could tell you 100% of my students do their book club homework, but it's just not reality. I REALLY do not want to give them quizzes, or comprehension activities, or just another thing for them to do. So I don't. I want book clubs to be fun, and to provoke conversations, and to give kids common things and interests to talk about. I make the homework something super simple and designed to help guide their discussions and 95% of the students do just that. I work really hard to get the other 5% to appreciate the process and idea as well. Some come around and some never do. I don't give up on them, but just know that it does happen.

3. Sometimes kids pick books they don't like, and want to quit. This is a tough one. If the whole group is on board after the first week, I will allow them to abandon and come to a new agreement for their book. If it's just one student, I try to have a discussion with them and see what's best or them and their group. Sometimes they abandon, move to another group and have to play catch-up. Sometimes they just have to suck it up. Again, it doesn't happen often, but there are always a few.

4. Some people read ahead. Let them. We as a class always make super strict rules about no "SPOILERS." If you read ahead, you need to review where your group is so you don't reveal information later in the book. They also have to make sure they only do their "homework," for that week's reading.

I mean, who doesn't want to read ahead when a book gets good, and 4 weeks is A REALLY LONG TIME for true readers. Often these kids end up in groups together, end up reading the whole book in a week (I usually tell them not to worry about the homework and just have discussions) and they will devour 3-4 books during the span of 4 weeks. UMMMM..... I call that a success. That's the real goal, so I 100% let the book clubs evolve as they need to.

HOW DO YOU GET ALL YOUR BOOKS?

I probably get this question more than anything. Honestly, I buy them all. I have been buying the sets for the last 5 years, but it's more than worth it to me. I built up a really solid collection for grades 4-6, but then switched to 7th and 8th and have started to have to buy other sets to keep up with their interests and needs.

I could sit here and tell you that I scope out the best books and the highest quality of literature, but I have a couple problems with that thinking.

First of all, I'm not sure who get to decide what "quality" literature is, except the reader... so I don't make the decision. Currently my new school has a big focus on "the classics," so we're getting plenty of that. Third, I just buy what I can get sets of.

Any time books go on sale for $1-$3 on Scholastic, I buy 5-6 copies of them. Over time, you have a pretty good collection of book club sets. Now that I have a solid collection, I focus on getting specific genres, interests to meet my current students' wants, higher reading levels, and now I've put more of a focus on getting some good non-fiction sets.

Also, hate to break it to you, but you REALLY have to read the book club books that your students read. I have read 80-90% of my sets, and if a club picks a new book, then I make sure to read as they are reading. It's not always easy, but it's kind of necessary, because kids know when you haven't read the book.

*The exception is when you have a book clubs form naturally and you know the kids are reading (again, this is the real goal go book clubs, and they don't really need you to much anymore). Sometimes groups bring in their own books and do that for the club. 99% of the time, those self-motivated groups, do it all without me and that's the best thing ever!

WHAT RESOURCES DO YOU USE FOR BOOKS CLUBS?

I almost always start our really structured and then lay off a bit, or we continue with a lot of structure as I see fit.

We use A LOT of interactive notebook pages in my class, but we actually just used the traditional roles in this resource. I used these in sixth, but when I got to seventh and eighth, I wanted something that wasn't as structured, but pushed their thinking.

Interactive Literature Circles from Lovin' Lit.

This is the resource I used this year with my seventh and eighth graders. There are some tough pages, but I LOVED it. The kids liked some pages more than others, but I feel like it really made them think, and they actually helped guide and spark their conversations.

There are pages to make for the students and then there are also "role cards" so students know what their jobs are when they meet with their book club!

HOW DO YOU RUN BOOK CLUBS?

Okay, this changes constantly.

When I taught fifth grade, they decided how much they would read each week, they each had to come to the group with three questions to ask, we would meet (me included, to help run the groups and make them think deeply about the books), discuss the books and our questions, and then we would do it all over again.

In seventh and eighth, I have to have more structure, because I can't meet with all my groups every week, simply because of time constraints. Also, they're in seventh and eighth grade, so I would like them to truly be able to read the books they want, have conversations with each other, and see how book clubs really should be.

Something that I learned from Erin Cobb (Lovin Lit') that I loved, was a time frame for the books. She mapped out how long they had to read the books. For seventh and eighth, they had four weeks, and they just did the math themselves. They just divide the book's number of pages by 4 so they could determine how many pages they had to read each week.

I also tell them about this before hand, so students who think they don't "read fast," know what is expected of them.

Then they are responsible for one "job" each week. I usually give them some time of packet that has 4-5 pages of jobs and they have to do one weeks' reading and one page of the packet.

