What I like about reading and writing workshops are that they take the students away from their desks, they get them moving around the room, and they give them many choices. Reading and Writing workshops are at the opposite end of the spectrum in terms of literary development. On one end, the reading and writing workshops are student centered, while the more traditional teaching of literacy focusses on teacher centered teaching. There are still many teachers that feel as though they are the ultimate source of knowledge, and that students must absorb what the teachers teach. However, students learn better when they learn on their own and given the tools that they need to learn on their own. This is another reason that I like reading and writing workshops. They give the students the tools they need and teach the students what they need to know through mini-lessons, and then give students the opportunities to apply what they are learning to real contextx through the activities in the workshops. Some feel that students won't learn through the workshops because there is less formal instruction, but the students will learn the most when they are given the opportunity to use what they have learned through the mini-lessons. Reading and writing workshops contain the conditions that Cambourne believes to be the cocndions necessary for students to learn. Cambourne says that these conditions are immersion, demonstration, engagement, expectiations, responsiblilty, approximations, employment, responses, and opportinities for transformations, discussions, reflections, and application. Overall, there is no reason not to use reading and writing workshops in your classroom.
Until next time,
*Lisa*
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I love the idea of reading and writing workshops~ I agree with Lisa, with respects that workshops are student centered and that they are extremely interactive. It is a wonderful way to stray away from the traditional method of reading and writing, while still having the same positive outcome. I also think workshops give students the tools that they need to be successful in the future when they are on their own- I think that sometimes more traditional methods are more about getting the answers (like with Basal reading books) and focusing on direct questions. Whereas workshops are more about learning through higher order thinking, instead of just looking for answers. Lisa makes a good point about students having trouble with less formal instruction- hopefully students will be able to help each other out if their peers are struggling. I think that the picture coded schedule will also be very helpful in these particular situations.
I also read the Cambourne article and thought the conditions and definitions of these conditions were very beneficial.
As Lisa stated in her blog, there really isn’t a good reason for teachers to leave workshops out of their classroom because they are very beneficial to all types of students, regardless of age and level.
-nicole lendo
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