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Kent Middle School

Principal Coffee

11.5.21

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❖Engage in a healthy dialogue about teaching, learning, and community at Kent Middle School.

Principal Coffee Purpose

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Principal Chat Agenda, 11.5.21

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Welcome and Introductions

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Experience a Reading Workshop Mini Lesson

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Components of Workshop Lessons

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The Reading and Writing Project

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The Role of Reading and Writing Notebooks

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10 Essentials of Reading Instruction

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Parents as Partners

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Experience a Reading Workshop Mini Lesson...

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The Basic Structure of a Reading and Writing Workshop Lesson

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  • Mini Lesson around a teaching point or teaching objective
  • Independent Practice within a text or in a readers/writers notebook
  • Small Group Instruction
  • One-on-one Conferences
  • Closure

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Teachers’ College Reading and Writing Project

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  • Founded in 1981 by Literacy guru Lucy Calkins

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  • Engaged hundreds of literacy experts in extensive research into how students learn to read and write

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  • Developed class structure, purpose and sequence of instruction to accelerate growth of readers and writers, K-8

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  • Middle grades students become flexible, resilient readers who read for pleasure as well as for academic purpose

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  • Students develop a toolkit of strategies for reading and writing of complex text, help them to know when and how to use those strategies

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  • The simplicity and predictability of the workshop frees the teacher from constant choreographing so that he or she has time to observe, to listen, to assess, and to teach into specific student needs

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Genre Based Instruction in Reading and Writing

Reading Units 5th-8th

  • Fiction / Realistic Fiction
  • Informational
  • Book Clubs

Writing Units 5th - 8th

  • Narrative
  • Informational
  • Opinion

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    • 5th Grade - A
      • Narrative Fiction Book Clubs
      • Non-fiction Reading
      • Historical Fiction Book Clubs
      • Fantasy Fiction Book Clubs

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    • 6th Grade - A
      • Deep Study of Character
      • Tapping the Power of Nonfiction
      • Social Issues Book Clubs

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    • 7th Grade -
      • Investigating Characterization: Author Studies
      • Essential Research Skills for Teens
      • Historical Fiction Book Clubs

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    • 8th Grade -
      • Dystopian Book Clubs
      • Literary Nonfiction
      • Critical Literacy: Unlocking Contemporary Fiction

Reading Units of Study by Grade Level

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Looking More Closely - Critical Literacy: Unlocking Contemporary Fiction

This unit is about cultural relevance and getting teens to fall in love with books that are deeply meaningful to the lives they are living right now. The unit will introduce young people to some of the great writers of their generation, the writers who are writing for them, and will create powerful opportunities for teens to share their voices, and find their places, in school and in the world.

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The Role of the Readers and Writers Notebook

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The Role of the Readers and Writers Notebook

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The Role of the Readers and Writers Notebook

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The Role of the Readers and Writers Notebook

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10 Essentials for Literacy Instruction, TCRWP

  • Above all else, good teachers matter
  • Readers need long stretches of time to read
  • Readers need opportunities to read high interest accessible books of their own choosing
  • Readers need to read increasingly complex texts appropriate for their grade level
  • Readers need direct and explicit instruction in the skills and strategies of proficient reading

6. Readers need the opportunity to talk, and sometimes to write, in response to texts

7. Readers need to support to read nonfiction books and building a reading base and academic vocabulary through informational reading

8. Readers need assessment-based instruction, including feedback that is tailored specifically to them.

9. Readers need teachers to read aloud to them

10. Readers need a balanced approach to language arts, one that includes a responsible approach to the teaching of writing, as well as reading

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Parents as Literacy Partners

Prioritize daily reading for your child

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Ensure your child has a book they are currently reading, and even a ‘to read’ list

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Ask your child questions about their reading, show curiosity, and share about what you are reading

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Ask you child questions about their writing, ask to read their writing

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https://tcrwp.padlet.org/TCRWP/6_9_family_videos

Reading and Writing Project Family Videos

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Q and A