For example: A group is reading, "Al Capone Does My Shirts" and they had to read 60 pages during week one. Student One would be reading those 60 pages and be responsible for the "Discussion Director" for only those 60 pages, and Student Two would read the same 60 pages and be in the "Plot Profiler," for those 60 pages. The next week, they switch jobs for pages 61-120.

Here's a better example of a groups break-down.

Week One: Read pages 1-60
Week Two: Read page 61-118
Week Three: Read pages 119-183
Week Four: 184-237 (finish book)

Week One:
Mariah: Discussion Director
Richie: Plot Profiler
Mackenzie: Illustrator
Nico: Literary Luminary

Week Two:
Mariah: Plot Profiler
Richie: Illustrator
Mackenzie: Literary Luminary
Nico: Discussion Director

Week Three:
Mariah: Literary Luminary
Richie: Discussion Director
Mackenzie: Plot Profiler
Nico: Illustrator

Week Four:
Mariah: Illustrator
Richie: Literary Luminary
Mackenzie: Discussion Director
Nico: Plot Profiler

HOW DO YOU GRADE BOOK CLUBS?

This is such a tough one, because I don't want to make reading something they hate, so I try to make it all about them and making sure they don't let their book club down. By making book clubs a really big deal and really selling the value and purpose of them (to enjoy books, and have conversations about books, with people who have similar interests) they kind of do the whole disappointed in their peers and classmates thing for me.

I do always have a group or a few who band together and act like they don't care that none of them do the work and/or reading, but the rest of the class tends to think they're lame, and don't join in on their bad attitudes. Just keeping it real. It does happen, but when they all come unprepared, I just say, "That's a bummer. Hope you guys do it next week so you can have a book discussion then." Yes, even eighth graders.

BUT, I do assign grades for the work, simply because I'm a realist.

Students are responsible for reading 1/4 of the week and one page of their packet. I make it 25 points each week... for a total of 100 points.

The packet itself gets turned in at the end of the four weeks and becomes another 100 points. That way if they get behind, miss a page, or have a bad week, they have the opportunity to go back and complete the pages and earn a full 100 points on the packet. They only get the 25 points on the day books clubs meet (it's automatically a zero, if they come unprepared, with no room to make it up, but they can and should do the reading and homework page later for when they turn in the packet).

I do this so they complete the reading later and don't get further and further behind, and because I think it shows their peers something if they mess up, but are willing to do the work to be back in the club.

If they come unprepared more than once, they are "kicked out" and have to finish the novel on their own and write an essay. I didn't have a single students miss work more than once because of this.

I just walk around when they meet (all clubs meet on Mondays) and while they're discussion, give them 25 points or a 0.

After they're done meeting, I talk to my zeros and what they need to do for next week.

Thanks for sticking with me friends! Please ask any other questions you may have and I will try to answer below!

MUAH!

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Book Clubs in the Middle School ELA Classroom

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I recently posted about book clubs in my classroom and I have gotten tons of questions about how I run them on both of my posts. I am going to try and answer them all here. First and foremost, I try to make Book Clubs and simple as humanly possible.

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I recently read an Edutopia blog post by Benjamin Barbour titled "The Power of Short Writing Assignments" just after delivering a professional development workshop about Quick Writes from my Keys to Content Writing teacher training program. I knew I had to make this the topic of my next blog post!

Barbour makes this point, "Some educators avoid assigning writing, believing that they don't have the time to either incorporate such a project or grade it. Thankfully, writing assignments need not be long in order to be effective. If you don't wish to assign a potentially time-consuming project, try these short assignments to help students become better writers and thinkers." He goes on to suggest several types of quick write tasks.

In Keys to Content Writing, Grades 3-6 and Grades 6-12, we note that there are three kinds of subject-area writing tasks that can be assigned to support the learning of content:

1. Quick Writes: completed in less than ten minutes; objective is to process, reflect on, or assess content learning; typically is not revised; informally evaluated and not graded

2. Content Learning Tasks: take 1 or more sessions to complete; objective is to deepen understanding and reflection or assess content learning; may be revised; may be informally evaluated; typically graded

3. Longer, Formal Writing Tasks: take multiple session to complete; objective is to deeply learn content, develop authentic writing skills, prepare for on-demand writing; revised; formally evaluated and graded.

All three kinds of tasks can be used to have students write to learn content. But Quick Writes are so powerful because they do not require a significant amount of planning and do not cause student anxiety the way the other two tasks often do.

The prolific writer Stephen King says, "If you want to be a good writer you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot." The Common Core Writing Standard #10 also emphasizes writing a lot, requiring students to "write routinely over extended time frames and shorter time frames for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences."

