Launching Workshop

A great principal (Rachel Hermann) once said, "It is okay to slow down so that we can go fast."  This is exactly what we need to do in our literacy workshops during the month of September! Slow down to go fast.  Many of us come into our classrooms, filled with new resources, books, ideas and children and we are so incredibly anxious to jump right back into the content we teach.  However, if we don't establish clear expectations, practice routines and carefully examine our classroom set-up, we will end up struggling months down the road with student engagement and classroom management.  We, as teachers, need to give ourselves the permission to slow down to be able to go fast.  

Classroom set-up:

The set-up of the classroom can be one of the most impactful elements to our workshops.  It is incredibly important to consider the flow of the students, the flexibility of the seating arrangements, the space for the whole group meeting area and the different areas of our classroom for different types of learners.  In our classrooms we want to be sure to consider places for students to meet and discuss, and also cozy places for student to read and write. When meeting with a Literature Discussion Group or Language Workshop, consider the way your students are seated.  Does this seating allow for natural conversation to happen or are all students unintentionally sitting and facing the teacher? 

Routines:

Many classrooms are spending time practice reading stamina and teaching specific mini-lessons around workshop routines.  These mini-lessons include how to find a good spot, how to find additional materials and how to transition from the mini-lesson to independent reading time.  In one kindergarten classroom I saw, the students were purposefully assigned a discussion partner, and during the first two weeks of school they were explicitly taught the routine for how to transition when asked to turn and talk.  By day 9 of school, the five year old children were able to turn to their partner and have a discussion without any management from the teacher! That teacher went slow to be able to go fast later. 

Expectations:

It is important to set high expectations during the launch of our workshops.  This importance comes in the fact that we want to ensure that we are setting ourselves up to be able to spend the independent application time meeting with groups and conferring with individual students.  One big way to set high expectations during the launch of workshop is to only allow students to practice the correct way to independently read and write. Just like as in sports, if we allow a student to practice incorrectly, we are training their brain and bodies to expect this type of behavior and action.  If every time, during the launch, we see a student practicing independent reading or writing incorrectly, we correct that behavior and teach the appropriate behavior, imagine how successful and prepared our students will be! 

During the first two weeks of, I had the opportunity to spend time in many classrooms at Lowell Elementary.  Launching is everywhere at Lowell and I took some time to capture it in action in our classrooms. Please enjoy the photos below and remember that you must go slow in order to go fast!