Although I am a huge advocate of the idealistic "lifelong learner" goal, I think this chapter is a little unrealistic in its goal. Very rarely does a teacher have time to spend, once a week (as suggested in the section that attempts to address the whole "time" issue) to implement a Reading Workshop on a regular basis. If teachers and students did not have standards to meet and standardized tests to take, I would say "the more reading workshops the better!"
However, in an ELA class, I think the idea of a reading workshop is great! At my high school, one of our summer reading books every year was a "Teacher Seminar Book" where in the spring, students would come to school early one morning in order to sign up for a book club, each headed by a teacher at the school (faculty members included teachers from all content areas, administrators...etc). After returning to school in the fall, students and their faculty member would have a book club-like discussion about the book. This summer reading strategy allows students to choose the book they want to read (mentioned many times throughout the book as a huge influence on students) and also it is a low stakes reading workshop because we did not have to write papers, or take a test on the novel; the teacher would assign a grade based on the students' participation in the discussion. As great as this was as a student, I do not think the benefits of a reading workshop across content areas outweighs the lost time that could be spent covering content area material.
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Hey Sarah! I actually couldn’t agree with you more about the impracticality of this section…while reading I had the same thought: how on earth can I possibly hold reading workshops when I’ve got all these different science and math concepts to cover for the impending standardized tests… Although I think it’s highly impractical to hold reading workshops once a week, I do think it would be possible to do every now and then. Perhaps instead we could have a content-area reading workshop once a semester? That way the workshop could either be done quickly or span the entire semester (sparingly). P.S, I love the Zoolander gif haha!
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Emily
I couldn't agree with you both. With there being so many Science standards needing to be covered, there is no way possible to cover all of the material in the depth needed, and hold reading workshops once a week. I do however believe that this is neat to do on the occasion. I know in the Science classes we observe; the students often have down time after tests and quizzes. This time would be perfect to use as reading time for the classroom library or even beginning the workshop. I love the way you both explained this concept. Awesome gif.
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Hi, Sarah! Thanks for the great insights. And you're right: the current standardization of education and assessment leaves teachers little space for the kind of idealistic reading workshop schedule detailed in the chapter. The book would probably benefit by honoring such concerns a bit more directly, explaining to teachers how they can adapt the model to fit their contexts. I do agree with Emily, however, when she wonders if workshops could be used on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. We'll think through other options in class. Thanks!
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