Teachers-as-Readers

A Guide to the Reading Workshop and Building a Reading Life, by Lucy Calkins
May 9-June 10, 2013
Objective of Course: We will establish and plan implementation of a common structure for Franconias
upper-grade Language Arts Block that is based on the following five commitments:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Students will receive explicit instruction in the skills of proficient reading.

Students will have the opportunity to talk and sometimes to write in response to texts.
Students will read for long stretches of time.
Students will read high-interest, accessible books of their own choosing.
Students will receive a balanced approach to language arts instruction, one that includes explicit instruction in
writing as well as in reading.

Before each meeting, we will read a bit of Calkins texts to build our knowledge around one of these commitments.
When we meet, we will discuss our reading and plan for various components of next years Language Arts workshops.
*Blue = A Guide to the Reading Workshop (Blue book)
*Red= Building a Reading Life (Red book)
*Purple = Launching the Writing Workshop (Purple book that should be in your classroom from past years)
Dat
e
May
9

Literacy
Commitm
ent

Guiding Question(s)

Reading for
long
stretches of
time

What is the background

information behind these five
commitments and how do I feel
about them?
If we commit to these principles,
what changes might this mean
for my language arts block?
How do we provide students with
long stretches of time to read?

Reading to be
completed BEFORE
this meeting

Blue: p.7-13
(background on
five principles;
can skip over
assessment
section)
Blue: p.21-32
(materials)
Red: p. iv v (skim
Table of Contents

Quotable Quote

This (reading log) isnt a

way for me to keep track
of you; its a place for
you to be honest about
your own reading, a tool
to help you grow as a
reader and make your
reading life your own
(Red, p.36).

with Teaching
Points)
May
13

May
20

Reading
highinterest,
accessible
books of
their own
choosing

Receiving
explicit
instruction
in the skills
of
proficient
reading

How do we equip every students

with high-interest, accessible
books of his/her own choosing?

How do we provide explicit

instruction in the skills, strategies
and habits of proficient reading?
What specific teaching points
might serve as our focus lessons
for the Getting Started unit
next year?

Blue: p.23-24
(Provisioning
Classrooms with
Books)
Red: Skim p.1-17
(Lesson #1:
Learning from
Best and Worst
Reading Times)

Its one things for a

child to take three days
to read a book his friend
loved, promising to have
lots of conversation to
help him along. Its quite
another for a child to lug
a giant Harry Potter book
to and from school for
four months as she
inches her way through
it (Blue, p.24).

Blue: p.30-31
(Skills and
Strategies of
Proficient
Reading)
Blue: p.47-55
(Minilessons)

Sometimes I try to
explain the reading
workshop to a teacher
from my generation and
her eyes will light up and
shell say, Oh! I get it!
So its like DEAR time!
Thats a sign to me that I
have a lot more
explaining to do. Weve
come to realize that
youngsters need explicit
direct instruction in the
skills, strategies, and
habits of proficient
readers. That instruction
happens every minute of
the reading workshop,

from the first to the last

minute, but it starts with
the minilesson (Blue, p.
47).

June
3

Opportunit
y to talk
and
sometimes
to write in
response to
texts

How do we facilitate meaningful

talk about reading?
What are our expectations for
writing about reading?

June
10

Receiving a
balanced
approach
to language
arts, one
that
includes

How do we plan for a balanced

approach to language arts, one
that includes a responsible
approach to the teaching of
writing?

Blue: p.85-90
(enhancing readalouds)
Blue: p.90-98
(Chapter 9:
Writing About
Reading)
Red: ix (Overview
of working with
partners)
If youre excited,
skim Red p.166193 (Lessons to
Teach Reading in
Partnership With
Others)

Readers who have been

invited to convey their
ideas in writing about
books often develop a
passion about literature
and a writerly
relationship with reading.
But readers who have
been forced to write
about their books often
dislike reading all the
more because of the
writing that is nestled
within reading. Be
careful. When working
with writing about
reading, you are playing
with fire (Blue, p.98).

Purple: p. IV-17
(overview of first
writing unit and
Lesson #1)

I often ask leaders of a

school system to tell me
what the promise is that
they make to youngsters
who enroll in their
school How is it, then
that so often the school

direct
instruction
in writing

system says to
youngsters, Writing?
Maybe youll lucky out
and get a teacher who
teaches writing.
Otherwise, youll do
Halloween writing,
Mothers Day writing,
and spring haikus. But
dont worry- youll be
tested in writing. In fact,
you wont be able to do
well in half the subjects
you encounter later if
you dont write well
(Blue, p.13).