Advice
The mini-lesson is the primary mode of whole class instruction in a balanced literacy classroom. It can feel overwhelming to begin and I completely understand. Taking on a new way of teaching can be confusing and frustrating without the right support and information. Join me on Tuesdays to discuss balanced literacy and the workshop model and learn a bit more each week. You might want to take a look back at my previous posts to learn a bit more. All posts regarding balanced literacy and the workshop model can be found at the end of this post.
Examples of Mini-Lessons
How do you know what lessons to teach?
Where do I find what to teach? This is a common question that teachers new to the framework will ask. Maybe you are lucky and your school has already provided some sort of curriculum. My school follows the TCRWP (Teacher’s College Reading and Writing Project) units of study. Maybe you use Fountas and Pinnell Classroom. Maybe you don’t have a guide at all and just follow the students and their needs. Just know that adding in additional lessons based on student need is always appropriate while using the workshop/balanced literacy model.
More Tips!
What's Next?
We’re going to stay with workshop a while so we can really get into all of the pieces together. Hopefully you’re starting to feel like taking on workshop and balanced literacy won’t be such a large task. We’re going to break it down into manageable chunks. Start to shift around things in your classroom to prepare for workshop. Let me know all of your questions too so I can help you out.
Each Tuesday a new post will appear giving you more insight into the life of a balanced literacy teacher! Next week our post will center around scheduling. Maybe you’re realizing that you don’t have enough time in the day for this, neither do I. We’ll talk all about what to do about this next week.
Use the comments section to ask any lingering questions or leave any comments so I can better help you on this journey to implementing a balanced literacy framework within your classroom.
Additional Posts on Balanced Literacy