Quick Writes are short, informal writing tasks that can be assigned during class or as brief, out-of-class assignments. Quick Writes help students remember, organize, and manage information, and they can be used at any point in a classroom lesson to help them communicate their thoughts, experiences, and reactions to what they are reading and learning. They can also be used as formative assessment to determine how well students have learned content.

Here are some examples of Quick Write tasks:

admit and exit tickets

informal notes/scribbles

margin notes while reading

list of facts, steps, ideas

set of instructions or directions

filling in a graphic organizer or completing a set of notes

free -writing: write on a topic for a short specified amount of time (also called a "brain dump")

one-paragraph summary

generate a few questions

KWL Chart (What I know, What I Want to Know, What I Learned)

write a definition in your own words

draw, label, or explain pictures/diagrams

short-answers to questions

sentence combining

short communication wit someone else (email, tweet, note, text message)

Using Questions for Quick Writes
When students respond to questions in writing, their ability to process and remember content information improves. Here are some suggestions for general questions that can be used in all content areas:

At the start of class:

What was the most important thing you learned from your homework assignment or reading?

What questions do you have about your homework assignment or reading?

What are you most interested in discussing or learning in today's class?

At the end of class:

What was the most important thing you learned today?

What do you want to learn more about?

What was confusing, or is there something you would like explained better?

Click here to download a template for admit and exit tickets.

Visit the Keys to Literacy website "free resources" section under writing for more writing templates and support materials.

Joan Sedita

Joan Sedita is the founder of Keys to Literacy and author of the Keys to Literacy professional development programs. She is an experienced educator, nationally recognized speaker and teacher trainer. She has worked for over 35 years in the literacy education field and has presented to thousands of teachers and related professionals at schools, colleges, clinics, and professional conferences.

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The Power of Quick Writes - Keys to Literacy

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I recently read an Edutopia blog post by Benjamin Barbour titled "The Power of Short Writing Assignments" just after delivering a professional development workshop about Quick Writes from my Keys to Content Writing teacher training program. I knew I had to make this the topic of my next blog post!

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Features of an Effective Independent Reading Library Program

If you want to establish an independent reading library program, there are research-backed characteristics that will help make it effective. Here are seven of those traits, discussed in depth in this white paper:

1. An Extensive Collection of Appealing Books

The quality of books matters more than a large number of them. Experts recommend that the minimum size of an effective classroom library include about 10 high-quality books per studen t.

2. A Wide Variety of Genres

It is essential that students are exposed to different types of literature (e.g., fantasy, historical fiction, realistic fiction, myths, autobiographies and biographies, memoir, narrative non-fiction, expository non-fiction, etc.) to allow students to understand the characteristics of each and aid in their reading achievement.

3. A Wide Variety of Text Difficulty Levels That Are Matched to Students' Abilities

Students simply having more time to read will not improve their skills. In fact, according to studies, struggling readers challenged by difficult texts may not receive the practice they need to improve their reading skills. Teachers must ensure that they guide students toward appropriate levels of text difficulty to motivate them to read.

4. Allows for Student Choice-but Provides Guidance in Selections

Students more than likely need help from their teachers, especially if they are struggling readers and need guidance on what they may enjoy and want to learn more about through an introduction to various genres. Guidance from teachers ensures that reading is happening and that the literature is suited for students' level of reading. Eventually, students should build the confidence to select appropriate texts that suit their reading levels and personal interests.

5. Provides Dedicated Time to Read as a Regular Activity

If teachers provide students with regular opportunities to read for uninterrupted blocks of time ( at least 15 to 30 minutes per reading session), students will increase their reading ability. The frequency of reading sessions also impacts an independent reading program's success.

6. Addresses Important Physical and Environmental Conditions

There should be a designated reading area within the classroom that is quiet and comfortable. Additionally, an excellent classroom library should be organized with labeled shelves or tubs (by genre and difficulty level).

7. Does Not Replace Comprehensive, Core Programs

An independent reading program should be an essential part of the broader English Language Arts curriculum. Not only should students have time to read independently, but they should also gain necessary skills through direct instruction and practice of core reading skills.

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There are various benefits of independent reading, including improving your students' fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Read more about how you can empower your students to become lifelong readers by providing an independent reading library.

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Ready to use mini lessons in your writing workshop, but not sure how? This post will take you the entire process from choosing your lessons to teaching.

Let's get started!

What's a mini lesson?

A mini lesson is a short, 10 - 15 minute lesson that you teach by modeling a skill for your students.

After you've taught the mini lesson, your students will complete a similar task - using what they learned in the mini lesson you modeled.
Key takeaways:

1. model the lesson - show students what you want them to do.

