[Rotating Photo]

Reading Workshop

Reading Workshop is a powerful way to structure your reading class. Using this model involves encouraging your students to choose their own books as well as providing significant amounts of time for them to read independently. By allowing your students to choose their own books, you can foster a love of reading that will last a lifetime. Research shows that when children spend more time reading, they become better readers. With a little guidance and encouragement from a teacher who loves to read, students can learn to select appropriate books and discover joy in reading.  To find out more about this approach, select one of the topics below or scroll through the items on this page.

Empowering Readers Learning Community 

Because I've had such great success with this approach, I'm working on a book that shares specific strategies for how to implement Reading Workshop. To learn how you can read the early drafts of this book and become a part of the private Empowering Readers discussion group, visit the Empowering Readers Learning Community page. You can also download a preview of the first 10 pages of the book to see what it's all about.

Other Reading Workshop Resources

I learned about this approach from a variety of different professional books on this topic. These books are terrific even if you don't use the Reading Workshop approach.

What might a Reading Workshop look like?

Note: Printing or viewing the printables at the bottom of this page would be helpful before reading the information below.

My Reading Workshop consists of a 10-15 minute mini-lesson on a particular strategy, followed by independent reading time. Students read books or magazines of their choice. Each day I meet with 5 or 6 different students and hold individual reading conferences. I have them quietly read a part of their book to me and I talk with them about the strategy we are working on for the week. I record my impressions on a Reading Conference Record form I designed for this purpose. Students are also expected to read at home and record their reading on their Home Reading Log. The Reading Bingo form can be used to encourage students to read a variety of books. Students record book titles on the chart as they read them and attempt to create a row, column, diagonal, or even the whole thing! These strategies and many more are explained in great detail in Empowering Readers: A Quick Start Guide to Reading Workshop.

How might reading progress be evaluated?

When I was using the Accelerated Reader program I used a Reading Rubric as part of my evaluation system. I used the AR program very flexibly, and if a student had a strong aversion to AR, we worked out another plan for accountability. I didn't require them to read books on a certain level, but I did encourage them to challenge themselves.

Whether or not you use AR, you'll find there are a variety of ways you can assess reading progress. In the past I have had students write letters to me about what they were reading, make journal entries, and create graphic organizers. These items can serve as informal assessments of student progress. You'll be holding individual reading conferences with students as well as some small guided reading sessions, so you can evaluate their progress through their participation in those activities. Many school systems require students to take regular formative assessments such as quarterly benchmark tests, and that data can be very helpful in monitoring progress.

Is Reading Workshop effective for all students?

Reading Workshop has proven to be very effective, especially with moderately-proficient to advanced readers. Last year when I implemented the Reading Workshop fully, my class had a 95% passing rate on our End-of-Grade Reading test, and students overall made significant gains. More importantly, they learned to love reading for its own sake. As they became voracious readers, I noticed that they improved in other areas as well. Our class became a community of readers who loved to learn and learners who loved to read1

Despite my success with this approach, I have to say that it may not be as effective with all students as it was with mine. I believe that Reading Workshop is extremely effective for students who are at least marginally proficient readers, especially students who CAN read but don't enjoy reading. Students who are unable to read at all need more explicit reading instruction before they are ready for this model. Because of this limitation, some teachers use Reading Workshop with their proficient readers while continuing to provide more support and direct instruction with their non-readers.

Empowering ReadersReading Workshop Printables:


site design: dougbrowndesign.com