Making Plans

One of the things I’ve become sensitive to is how difficult it is to have so many priorities vying for our time.  We all agree it is our duty to prepare students for success outside of our classroom doors.  On one hand (as is evident from the pressure we feel), one of the things our students must be prepared to do is pass a standardized test.  Yet we want so much more than that for our students.   We want them to be thinking, challenging, literate members of society.   Blending the pressure to perform on tests with our knowledge of best practice can be stressful and the terrain can be tricky to navigate.

I’ve been invited to work in a high school classroom over the course of the next two weeks.  Thus far the teacher has not implemented Workshop, but she has been reading and thinking and is ready to try a Workshop approach under the umbrella of literature circles.   As I’ve prepared to work with her in this endeavor, I drafted the way I blend my thinking about standards and my understanding of best practice in reading & writing (ie:  Workshop).  I consider the teaching point for each day, the experiences students will have in Workshop, and the state standard I’m obligated to teach.  Here is the draft of my plans — just click on the link & it’ll take you to a pdf file.

plans_literature circles

Please note this is something I’m just beginning to work with and use.  It is by no means a final product, nor is it something I’m convinced should be a cornerstone to planning.  It is something I’m using to capture my thinking as I blend the need to teach according to best practice with the responsibility of teaching state standards (and soon national standards, I’m sure).  I’d love to hear questions or comments to help me push my thinking on this issue. Thanks.