2. keep it mini - your modeling should be short and to the point.

Why should you use mini lessons in writing workshop?

Writing is hard - and teaching writing is even harder.

What is easy and obvious to you as a teacher, isn't clear to your students.

How often have you heard a student say, "You told me I needed four sentences in a paragraph. There are four sentences in this paragraph!"

We know that four sentences alone don't make a paragraph - but what is the best way to teach this? Yep, a mini lesson.

By breaking down writing elements into "baby bites" that your students can practice and master, you are simplifying the complex writing process that is so difficult for many of our students to learn.

Mini lessons are the perfect way to do this.

By breaking down writing elements into "baby bites" that your students can practice and master, you are simplifying the complex writing process that is difficult for many of our students.

What mini lessons should I teach?

Start by looking at the elements that will go into a writing assignment.

If you need Mini Lesson planners, I've got you covered. You can grab them by filling in the form below.

But don't forget to use your standards. Although you'll want to add more lessons, your standards will help you set up an outline for your mini lessons.

For example, let's say you want to teach narrative writing.

You know that your students will need to brainstorm, narrow their topic, organize their thoughts, determine important and unimportant details, formulate paragraphs, include sensory language, use transitions...the list goes on!

First, decide the order to teach the skills. Usually you'll start from the general (brainstorming, gathering ideas) to specific (word choice, sentence structure).

Include the big writing tasks, but don't get overwhelmed with the details. You'll be able to adjust the lessons as you go along.

Put the mini lessons you're planning to teach into your calendar or plan book - one lesson per day - or per day of writing workshop (because you may not have writing workshop each day).

Pro Tip! Build "work days" and "catch up" days into your calendar. That will give your calendar flexibility.

You can find a mini lesson planner and tip sheet in my resource library. (new funnel and opt in - editable calendar)

How to engage students

Before you jump in, be sure to get the student "buy in."

If this is your first time using mini lessons, you'll find there is a
bit of a learning curve for both students and teacher.

I think it helps to spend time talking about what a "workshop" means.

What happens in a workshop where someone builds or creates something? In this website, there are 11 different ways to build a chair! And just Googling, "How to make a chair" resulted in tons of hits!

Get your students thinking about what happens in a workshop where someone is building a chair:

the creator has an idea

they may sketch out the design

gather materials

start building

add what is needed to the construction

complete it by adding finishing touches

sharing

This sounds like the steps to writing something!

By taking time to get your students on board with the workshop style of writing, you'll take away some of the anxiety that writing brings.

Focus on this matra:

We are working on our writing.

This can be actually very exciting and liberating for students.

How do I structure the lesson?

First, remember that the structure will be flexible. You may not use a 45 or 50 minute class period. Your lesson timing will depend on the particular mini lesson, your students, and your teaching style.

In general, you'll follow this circle graph for your lesson:

Anatomy of a Mini Lesson

However, you may find your students need less time to complete the mini lesson. Be ready for this.

This blog post can help: What students are doing during writing workshop?

Remember: When you are first starting with writing workshop, your students probably won't have the stamina to write for more than ten or fifteen minutes - maybe even less.

Be prepared for this! Make sure you aren't asking your students to write a draft of a 300 word essay right out of the gates.

Planning your mini lesson

For our narrative writing example, your first mini lesson might be simply defining the elements of a narrative.

Before class: Think about how you are going to teach the mini lesson. You want to create an anchor chart that includes the elements of a narrative.
Try this:
1.You can either create a simple anchor chart (or list of elements) on your white board or make a poster board that you can tack up on your classroom wall.

2. Provide your students with a graphic organizer that they can either recreate in their writing notebook or resource book.

Don't skip this. This is important since it helps your students engage with and remember what your mini lesson is about.

3. Gather up books that are examples of narratives. Your librarian can help you collect a variety of picture books, easy readers, novels, graphic novels, and so on.

You will turn to these foundations again and again as you teach narrative writing. Your students can refer to the chart and look at examples of narratives as they write their own.

The mini lesson part
This is where you, as the teacher, will give the mini lesson.
Start by modeling the lesson.

Your mini lesson shouldn't last more than 10 - 15 minutes (at the most!). Remember to keep it mini!!
Here's an example:
Open class by introducing your new writing assignment - creating a narrative. But before you get started writing, you want to make sure everyone understand what makes a narrative a narrative.

Use one or two of the books you've gathered to model how you are analyzing the elements of a narrative.

You can start the anchor chart (or list) by writing down something you notice about a narrative.

For example, you can say, "I know these are all narratives because they are telling a story. They aren't a science book or a math text. I can see by flipping through that the writer is telling a story."

