Reading Workshop is in full swing! Basically that means that on any given Tuesday or Thursday afternoon, eighteen lucky girls can be found spread out all over the 8th grade library reading books of their choice and/or writing in their reading journals for 90 uninterrupted minutes. (Ask your 8th grader for details.) The immense popularity as well as success of this venture is based on a very simple tenet: if a girl (it works for boys too!) is allowed to read what truly interests her, she will read voraciously and will eventually develop her tastes and talents as an intelligent, informed reader. While one or two of this year’s 8th graders have self-identified as reluctant readers who struggle with the notion – not to mention the reality – of sustained, quiet reading, the vast majority of the class of 2010 seems to be reveling in the expansive literary freedom that Reading Workshop affords them. As one 8th grader put it in her RW Journal: “Let me just say that Reading Workshop is my favorite class so far this year. Having time to just read and talk about books is purely a dream!”
(The reading journal is a place where students can exchange thoughts, impressions, questions, suggestions and the like about reading and literature with each other as well as with me. In it we write back and forth to one another about anything and everything literary, nothing too terribly formal or fine-tuned, more just an ongoing written conversation about what we’re reading, how it impacts as well as educates us and why. )
Here are the general guidelines we follow:
RULES FOR READING WORKSHOP
1. You must read a book. Magazines, newspapers and comic books (Anime) don’t have the chunks of text you need to develop fluency, and they won’t help you discover who you are as a reader of literature.
2. Don’t read a book you don’t like. Don’t waste time with a book you don’t love when there are so many great ones out there waiting for you.
3. If you don’t like a book, find another one. Browse, ask me or a friend for a recommendation, do an internet search (Amazon.com always has reviews and such) or check in with our Reading Workshop 2010 group on “Goodreads.com” for recommendations.
4. It’s all right to reread a book you love. This is what readers do!
5. It’s okay to skim or skip parts if you get bored or stuck; readers do this, too!
6. Record every book you finish or abandon through our Goodreads.com “Reading Workshop 2010” group site. Be sure to write solid reviews about the books you finish and a quick commentary as to why you abandon a book, using the comment boxes provided for such purposes on the Good Reads site. Collect data about yourself as a reader, look for patterns, and take satisfaction in your accomplishments over time.
7. Understand that reading is thinking. Do nothing to distract me or other readers. Don’t put your words in our brains as we’re trying to escape into the worlds created by the authors of our books. Simply put: Reading Workshop is a quiet endeavor!
8. When you confer with me, use as soft a voice as I use when I talk to you: whisper!
9. Read (and/or write in your reading journal) the entire class period.
10. Read as well and as much as you can!
The goal here is obvious: we’re seeking to explore and enhance our literary territories as well as firmly establish intentional reading as a life-long habit. As I explained to our 8th graders, reading – interaction with the written word – will necessarily be a central part of their lives for the next eight years…at a bare minimum!
