You asked a great question about making sure the daily mini-lesson addresses the needs of all readers in your classroom.
First of all, I teach my reading mini-lessons in the context of larger genre studies. I teach a launching unit followed by genre studies including fiction, mystery, nonfiction, research, and poetry. Students also take part in a reading partnership unit and an author study unit where the lessons are very specific to what they are reading.
To make my mini-lessons most beneficial, students are required to have a certain number of books in their book boxes that match the genre we are currently studying. For example, when I am teaching the nonfiction unit of study, all students must have at least 5 nonfiction texts that are "just right" for them in their book box at all times. That way, when I teach a lesson on text features and expect them to complete a text feature task, all students have appropriate reading material. I usually ask that they spend at least half of their reading time engaged in texts that match the genre we are studying. However, I usually find that students really get excited about the genre we are studying in class, so I often do not even need to "force" them to read those types of books.
Kay (comment #7),
You asked a great question about making sure the daily mini-lesson addresses the needs of all readers in your classroom.
First of all, I teach my reading mini-lessons in the context of larger genre studies. I teach a launching unit followed by genre studies including fiction, mystery, nonfiction, research, and poetry. Students also take part in a reading partnership unit and an author study unit where the lessons are very specific to what they are reading.
To make my mini-lessons most beneficial, students are required to have a certain number of books in their book boxes that match the genre we are currently studying. For example, when I am teaching the nonfiction unit of study, all students must have at least 5 nonfiction texts that are "just right" for them in their book box at all times. That way, when I teach a lesson on text features and expect them to complete a text feature task, all students have appropriate reading material. I usually ask that they spend at least half of their reading time engaged in texts that match the genre we are studying. However, I usually find that students really get excited about the genre we are studying in class, so I often do not even need to "force" them to read those types of books.
I hope I've helped answer your questions!
-Beth