Then write that on your anchor chart: "a narrative tells a story"

You can see why you don't want this step to last too long. The kids are watching you work and listening to you "think." It can get boring!

Pro tip: Use a timer!! Set it for 10 minutes while you teach your mini lesson. This will help prevent you from running over your allotted time.

Once they understand the task, you want them to start working.

The writing workshop part

Next 15 - 20 minutes.

Here is where the "workshop" of writing workshop comes in. Students are going to:

1. take what they learned from your modeling mini lesson and

2. do the same thing

So, you've modeled how to do the task, now they need to complete the graphic organizer using a few of the books you've gathered.

This may not take 15 minutes. You know your students best - and know how much time they need. Some tasks in writing workshop last longer than others.

I said this before, but it bears repeating:

When you first start with writing workshop, your students may not have the stamina to write for ten minutes. Be ready for this by making sure you don't give them too much time.

You want to be flexible here.

Students who finish early and have nothing to do can become a problem. You may want to have a list of "what to do next" on your board, or you may just want students to read part of one of the books they are analyzing for the anchor chart.

What to do while students are working

While they are working, you'll want to circulate around the room. Try not to spend time with one student for too long. Encourage them to keep working. They've already seen you model. (speaking from experience here - they will try to get you to complete the chart for them!!)

When time is up, you move on to the "wrap up and share"

Wrapping up writing workshop

Last 5 - 10 minutes: This is time for sharing, wrapping up, and addressing any questions.

For our narrative example, project your anchor chart and ask students to help you complete it.

As they add information, encourage them to check their own graphic organizer to make sure they have the same information. They can add anything they've missed.

How long should writing workshop last

The timing in writing workshop can be tricky. Students surprise me - one class will finish quickly and another will need more time!

Be mindful of the time! Use a timer to keep your mini lessons short and track the time your students have to work. You will learn how much time your class needs.

Remember that your students may not have a lot of writing stamina when they first get started.

As the writing process for these lessons progresses, students will need more time to complete their tasks. Base the time you allot students to work on the task's complexity.

For example, the narrative anchor chart may not take students more than 10 minutes to complete, but writing a draft of a narrative essay may take a few workshop sessions.

What about grading writing workshop

You have many options here.

have students use exit cards to share with you what they accomplished in workshop

students can respond to a journal prompt

you can collect the activity to assess how they are doing as a formative assessment

keep a "walking grade book" or checklist that you can use to keep notations on student work as you walk around the room

if you want to wait until all of your workshop activities are over, you can have students staple them together and turn them in

you can assign points for each mini lesson activity - and students can earn points as they complete work

If your students have trouble staying on task, it can be helpful to collect their work each day. If they know you will be reviewing, they will take it more seriously.

Rather than grading each item, you can scan to make sure you don't need to reteach a lesson.

Additionally, by reviewing your students' work regularly, you can group students for conferences and determine what mini lessons they need next.

Frequently asked questions:

Where do mini lessons come from?

One of the wonderful things about writing workshop and mini lessons is that you can tailor the lessons to meet your students' needs.
Mini lessons can come from:
1. Your standards. Take a look at this one for writing an expository essay from the Common Core:

Whoa! There is a lot in there!

But, if you take it apart, you can see that there are several mini lessons that you can teach:

ways to introduce a topic

methods of organizing ideas

organizational strategies like definition

using headings

creating meaningful graphics

using multimedia to clarify

You can probably imagine a mini lesson for writing introductions.

That small piece of the writing process is so important! And also a mini lesson!

2. Are your students writing run ons and comma splices until you're ready to scream?

Use your students' current writing problems as a springboard for your mini lessons.

As you are reviewing work, keep a pad of paper or notebook nearby so you can take notes on what you are seeing. These can be mini lessons.

What about students who finish early?

Of course, you'll have students who work at different rates. Fast finishers can be a distraction when they proclaim, "I'm finished!"

To handle this, simply keep a list on your white board titled "What to do when you're finished writing."

Your list might include:

Four things to keep in mind:

1. Teach your students how to do the items on the list.

Before you even start workshop, teach your students complete items you may have on the list. If you don't, they will interrupt you and other students with questions.

You can find help with that in this post on writing workshop expectations.

2. Don't make more grading work for yourself!

If you want your students to write in a journal, you can assess those once a month. Or, you can have a class period in which students choose a journal entry to clean up and turn in for an assessment.

3. NO BUSYWORK!!

Students are quick to see what is valuable work and what it simply busywork. Crossword puzzles and word finds are fine in a pinch - but call them what they are. They really are not meaningful work!

4. What about students who don't finish early?

Decide how you want to handle this. You don't want to penalize students who work more slowly by giving them more work. AND you don't want to be chasing after work.

