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Traditional Approach
In a traditional approach classroom, students are reading together as a whole group.
Students are not given the time to read independently, and at their own independent reading
level. Students are all reading text at the same level; the problem with students reading at the
same level is that some students are not being challenged and some students are falling behind!
When I think of a traditional approach I think of teachers who use a basal. When I first started
teaching I was handed a basal and expected to use that as the primary source of teaching reading.
Now, I am expected (and for the last four years) to incorporate the reading workshop into my
classroom.
Next, I will go into detail about each aspect of the workshop and how it is run in my
classroom. Along with discussing the workshop and how it is run in my classroom, I will also
discuss the various ways of organizing my groups for reading instruction, the parts of a reading
workshop, and the roles of the students and teachers in a reading workshop. I will also discuss
how this approach supports my diverse students needs, interests, and abilities across grade
levels.
Serafinis Guiding Principles
Serafini (2001) has a set of principles that he adheres to in the reading workshop. The
principles are opportunity, choice, response, relevance/authenticity, space, faith, and uncertainty.
Students need to have the opportunity to become successful readers. Students can
become successful by reading a variety of text that they choose. They also need to have the
opportunity to interact with their peers about their texts (Serafini, 2001).
Students need to have choice when they are reading. They need to be able to choose the
books that they read so that they can become engaged with the text (Serafini, 2001). I expect my
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students to read different genres but I allow them to choose the topics they want to read about. I
am currently having difficulties with some students reading both fiction and nonfiction. I have a
student who loves to read fiction but does not like to read nonfiction books. He loves cats, so I
checked out some nonfiction books on cats. He has now read a total of three nonfiction books
about cats in only two weeks!
Literature choices significantly affect students' potential to connect life experiences with
the texts they read at school, especially because literature contributes to students' understanding
of themselves and how other people view and value them (Taylor, 2001, p.47). I think it is
important for students to choose books on their reading level so that they feel comfortable and
confident in reading and understanding the text. It is also imperative that students are able to
choose books that are of high interest to them so that they enjoy reading! Not allowing students
to choose books that are of interest to them is setting them up for failure. This will also
disengage students from reading.
Students need feedback not only from their teachers and peers, but they also need to be
able to reflect on themselves (Serafini, 2001). I consistently give my students feedback and give
them time to discuss their text with their peers; but having the students reflect on their own
reading achievement is something I can work on as a teacher to improve my reading workshop.
Another principle is relevance/authenticity. Students often wonder what is the purpose of
the lesson? When you are able to relate the lesson and their reading of the text to the real world
students will become better readers (Serafini, 2001). This year a week before September 11, I
showed my students some different text and videos (fifth grade appropriate) about September
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th
. Before I even started discussing 9/11, one of my students checked out books from the
library about 9/11. I asked him about it, and he said that he loved learning about 9/11.
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Discussing this is relevant because it is about the country that we live in. I believe that some
students did not find it relevant because they were not born in 2001. I shared my experiences
about 9/11 and they started asking lots of questions and wanted to watch more videos and read
more books about the topic! Most of my students found relevance in this topic and were
certainly engaged and engrossed in it!
Another way that I help my students find relevance in their reading is checking out high-
interest books for my students on a weekly basis. I check out different genres, graphic novels,
holiday topics, etc. For example, in October I check out books about Fall/Autumn, Halloween
books, and Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) books. I have a large population of Hispanic
students in my classroom so I try to incorporate Hispanic text when able. Since I have many
students who are Hispanic and celebrate Dia De Los Muertos I allow them to start the
conversation on this topic. I also look for other types of bilingual text and incorporate that into
my library as well.
Serafini (2001) suggests that students have physical and psychological space. When I
think of space I think of physical space. I allow my students to sit in the library on beanbags or
sit somewhere else comfortable in the classroom. I do not want them wondering around the
classroom during independent reading time, but I do want them to be comfortable. Until I did
more research on Serafini and the Reading Workshop, I did not think about the psychological
space that students need. Students need to be able to try out new ideas and have teachers and
peers support their reading skills (Serafini, 2001).
Taylors Elements of a Reading Workshop
According to Taylor (2001), here are the elements of a successful readers workshop:
time, choice, response, community, structure, mini-lessons, and sharing. Time refers to students
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being able to have the time to read the books they choose. Choice refers to students being able to
choose the books that are interesting to them. Response refers to discussing about their text,
making notes about their text, completing tasks on their text, etc. Community refers to having a
safe classroom where students can learn and become responsible for themselves. Structure refers
to students being able apply the knowledge to their own reading that they learned from the mini-
lesson. In the mini-lesson students are learning a skill or strategy that they will end up applying
to their own reading. It is important that the students are able to share what they learned (Taylor,
2001). These will also be an informal assessment for teachers. Did the students understand the
mini-lesson?
Reading Workshop in My Classroom
I wanted to begin this part of my paper with a quote from Lucy Calkins, who really does
say it best!
We pull out all the stops in an effort to help all of our students to become avid readers.
We wear a love of reading on our own sleeves, help students fashion their identities as
people who care about reading, create a social life that revolves around shared books, and
above all we help students develop a sense of agency about their reading lives, taking
responsibility for the kinds of readers who not only make sense of books, but who also let
books change their lives (Calkins, 2010, p. 121)
At my school we have a Wide Independent Prescriptive Reading Block (WIPR Block). I
want to share with you how the WIPR Block is operated in the classroom. Here is an outline of
how it is set-up in the classroom. Next I will go into detail about each part of the WIPR Block.
Even though at my school we call it the WIPR Block, it has the same components of a Reading
Workshop!
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-Setting the Purpose (Mini-Lesson on Reading Skill)
-Independent Reading (Focus on Skill)/ Small Group Instruction/ Conferencing
-Guided Reflection
Wide Independent Prescriptive Reading Block
5-20 minutes 45-50 minutes 5-10 minutes
Set the Purpose Independent Reading

