Readers' Workshop is a teaching method in which the goal is to explicitly teach students strategies to become more skillful at comprehending text. This method involves students in authentic reading experiences that focus on the strengths and needs of each individual student through differentiated instruction. The Readers' Workshop model emphasizes the importance of student engagement and the interaction between readers and the text.
During a typical Reader's Workshop lesson, we start the workshop with a mini lesson focusing on a skill or concept that the children are either being introduced to or practicing. We then give the students time to practice that skill or concept. Students first practice with teacher guidance in a whole group then move to small groups and finally practice individually. This type of work takes time and may take a few days or even a week before moving to individual practice. We then move to literacy stations where the children work more independently on skills previously taught.