That's why I like having independent reading as number one on the "what to do when you're finished" list. Most of the time, students who finish early will have 5 - 10 minutes of time before workshop is over, so independent reading works well.

What should I do if workshop doesn't fill the entire class period?

In reality, most of our students won't be able to write for 15 - 20 minutes when they first begin workshop. And, you may have a group of students where this will never be the case!

That can mean that writing workshop lasts for 20 - 25 minutes. What about the rest of the time?

I like to think about teaching in blocks. So your class might look like:

warm up

read aloud (yes, even in middle school!)

writing workshop

grammar lesson or mentor sentence of the day

vocabulary review

Even if you just teach writing, there are other aspects you'll need to teach. Prioritize your teaching with most to least important (well - yes, they are ALL important!) - remember that your students will have the most energy at the start of class.

Writing workshop is a BLAST to teach - and makes the huge task of writing manageable for our students!

The keys are to take time to organize your plan, help students understand what they need to do each week - and jump in!

Need extra help?

If you need additional ideas or mini lessons that are done for you, check out these items in my shop:

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How to use Mini Lessons in Writing Workshop

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Ready to use mini lessons in your writing workshop, but not sure how? This post will take you the entire process from choosing your lessons to teaching. Let's get started! A mini lesson is a short, 10 - 15 minute lesson that you teach by modeling a skill for your students.

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Penny Kittle: Why Students Don't Read What is Assigned in Class

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Create a new spreadsheet and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Sheets to edit Excel files. Free from Google.

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Podcast: Reading Workshop with High Schoolers

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Podcast: Reading Workshop with High Schoolers

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In this podcast, Franki Sibberson chats with Cris Tovani about using a reading workshop model with high school students. A full transcript of the podcast is available below the player.

Franki: Cris, you worked with kids in grades 1 thru 12. How does the workshop model support kids at all ages and stages of literacy development?

Cris: Well I've been really lucky to get to work with kids at all different levels and I think what I've noticed with secondary students is just workshop model allows teachers to address specific needs of kids. It lets kids who are further along to work at a faster pace. It also gives the teacher an opportunity to differentiate instruction.

And I think with high school kids especially there's this huge rub between covering content and principals wanting to see student engagement. And so I think workshop model is a planning structure that allows both to happen.

Franki: And so what do you think the most powerful thing about a workshop is?

Cris: Well this year I'm in a new high school. After 14 years I moved and I moved across town to the most diverse high school in the state of Colorado. And pretty high poverty rate. I am not teaching any reading classes in this building but I'm doing English classes. That's been a really learning curve for me because I've acquired texts that I'm supposed to teach but I know how important having choice is when it comes to driving engagement.

And so I'm trying to figure out how to teach a required anchor text using companion pieces of all different text structures and then having three weeks of free choice following that required anchor text. And what I'm noticing is students' free choice reading is kind of bleeding into the next anchor text that we read.

Lots of kids have two books that are going and I think that's helping me figure out where do I remediate their instruction as far as reading and writing strategies go but also how do I fit in all those kind of content standards that English teachers are required to -

Franki: Can you talk a little bit about your schedule and how you run a workshop with the high school schedule that you have?

Cris: So my schedule for this year is similar to what I had been teaching. I teach on a block schedule which means that I have kids 100 minutes every other day. On days I don't have kids I get to do some literacy coaching around the district. The days I do have kids I have them for the 90 minutes and one of the classes that I teach is 9th grade English and then the other prep I have is 11th grade American Lit. And I try to run two workshops within that 100 minutes. I try to do a reading workshop and I try to do a writing workshop. So every day I'm trying to teach something about reading literature and non-fiction and then writing. Sometimes they're writing a learning analysis, sometimes they're writing pieces of text.

Like right now my juniors are working on letters to incoming 8th graders and they're kind of talking about their entry in high school and they're gonna have this legacy that they'll get to leave. So the juniors are kind of giving them some words of wisdom.

Franki: So how does the day work when they walk in? What are the components of your day?

Cris: When the kids walk in what's nice about workshop models is that there's systems and structures in place and so as kids walk in I've got those conversation calendars on their desks. So they read what I wrote back to them from the previous class. And then on the board I'm starting to work with learning targets. I've been reading a lot about reading targets from Rick Stiggins works so on the board every day are our learning goals and then right next to those learning goals are how I'm going to assess how well they've understood them. So for example, one of the learning targets might be I can annotate in a variety of ways or I can ask a question when I'm confused instead of just saying I don't get it. And then right next to it I'll have it annotated text or three stickies. So what I want the kids to see is here's what we're gonna learn today, here's what we're gonna practice and then here's what you're gonna leave for me so I can see if I need to help you some more at this or if you figured it out and we can move on.