Guided Reflection
Mini-lesson/
Interactive Read Aloud/
Concept Review Mini-lesson
Conferencing/
Strategy Groups/
Book Quizzing
Connection back to purpose/
Status of the Class
(This table shows the length of each component of the WIPR Block. This table also shows what
students and teachers are doing at this time.)

Setting the Purpose
Setting the Purpose is meant to be a mini-lesson that focuses on a specific skill. The
students use this skill to help guide their reading. By focusing on the skill, students are able to
comprehend the text in a deeper way. I want students to be able to articulate their reasons for
reading and evaluate whether their goals have been met by the reading event (Serafini, 2004, p.
15). In my classroom, students have reading goals and they know that when they are reading
independently they are working on these goals.
When setting the purpose, I usually use a text to help teach the skill. I always plan what
text I am going to use and I will mark important parts in the text with a post-it-note (Calkins,
2011). For example, last week the students were learning about Scientific Text. I had students
turn-and-talk with a partner and discuss what they think a scientific text might be. I then had
them share with the whole group. I then took a scientific text and shared one page with the
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students. I told the students this is scientific text and then I asked them how do you know this
is scientific text based on what I just read? I then had the students again turn-and-talk to discuss
with a partner. The students told me I know this is scientific text because. Some of the
responses that I received from the students were; the text talks about the world, the text has text
features, the text has cause and effect relationships, etc. I added these responses to the anchor
chart on scientific text. Throughout the week I continued reading different types of scientific
text in hopes that students would be able to see the different kinds of scientific texts and use this
knowledge to add to the class anchor chart.

(Here is an example of an anchor chart about comparing and contrasting stories that I created
with my students.)

Independent Reading
After students are introduced to the skill, then they are applying this knowledge of the
skill to their independent reading. I assign a task that the students can work on while they are
independently reading, so that I can quickly assess whether or not they understand the skill.
Typically I have students write their task on their own white board so that I can scan the room
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and see who and who has not completed the task. If a particular students has not written
anything on their white board than I can infer that they might not understand the skill yet and I
might need to pull them for extra help. Students will share their task at the end of independent
reading, which will be during guided reflection. (I will go into more detail about guided
reflection later in this writing).
To continue with the same example from setting the purpose, students will look for
scientific text in their own independent reading books. I supplied the students with many books
on scientific text. I checked out about 30-40 scientific texts so that students could be exposed to
this kind of text. I do not always ask the students to look at specific text during independent
reading time, but because of this particular skill I did ask them to look at specific texts. After
students read a scientific text on their reading level and did the required task, I allow them to go
back to reading a book of their choice on their reading level. The task I had students complete at
this time was on their white boards; I asked them to write down how they knew it was a
scientific text and at least one example of how they knew it was a scientific text.
An example of a students reading task might look like this: I know this is a scientific text
because there are many text features in this text such as the table of contents, glossary, and
headings. Then the students could write down the table of contents, glossary, and headings. By
having the students write this information down, it has them focus on their reading, reading
comprehension, and reading skill.
Although for this skill (scientific text), I supplied students with lots of examples of
scientific text; students could also show me that they had an understanding of scientific text if
they were able to tell me that their text was a non-example. For example, if students said I am
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not reading a scientific text because and then give me the reason why it is not a scientific text,
then I know that the student understands scientific text.


(Here is an example of a reading task that my student completed. The student let me know how
he knew this was a scientific text.)


