Re: Atwell's _The Reading Zone_

[Marji Morris <mlmorris05@peoplepc.com>]

i think you need some whole class reading--if nothing else to establish a common vocabulary. in Atwell's first edition of In the Middle, she said the same thing--then revised it in the second edition. i really like her approach in general--have used it for years, but any plan needs to be tailored to your students' needs, your teaching style, etc.
(i haven't read this book yet, so i'm responding from intuition.)
marji

-----Original Message-----
>From: SommerWind410@aol.com
>Sent: Jul 5, 2007 6:29 AM
>To: middle-lit@interversity.org
>Subject: [middle-lit] Atwell's _The Reading Zone_
>
>Has anyone else read this?  If so, what are your thoughts?
> 
>Our LA department is in the process of revamping our curriculum, so in my  
>mind, there's a whole lot of chaos right now.  And I am still struggling to  
>grasp -- as I have been for years -- how a reader's and writer's workshop could  
>and would realistically work in a week of five 53-minute periods.  I've  
>attended Atwell's seminar on _Lessons That Change Writers_ and Calkins's  
>presentation on writer's workshop, and still, things do not totally gel for  me.  I 
>especially have a hard time with fitting in regular in-class  independent reading 
>time and sticking to a predictable schedule.
> 
>In this title, Atwell emphasizes that kids do need that  "predictable, 
>bedrock schedule" and advocates three days of writing  workshop per week, two days 
>of reading workshop, and thirty minutes of reading  for pleasure every night of 
>the week.  She'd also squeeze in spelling study  and poetry wherever she 
>could but would "give up vocabulary study and grammar  study...book reports, 
>public speaking, oral reports, projects, dialectical or  double-entry journals..."  
>All of this she deems worthless.  She  writes, "if a grade is being 
>assigned," (IF?) it is based on three  items:  how well a student met his personal 
>reading goals which  were set at the end of the previous marking period, 
>"adherence to the rules and  expectations of reading workshop," and "the quality of 
>thinking that shows up in  the letter-essays."  (Every three weeks, students 
>write a letter-essay of  at least two pages to either the teacher or to a student 
>of their choice about a  book they have *finished* reading.)  
> 
>It sounds as though she isn't doing much, if any, whole class or shared  
>reading.  
> 
>I just finished the book this morning and am still trying to sift through  it 
>and collect my thoughts on it.  Just wondering if anyone else had read  it or 
>has any thoughts about these ideas.  Thanks in advance for any  responses.
> 
>Cathy :-)
> 
> 
> 
> 
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>
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