So we go over those learning targets in the opening structure and that usually just takes two or three minutes and then from there we go in the mini lesson and that's really where I'm doing the targeted instruction based on the thinking that the kids left me the previous class period.

Sometimes I'm teaching them a piece of content, sometimes I'm teaching them a strategy, sometimes I'm teaching them a skill. And it's usually about ten to 12 minutes, the minilesson is.

From there we've got a big block of work time which ends up being about 40 minutes right now. So during that 40 minutes they're practicing reading or writing, whatever that mini lesson was that I taught. While they're working I'm conferring and this is the best part and this doesn't matter if you're teaching 1st graders or seniors that conferring allows for that real time feedback - real time feedback is the number one thing that's gonna close that achievement gap. So I'm conferring with kids while they are working, sometimes I'm pulling up small groups.

And then before this cycle of workshop ends there's opportunity for the kids to debrief. And then the debriefing they could be writing in their response logs or they could be working discussing in a small group. Or we could do a whole class anchor chart. But that whole debrief time is huge because it gives them an opportunity to meta-cognitive about what they worked on, how they got smarter about reading and writing for the day. It's also that accountability piece that they know is gonna happen at the end of the workshop that I'm gonna say to them okay what did you guys do today, what did you figure out, how are you smarter now than you were when you walked in the door.

Franki: So you ask that everyday? Nice. So how do you recommend teachers begin a reading workshop if they've never done so?

Cris: I think workshop is - workshop is hard to do I think because for me it is so much easier for me to manage 40 minutes of lecture. I can hold people's attention, I can snap my fingers and make sure people are quiet and on task. And so when you switch over to do workshop model there's got to be a lot of planning up front about what the kids are gonna be doing during that work time. And that's I think a big shift for teachers. It was to me. In the old days I used to plan what I was going to be doing. Now I'm planning what the kids are gonna be doing.

So I would recommend that teachers look for people in their own buildings who are running their class in a workshop model. I think there's a ton of great books out there that people can read that would kind of give them a picture of what workshop model looks like. Sam Bennett's got a great book called That Workshop Book of course. I also think that going back to Nancy Atwell's In the Middle; I think that's probably one of the best books, the most influential books that I read as a young teacher.

So there are resources out there. I think you need to see what it looks like, read a little bit about it and then just kind of take a step, dip your toe in the water and start off with cutting back the talk time that you have and increasing that time that the kids actually get to do the work.

Franki: You might have answered this one but what are the challenges of running a good reading workshop at the secondary level?

Cris: I think the challenges of running a good reading workshop at the secondary level is recognizing that you've got such a wide range of abilities as well as interest in that classroom and I think keeping in mind that every student deserves at least a year's worth of growth whether it's a struggling reader, on grade level reader or somebody who is an advanced reader. Each one of those kids we have to morally help them get smarter by at least a year.

And so I think it's key to figuring out who your learners are, what they like, what their interests are, what their strengths and what their weaknesses are and then allowing for some differentiations.

I was thinking about my juniors and one of the anchor texts that the juniors read is The Great Gatsby. So I've got Chloe who is an avid reader but she doesn't like to read classic literature; she likes to read urban fiction. But she's a pretty good reader. I also have a student in that same class, Xavier, who is not a very good reader, he struggles, he's got an IEP, he's got delayed stress syndrome from an awful experience he had a couple years ago but I think I have to figure out how can he be exposed to The Great Gatsby as well. And so I wrote a little grant, got 15 iPods and I've been downloading - Pardon me?

Franki: That's fun. Fifteen iPods, that's good.

Cris: Yeah. So I've been downloading the novels on to those iPods and letting the kids who are struggling with the anchor texts read those, listen to the literature as well as follow along in their books. It's been interesting because like Victor who will always use the iPod for the first couple of chapters and then he gives it back to me and says now he's into the book to Xavier who is - his fluency is getting better, his automaticity is getting better, his vocabulary is getting better but what's really cool is instead of him trying to fake read or just checkout he's now participating in the discussions. He's doing more of the written work and I think that for me is where this whole equity piece is coming in. It's not a matter of gender or race or ethnicity. It's this idea of are we letting all kids be exposed to great works.

Cholea said to me the other day that she was in the dentist office and she said, "I'm just so proud of myself that I read The Great Gatsby. I was talking to grownups about it and I even told this one grownup that I read the book on my own." And I just kind of laughed and I said that's great. That empowerment - yeah.