(Here is an example of a reading task that my student completed. The student let me know how
she knew this was NOT a scientific text.)
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Small Group Reading Instruction
This is my sixth year teaching at Goldfarb Elementary School. I have taught second, first
and am currently in fifth grade. Up until this year our small reading groups have been the same.
This year instead of reading groups we have what is called strategy groups. These groups are
much more fluid and are constantly changing on a weekly and sometimes even daily basis.
In years past, when I taught my students in reading groups, I mostly kept the same
students in the same groups throughout the year. I had a low, middle, and high group. (Students
who are achieving below, on average, and above their peers.) I would work with the low
students everyday. I would work with the middle students three times a week (Monday,
Wednesday, Friday). I would work with the high students twice a week (Tuesday and
Thursday). My reasoning behind this was because some of my students needed more time in
reading groups and some students needed less. In small groups we mostly focused on fluency
and comprehension when reading.
This year instead of reading groups, we have what is called strategy groups. Like I
mentioned earlier, these groups are much more fluid and are constantly changing! Strategy
groups are new and something I am still trying to perfect. When students are in these groups,
teachers are able to work with these students on the skills that they need more efficiently. This
also benefits shy students who might not want to share whole group; but feel more comfortable
sharing with a small group of students (Muschla, 1997).
Currently, I am pulling small groups of students based on their posstest reading scores.
For example, I look at the students posttest score and pull groups based on this score. If the
skill of the week is Scientific Text and the students do not pass this test, the next week I will pull
a small group of students who did not pass.
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On Monday, the students take a prettest. For example, if the students take a pretest on
Technical Text and they do not pass (which is acceptable since its a pretest) I will pull them in a
small group. The reason I do this is because I want to work with them extra this week so that
they will succeed on the posttest. Some students do well on the pretest; they might get an A, B,
or C. I will not pull them in small groups because they already have an idea of the skill that they
are working on for the week. I am going to work with the students who will benefit from this
extra help the most.
Conferencing
During the independent reading block, students are reading, working on a skill of the
week task, completing a license to quiz (fiction or nonfiction graphic organizer), conferencing,
and/or participating in a strategy group. Our independent reading block is about 45 minutes to
one hour daily.
As a teacher it is important to conference with the students during the independent
reading time. Here are some reasons that it is necessary for teachers to conference with their
students. When students are talking with their teacher about the text they are reading it gives the
students a chance to make meaning and comprehend what they are reading. It is also a great way
for teacher to assess their students strengths and weaknesses. Teachers are also able to set goals
during reading conferences for individual students (Taylor, 2001).
Students can also conference with other students at this time. Now that it is October, I
am finally starting to feel that my students are able to conference with other students. For the
month of September, I only conferenced with students and did not allow student- to- student
conferencing. During this time, I was modeling for my students what types of questions were
being asked during the conferences. Now some of my students are ready to conference with
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other students. Student-centered conferring can happen when teachers are aware of their own
experiences, ask direct questions about student thinking, probe for further elaboration, and wait
for students to join the conversation (Porath, 2014, p. 627).
The conferences that take place in my classroom are formal and informal conferences.
Informal conferences are when I am asking students about their reading goals, reading ranger
goals, reading level, etc. These informal conferences only last about one to two minutes. Formal
conferences are when I am looking for students understanding of a specific skill that I have
previously taught. I might also conference with the students about a book that they are currently
reading. Formal conferences usually take about five minutes.
Guided Reflection
After students read independently for about 45-60 minutes we meet back together for
guided reflection. The length of the independent reading depends on how long the mini-lesson
lasted. At the beginning of the week when the skill is introduced it usually takes longer to
introduce and teach the skill. By the end of the week, the students have been introduced to the
skill and do not need as much time for the skill to be reinforced. It also depends on the difficulty
of the skill. The more difficult the skill, the more time the students might need for the mini-
lesson.
During independent reading, students are given a task to complete for guided reflection.
At the end of independent reading, students will meet whole group. I will first have my students
turn-and-talk. When students are turning-and-talking, I can walk around and listen to who
understands the skill and who does not (Nichols, 2006). It also benefits my students who are
learning a second language, to first talk with a peer before they are expected to share out in a
whole group.
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After students are able to talk with a peer, I will then ask for volunteers to share whole
group. At the beginning of the week, I will ask for volunteers. By the end of the week, everyone
is expected to share a learning task that they have completed. This way the students who did not
quite grasp the skill on the first or second day will be able to see examples and models of their
classmates reading tasks.
When working with students we cannot use a program that will work for all students. All
of our students are diverse learners who learn in different ways. Serafini (2001) states, we must
become reflective practitioners who continually question our practice, keep an open mind
about the methods and experiences we provide in our classrooms, and use assessments to inquire
into the needs, abilities, and interests of our students (p.13).













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References
Calkins, L. (2010). A guide to the reading workshop. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Retrieved
from
http://www.heinemann.com/shared/onlineresources/E00871/RUOS_Guide_PlanningaCur
riculum.pdf
Calkins, L. (2011). Curricular plans for the reading workshop. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Retrieved from
http://www.heinemann.com/shared/onlineresources/E04301/CalkCurrPlanREADING_sa
mpler.pdf
Muschla, G.R. (1997). Reading workshop survival kit. West Nyack, NY: The Center for Applied
Research in Education.
Nichols, M. (2006). Comprehension through conversation: The power of purposeful talk
in the reading workshop. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Porath, S. (2014). Talk less, listen more: Conferring in the reader's workshop. The Reading
Teacher, 67(8), 627-635. Retrieved from
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/store/10.1002/trtr.1266/asset/trtr1
266.pdf?v=1&t=i1pr8tho&s=91cd551e164de48d135ac48327bf56e736f8596f
Taylor, S. V., & Nesheim, D. W. (2001). Creating meaning in a reader's workshop. Principal
Leadership: High School Edition, 2(2), 47-51.
Serafini, F. (2001). The reading workshop: Creating space for readers. Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann.
Serafini, F. (2004). Lessons in comprehension: Explicit instruction in the reading workshop.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
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