Remind 101 ELA Class Codes:
6th: @929d8b 7th: @32gfaf 8th: @gcgcd4 9th: @4k9742c
Reading & Writing Workshop Model
Doral Academy uses a reading and writing workshop model influenced by Nancie Atwell and Lucy Calkins. In this model, students are taught a mini-lesson and then apply the concept from the lesson to either their reading or their writing during class. The teacher is able to confer with students on a daily basis and more successfully differentiate instruction to meet each student's individual needs.
Furthermore, a reading and writing workshop is a learning environment in which students grow in fluency and comprehension through sustained silent reading, sustained writing, booktalks, and letter-essays. Students remain engaged in their reading and writing because they have choice in what they read and write, what they abandon, and how long it takes them to work through a book or piece of writing.
It is important to provide students with this opportunity to read and write because, according to research conducted by the National Endowment of the Arts "only 27 percent of eleven to fourteen-year-olds read books outside of school," and even fewer write outside of school (In the Middle, 22). Furthermore, the amount of time a student spends reading is a "significant predictor of a child's academic success... The National Assessment of Educational Progress reports that the top five percent of students in the United States read up to 144 times more than the kids in the bottom five percent" (In the Middle, 30).
Considering this data, as well as the fact that students become better readers by reading and better writers by writing, it is imperative in reading and writing workshop that students are provided with the time to read and write and receive feedback from the teacher and peers.
A Typical Workshop Day
The class period is one hour long. Mondays through Thursdays typically look like this:
- The first 20 minutes of class is spent taking care of business and completing GLUP (Grammar and Language Usage Practice).
- Next, I usually present a ten to twenty-minute mini-lesson to students, either related to writing or reading.
- Once the mini-lesson is presented, students are asked to apply their learning to their reading or writing with the 20 minutes remaining.
On Mondays, seventh and eighth grade students receive a set of 5-10 Latin and Greek root words, prefixes and suffixes to study throughout the week. Tests over the terms are on the following Fridays. Following Latin, students engage in Author's Chair, which is a time for two or three students to present their writing aloud to the whole class. Every student must sit in the Author's Chair at least once each quarter. Peers provide "stars" (praise and encouragement) and "wishes" (constructive criticism) to the authors.
A Word About Reading
Reading for pleasure is an endangered activity that is on the verge of becoming extinct. Perhaps I am speaking in hyperbole, but look at the statistics that potentially support this seemingly over-the-top idea.
In 2002 the National Endowment for the Arts conducted an extensive reading survey. Reading at Risk, as the survey is titled, found that, in regard to reading for pleasure "the rate of decline is increasing and... has nearly tripled in the last decade... Indeed, at the current rate of loss, literary reading as a leisure activity will virtually disappear in half a century."
Also, a 2014 report released by Common Sense Media that draws on data collected by Scholastic as well as The National Center for Education Statistics states that "reading for fun drops off dramatically as children get older, and rates among all children - especially teens - have fallen precipitously in recent years."
Furthermore, The New Yorker 2016 article "Do Teens Read Seriously Anymore?" by David Denby also examines the issue of teens reading for pleasure less and less, especially as they age. "Reading anything serious has become a chore, like doing the laundry or prepping a meal for a kid brother. Or, if it’s not a chore, it’s just an activity, like swimming or shopping, an activity like any other. It’s not something that runs through the rest of their lives."
These facts are alarming to ELA teachers. But there is hope. As Denby states later in his article, "If teachers can make books important to kids—and forge the necessary link to pleasure and need—those kids may turn off the screens [that vie for their attention and take the place of consistent reading]." It is, therefore, my job and my delight to make the act of reading both pleasurable and wanted. And the more one reads, the better one becomes at reading.
Sacred Reading Time (Individualized Daily Reading)
Sacred Reading Time will occur during class on Fridays. This is time devoted to reading during which everyone reads a novel of their choosing. Graphic novels, poetry, biographies, autobiographies, and novels of all school-appropriate genres are allowed during this time. Students are expected to bring their book with them to class every day so they can read when assignments are finished early.
At-Home Required Reading
Elementary school students are usually required to read at home for homework so that they can become proficient at the newly acquired skill of reading. But so often, once students reach middle school, reading for homework is no longer required. This is unfortunate given the above data.
At Doral Academy, middle school students are required to read daily outside of the ELA classroom. Not only does reading a vast amount of literature help students to read better, but wearing another person's shoes, so to speak, through reading also helps develop empathy, understanding, humor, perception, judgement, and a host of other character traits necessary for having successful and satisfying relationships, jobs, and communities.
- The requirement at Doral Academy is 20 minutes of reading literature every day outside of the ELA classroom.
A Word About Writing
According to educator and author Nancie Atwell, "Writers need regular, frequent chunks of time that they can count on, anticipate, and plan for. When teachers make time for writing - when we designate it a high-priority activity of English class - students take on the habits-of-mind of writers" (27, In the Middle).
Research conducted by Donald Graves, educator and writing researcher, shows that students need at least three class periods a week to grow significantly as writers.
"Without at least three writing classes a week, students will not - cannot - learn to write well. Writers of any age build quality on a foundation of quantity. Without sufficient time to produce drafts and consider and reconsider what they have written, most kids won't achieve clarity, meaning, or conventionality of usage" (27, In the Middle).
Sacred Writing Time (Individualized Daily Writing)
With these things in mind, ELA at Doral Academy includes Sacred Writing Time on Fridays - time devoted to writing in which the student has chosen and developed the topic of his or her choosing.
Author's Chair
In tandem with Sacred Writing is Author's Chair. Each student will sit in the Author's Chair at least once a quarter. This is time when students share with their peers what they have written and receive both encouragement and constructive feedback from those peers.
At-Home Required Writing
Students are expected to write every weekend. Atwell found that when students don't write over the weekend, they lose their momentum come Monday or Tuesday. Furthermore, time spent dreaming, writing off the page, planning, drafting, revising, and finalizing often looks different at home than it does in the classroom; there is more freedom to explore and develop ideas.
- The requirement at Doral Academy is 30 minutes of writing every weekend outside of the ELA classroom.
- Students can tackle this time in one chunk or divide the time over the course of one day or three (Friday through Sunday).
Important
Students must fill out a Reading and Writing Accountability Log, have a parent or guardian sign the log, and turn it in every month so that the required reading and writing can be verified.
What About Grammar?
Studies continue to show that traditional grammar instruction - lessons conducted out of context - is ineffectual. According to a report published by the Carnegie Foundation, "traditional grammar instruction is unlikely to help improve the quality of students’ writing." However, "a recent study (Fearn & Farnan, 2005) found that teaching students to focus on the function and practical application of grammar within the context of writing (versus teaching grammar as an independent activity) produced strong and positive effects on students’ writing" (Writing Next, 21).
With these things in mind, grammar is handled within the writing workshop as mini-lessons, is applied to writing, and is revised as needed. Each grade is taught the grammar standards they must know and is exposed to the higher grade-level standards, as well - all within the context of application within writing.
Students keep a record of the grammar rules with which they personally struggle so that they can be vigilant about getting those rules correct on final drafts.
