Reading and Writing Workshop Training: Schedule and Posts to Come

Last week I taught a K-8 Reading and Writing Workshop course to some of my colleagues. While planning I thought back and forth about how to organize it and utilize the time available since workshop teaching encompasses a lot. I considered the time allotted (2 days) and the timing of the year (almost 2 weeks before teacher work days begin) and tried to decide what would be most helpful. I knew that it was essential to share the rationale behind workshop teaching, allow teachers to experience workshop, encourage them to focus on themselves as writers, and be able to differentiate to different grade levels. There were many ways that I could have organized the training, but this is what I decided:

Day 1:
Literacy Team Builder
Discussion of Current Issues in Literacy
Overview of Workshop Teaching
Writer's Workshop Focus (Experiencing as Learners)
Lunch
Writer's Workshop Conclusion
Reading Workshop Focus

Day 2:
Overview of Available Resources
Time to Plan/Collaborate with Grade-Level Teams

I debated back and forth about whether to have two "instructional" days or whether to have the second day be for planning and collaborating. I am glad that I decided to allow a portion of time, knowing how it feels to love ideas in a training but then feeling overwhelmed trying to plan to integrate the ideas while also juggling other aspects. While a day is not enough time to completely plan out the year or even the fall, it provided an opportunity to reflect, set up goals, and begin planning, as well as collaborating with peers. We will have follow up meetings in the fall to continue to check in and discuss successes and challenges as they implement their ideas.

I will be doing a series of posts reflecting on the workshop training. It was a valuable experience for me thinking about what is important when thinking about growing into a role of being a literacy leader beyond my own classroom. It was also important in thinking about my own journey as reader, writer, and workshop teacher.

Upcoming Posts:

• Wednesday: Setting the Tone
• Thursday: Teachers as Writers
• Friday: Launching the Workshop: Narrative Genre Study
• Saturday: Power of Seeing
• Sunday: Resources - Where to Start?
• Monday: Teacher Collaboration
• Tuesday: Other Possibilities