Changing English II to a Reading and Writing Workshop

[Heather Stringham]

I apologize that this blog may not be very organized.
Last year I taught all seniors with two Advanced Placement Literature and Composition. I switched to a different school, and now I am teaching four classes of sophomore English and one class of freshman English. After two years of primarily teaching with the skills necessary in Advanced Placement, I am now struggling with students who are not readers or writers. I read Kelly Gallagher's Readicide, and I started a Silent Sustained Reading program, but I still feel that I am not focusing on the reading skills that these students need. I have also noticed that my students need more time to be writing as well. We are at the moment reading To Kill a Mockingbird in class out loud because the students won't read on their own, and we do not have enough books. I just don't think that this allows the focus on reading and writing that needs to occur in the classroom.
I want to be able to focus on reading and writing skills, so I was wondering if changing the format after 11 weeks to a reading and writing workshop is harmful to my students. I also do not know exactly how to organize this change. I have 52 minute classes everyday. I was thinking about a writing workshop format, but I need to do the reading as well. Is there anyone out in the Ning that can be of help. What are your ideas about giving up a more traditional program (reading novels, writing essays) for a workshop format? Please advise!
Thanks,
Heather

[Eric T. MacKnight]

Have a look at my Gr. 9 class blog, here: http://www.EricMacKnight.com/myp9a. My students' only homework is Independent Reading, and they journal each book on the blog. They also write responses to the lit we study together, and they comment on each others' work. I have a majority of students whose first language is not English, and who are not American, so with 'To Kill a Mockingbird' we watched the movie first, then began reading the book in class. Having seen the movie made the book MUCH more accessible and understandable to them. When they finish the book they will blog about the differences between the book and the movie. Then we will broaden the discussion to a consideration of why racism exists, and whether anything can be done to end it or prevent it.

A class blog is a HUGE advantage. It gives students a real audience to write for, it provides a community of learners with a discussion forum beyond the classroom, and it allows them to learn from each other in so many ways.

[Kate Thomas]

Heather, I think you should go for it! For the past few years I have taught a writing class as an elective to 9th and 10th graders. We used the writer's workshop format, but we still needed some sort of input to generate the need and inspiration for writing. I switched to using literature circles with high interest novels to get my kids engaged. They were so intrigued by novels like Sold and the Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian, that they were willing to buy the books and read on their own. Finding young adult novels that still have that "literary" appeal could hook your readers for the first readers workshop. Later, you could incoporate some required reading once they understand the environment and how readers and writers act. This means you may have to buys some books... if you need any suggestions for high-interest titles, let me know.
By the way, now I teach 10 grade ELA and we still use the reader's/ writer's workshop format. I love using literature circles whenever we can because it allows for students to be exposed to many different titles during the final presentations. We are wrapping up a unit on dystopian literature that ended up going really well. This way of teaching allows for students to discover the love of reading instead of the need for reading which is so often drilled into their heads.

[Megan Kelly]

Hi Heather,
I switched to workshop classes this year and it is working out so well. I also have 50 minutes classes, so I alternate days, like Jennifer suggested. My school already has a Quiet Reading block built into the day and part of the students' homework every night is to read for 30 minutes. I also started with a few weeks of just writing workshop to get them in the flow. The reading workshop was easy to introduce, they already love to read. Good luck!

[Margie-Margaret]

I'm changing midstream! And I'm doing something similar to what you suggest, Jennifer. Last Spring (?)I read Readacide during the Ning bookclub, but I didn't quite make the switch over during 1st quarter when we studied TKAM. This year, along with my English II, I'm teaching AP Literature for the first time, so I've been faced with the realization that I'm teaching skills to my seniors and not to my sophomores as much. Starting next week we begin SSR daily. On MWF I'm going to focus on reading skills with Caesar (required) and T-TH I'm going to focus on writing skills. I figure, "Why wait?" I don't feel good about how the first quarter went--I HAVE to change it since I KNOW better now. I hope it works--good luck to you! Margie

[Jennifer Lawler]

Delete Comment Hi Heather,
I too have read Readicide, and give you a lot of credit for being willing to overhaul your classroom mid-year based on Kelly's recommendations. I know a lot of teachers who would just say, "I'll do it differently next year," and then never end up changing anything. I wonder if you could schedule certain days as reading workshop other days as writing workshop. For example, M-W-F are reading workshop days and T-R are writing workshop days, or whatever works best for you. Since you are making such a dramatic change, I wonder if it would be good to introduce them one at a time. For example, introduce reading workshop first for a couple of week, or with a particular work that you are teaching, and then once students have kind of gotten into the new structure, begin to incorporate writers workshop as well. I think this may be easier to the students to adjust to, as well as for you as the teacher. I look forward to hearing more about your transition.