Logistics and Legitimization for Implementing Reading and Writing Workshops in the Middle Grades

Abstract

In the search for best practices in literacy instruction, Reading and Writing Workshops emerge as effective, engaging methods. Reading and Writing Workshops are an alternative to text-based, teacher-led question-answer sessions in which students may be minimally engaged in the text or the discussion. Workshop environments foster a sense of community as readers and writers come together to help one another explore and achieve. Addressing learners and learning, the learning environment, curriculum and instructional strategies, and assessment, research defends this conceptual theory, and there are many examples of workshops in practice today that exemplify why Reading and Writing Workshops should be more widespread in our schools, specifically in the middle grades.