I think a reading workshop approach to teaching reading would be so powerful in a middle school setting! If you have an hour each day with your students, that would be enough time to teach a 10-15 minute mini-lesson, provide them with 40 minutes of independent reading time where they could meet in book clubs or partnerships, and then close the lesson at the end of the hour.
Storage would definitely be problem if you had to store Reader's Notebooks for each group of students you teach in your classroom. I know that when I was in middle school I had a locker where I kept my materials, and I was expected to bring the appropriate books or notebooks to class each hour. Would your students be able to keep their Reader's Notebooks in their locker and bring them to class each day rather than storing them in your classroom?
Lisa,
I think a reading workshop approach to teaching reading would be so powerful in a middle school setting! If you have an hour each day with your students, that would be enough time to teach a 10-15 minute mini-lesson, provide them with 40 minutes of independent reading time where they could meet in book clubs or partnerships, and then close the lesson at the end of the hour.
Storage would definitely be problem if you had to store Reader's Notebooks for each group of students you teach in your classroom. I know that when I was in middle school I had a locker where I kept my materials, and I was expected to bring the appropriate books or notebooks to class each hour. Would your students be able to keep their Reader's Notebooks in their locker and bring them to class each day rather than storing them in your classroom?
-Beth