We want our middle grades students to become flexible, resilient readers who read for pleasure as well as for academic purposes. We want them to have a toolkit of strategies for dealing with difficulty, and we want them to know when and how to use those strategies.
To accomplish such ambitious goals, we must reconsider how we think about our classrooms and our curriculum. We can no longer conceive of the curriculum as a few books kids will master. We now recognize the value and importance of teaching a repertoire of skills and strategies to help students be more powerful in any book.
The simplicity and predictability of the workshop frees the teacher from constant choreographing so that he or she has time to observe, to listen, to assess, and to teach into specific student needs. For the bulk of time during each day, students read, and as they do, they draw upon an ever-growing repertoire of skills, tools, strategies, and habits.
In order to provide the greatest flexibility for middle school classrooms the units and guide are all sold separately. See below for a sequencing suggestion.
Of course there are many other viable options for sequencing as you begin with these first units. Keep in mind that there is a layering of complexity across the units that you will want to consider as you plan. *Note: Forthcoming Units. Titles are tentative; not yet available for preorder.
Currently there are 5 individual units published for middle school, with additional units coming soon. Each unit includes all the teaching points, minilessons, conferences, and small group work needed for the reading workshop.
Details the architecture of the minilessons, conferences and small-group strategy sessions, and articulates the management techniques needed to support an effective middle school reading workshop. (Available separately for administrators and coaches)
Each unit includes downloadable, printable files for anchor charts (English and Spanish versions) and other charts, read-aloud texts, samples of student work, bands of text complexity, links to videos, tools for learning, and homework assignments.
Purchase Recommendation: In order to provide the greatest flexibility for middle school classrooms the units and guide are all sold separately. For a sequencing suggestion, see above. Choose the bundle with the Trade Book Pack if your library does not already include the mentor texts referenced in the Unit.
