Who's Doing the Work? Question #1

   I had the privilege to attend a workshop led by Jan Burkins, co-author of Who's Doing the Work? How to Say Less So Readers Can Do More. Here are just a few thoughts from the presentation. (More of my takeaways will follow in later blog posts. Stay tuned.)
   The first question is, "Are you paying enough attention to how your students read?" Listening to students read and having conversations with them afterward can give a snapshot into their reading processes.

The goal is to have students using print and meaning equally in order to have efficient reading processes.  Students can rely too heavily on print and less on meaning, rely to heavily on meaning and less on print, or utilize print and meaning equally. We can use a Venn diagram like the one on the left to analyze student reading. This will tell us more than just looking at student reading levels. If you would like to dig deeper into this idea, read chapter 1 in Who's Doing the Work.

Questions to consider.

• How do I currently look at the reading processes of students?
• What would a reading process Venn diagram look like for each of my students?
• How could I use the Venn diagrams to make decisions regarding reading instruction?
• What information can I gleam from analyzing student's reading process instead of reading level?