Reader's Workshop Series – Balancing Accountability and Choice

Read

My school uses the Accelerated Reader program (the first conflict to Miller’s approach). All of my students take the STAR/AR computer reading test to get their Independent Reading Range. I carefully instruct students on the importance of using this range as a guide for finding books, not as a restrictor. If they are highly engaged with a book beyond their range, it will help them grow as a reader…if not, they will likely abandon the book and try something more suited to their needs and interests. Either way, my student knows their reading interests and choices are highly-valued in our reading community.
When students finish reading a book, they log it in their Read and Respond Journal and have the option to take an AR quiz on the book. I like having AR as an optional tool for students because some are so intensely motivated by earning points and tracking their number of words read in a year.
As students read, a hold conferences at the back table.

Conferences

I am utterly incapable of keeping to a time limit and meeting with every child every week if I let myself conference around the room at desks and in nook. I get lost in the conversation and leave too many students out of my conference rotation. Therefore, each day, I have a different group of students read at my back table while I conference one-on-one with each of them.

This system ensures that each of my students gets 5 minutes to chat with me each week about their reading interests, struggles, and progress. During a conference, we chat about the book they are reading and I give them a quick piece of advice to help them grow as a reader in the week ahead. Advice is given based on their most recent blog post or my observations as they whisper read from their book.

Blogging

One day each week, my third graders blog using an app/website called Lino (details here). They write a Reading Rundown and then have the option to respond to one another’s rundowns or create an additional post to practice their Read and Respond skills in the “blogosphere”.

Reading Recommendations

When students finish a book, they are given the option of adding a Reading Recommendation to our classroom library wall. We display a few recommendations at a time so they are easy to read and the display does not becoming overwhelming and useless. Our recommendation archives are easily accessible nearby.

These systems ensure that reading remains the focus of our workshop but also that our time reading is, indeed, time well spent. My students and I enjoy this balance between accountability and choice.
Comment below to share what you would like to learn about next:

• a look inside our Read and Respond Journals
• using PowerPoint to manage time and transitions during reader’s workshop
• something else already mentioned that you need more detail on