Primary-3 Reading Workshop
This two-disc professional development series explores how several outstanding English Language Arts teachers deploy reading workshop teaching techniques at grade levels from Primary to three throughout the school year.
Basics describes the main components and attributes of a classroom reading workshop at any level in the early elementary grades.
Read Aloud/ Think Aloud explores how classroom teachers who frequently read aloud to students and demonstrate reading strategies as they go, contribute to early literacy development.
Shared Reading demonstrates how expert teachers provide a scaffold for student learning by extending modelled reading to include increasing input and initiative from students.
Small Group Instruction focuses on the role, in the development of student readers, of teacher-facilitated, small-group activity during class independent reading time.
Mini-lessons explains how the featured teachers choose topics for the “time to teach “ segment of their reading workshops and demonstrates their thoughtful deployment of the mini-lesson technique to focus and support students’ independent reading activity.
Independent Reading explains the vital importance of ample time to practice in the development of reading skills during a reading workshop.
Reflection shows the value, in every reading workshop session, of a time during which students may reflect on their practice as readers and share their achievements & challenges with their peers.
Assessment & Instruction indicates how the featured teachers integrate ongoing assessment into the routine of their reading workshops, then use it to identify student needs and adjust their practice to meet them.
All segments are punctuated by the remarks of the featured teachers and extensive live-to-tape segments of actual, unrehearsed classroom activities.