I think that with workshop model you've got that required text, you gotta figure out how to fit choice in but you also then gotta figure out how are you going to give kids of all levels access to great material. Not dumbing it down but are there other ways. And I think the more I learn about technology the more possibilities there are of really meeting those needs of kids who are struggling with the reading piece.

Franki: Cris, your new work is focused on assessment. Can you talk about assessments that you do and how that really supports student learning?

Cris: Well this new book that's gonna come out in July it looks at workshop model as a structure for assessment. And I think for me the workshop allows me to collaborate with students and their meaning making versus catching them not knowing. And I think this fits in really well with what I'm learning about assessment. Being upfront with kids saying here's what I want you to know and be able to do, here's how I'm gonna assesses it. I'm gonna show you what I figure out and then together we're gonna try and get smarter. And that's a whole different way of looking at assessment than the way I was assessed.

I think that teachers do not need anymore data. What they need are ways to use that data to help kids grow. And when I look at workshop model in every component of workshop model there is an assessment piece. The opening structure is a two or three minute time when I can tell kids what the learning targets are and how I'm gonna assess those learning targets. The mini lesson is a time for me to teach something specifically that kids need based on the work they left me the previous day. The kids get to work and while they're working I'm conferring which allows me to differentiate instruction. It also allows me to give some real time feedback.

And then that whole debriefing part is opportunity for kids to be meta-cognitive about their learning and self reflect. And I think as I read the research that's what I'm realizing a lot of kids aren't getting to do. They're not getting to self reflect on what they did well and what they need to do next to get better.

I think workshop model once again is just that system and that structure for allowing me to fit in all the mandates that administrators are expecting teachers to do. It allows me to fit in formative assessments, it allows me to make sure kids are doing more of the work, it allows me to differentiate instruction and if I don't plan with that workshop in mind I end up just talking too much.

Franki: You mentioned that we have plenty of data these days. How do you balance the assessment that really informs your teaching on a daily basis with the high stakes mandated testing that is taking up some times these days?

Cris: Balancing the data is just how much data versus how you're gonna use it is just so tricky. I think by the time students get to that secondary level there's so many different assessments that the kids have to take. I'm really being selfish about the assessments that I do in my own classroom and they're ending up being mostly formative assessments. They are things that allow me to see what the kids need right now so I can plan for tomorrow.

So my students all have work folders and within those work folders is everything from the last nine weeks for a unit of study so they can see growth within that nine weeks. I have little files for each kid where I'll collect a piece of annotated text quarterly, I'll collect their summative data, I'll collect common assessments that we designed in PLCs. I also have my conferring notebook where it's not very fancy at all; it's just quick notes whenever I confer with a kid so I can then go back and see what we were working on two months ago. I can show the kids hey this is what we talked about; how have you gotten better at it?

I think the balancing between all this data is not waiting for the data coach to come tell you what you need to do next or the pacing guide to tell you where to go. I think the data has to be something that you can show a kid of where they've been, where they are now and where they need to go. And I think teachers have to take back control of that data piece a little bit more and not just be at the mercy of it.

Franki: That's smart. You keep mentioning student involvement in the assessment. Can you talk specifically about that piece? It sounds like you and your students are kind of talking back and forth on where they're going next, where they've been, how they've gotten smarter. Are there things in place for you to do that?

Cris: The student involvement piece is relatively new for me. I think within the last three years really starting to realize the kids have to be part of this. I know that sounds - I know I'm a little late in figuring that one out. But I think for them to care about getting better they've got to know where they're starting at. I always talk about athletic coaches but they do this so well. At the beginning of the season they take stats on how fast kids can run, how high they can jump, they're constantly going back and measuring that to see if kids are getting better. And I think there's something in human nature that's really gratifying seeing growth.

And there's this great quote by William Butler Yeats where he talks about you know happiness is not this, it's not that, it's merely growth. And I think that human beings want to know that they're getting better. And for a lot of my kids and I think my struggling readers for years taught me this, struggling readers don't really care about their data because they know it's bad and they know they've never gotten any better. And so my goal is to show struggling readers - I want to give them the same rush that advanced students have. Really good students love taking tests because they always see how smart they are. So I want my strugglers to also see that they're getting better and they're getting smarter.

So I've always been really open about any data that's collected on the kids, any data that I've collected on the kids. And interestingly enough they're more curious and more interested in knowing how they've done on test. They're not as surprised. I think there's something - we're working together to get better.

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Cris Tovani on Reading Workshops with High School Students (PODCAST)

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In this podcast, Franki Sibberson chats with Cris Tovani about using a reading workshop model with high school students. A full transcript of the podcast is available below the player. Franki: Cris, you worked with kids in grades 1 thru 12. How does the workshop model support kids at all ages and stages of literacy development?