Stop & Jot ...Turn & Talk!

We officially started Reading Workshop this last week! The students have been doing a great job listening, learning and participating during our Mini-Lessons!

The philosophy of Reading Workshop works like this: 

• Teach a skill and strategy through modeling and think-alouds using authentic literature.
• Release the students to apply the learned skill and strategy with their own independent text.
• Conference with students individually about what they learned while the class is reading and applying the skill and strategy.
• Regroup the class and share how they applied the skill and strategy to their own reading.

The key is to keep the lesson short and focused. This allows the students to maximize their time reading and applying the concept taught.

A few weeks ago we learned about student and teacher roles during Reading Workshop, turning and talking with a partner to grow ideas together, and the importance of thinking during reading by stopping and jotting down our thoughts about the text.

The kids were very familiar with Turn & Talk. We use this in Reading Workshop, but I also use it in Social Studies, Science and Math. At different points during the text I stop and ask the students to turn and talk about their thoughts with a partner for a few minutes. After partner sharing, I ask a few students to share what they talked about with their partners. It's a great way to keep all the students engaged and accountable.

Stop & Jot is very similar to Turn & Talk. This is an approach I use to have kids actively think while reading. I modeled Stop & Jot this week as I read Don't Be an Uncle Max. As I read the book aloud to the kids, I stopped at different points and said "I think..." or "I wonder...".  Each of these phrases were then turned into ideas that I wrote on post-its attached to the page. 

This strategy is no different than what a lot of us did in High School and College when we wrote in the margins of our books.  Fifth grade students can decode words, read with some fluency and even recall a bit of what they read...but if they don't actively think while reading, they won't fully comprehend what they have read.

Hopefully you have seen a few books come home this week with post-its sticking out on all ends! Ask your kids about it. Room 19 is filled with Readers and we are loving it!