A review of my visit to Summit, NJ: Readers and Writers Workshop at Washington Elementary

On Monday, we here at Green Brook Township Public Schools had the amazing opportunity to visit and see the great students and teachers at Washington School in Summit, NJ!

We were there to meet and talk about Readers and Writers Workshop, to which they have been doing for nearly a decade. Mrs. Lauren Banker, the school Principal, was kind and nice enough to set up a pre/post conference and four demo lessons to see both types of workshops in action. We saw students as young as 1st grade and as experienced as 5th grade in the workshop model. It was fantastic. 

My Take-Aways:

• No pre-made bulliten boards - the charts are made just for that class with those students in mind. 
• Mini-lessons are just that, mini. 10 minutes or less!
• In the workshop model, teachers get more face-to-face time with students, thus, more interaction. 
• No workbooks/textbooks here - not one cookie cutter book to be found. 
• Reading begets more reading. As the students read in school, they also continue to read at home. 
• The students work in pairs all year to increase discussion/listening skills. 
• When the students are invested in their own work, they care. Their engagement was through the roof.
• The expectations are high - the Common Core is already being exceeded here with these models. 
• The students, even as young as 2nd grade, are making text-to-text connections. 
• Enthusiasm and passion of the teachers comes through when they can share the stage and be the guide on the side.
• The kids read and read and read ... they also write voluminous notebooks worth of work. 

Here are some photo highlights of the classrooms and their phenomenal work!

A readers workshop model in action in this Third grade classroom. 

Teach your reader!

First Grade chart on keeping notes in their books!

Fourth grade chart on Non-Fiction Text Structure

Fourth grade library - Broken down by levels and by genre. 

Of course, there are challenges. Such as:

1. It takes time to build libraries, even with donation and online books. 
2. Some schools are tied to the texts.
3. Movement from a teacher-centric model to a student-centric model. 
4. Takes a lot of time to get it right (They are in their 10th year working on it).
5. It is a change in mind-set that may be tough for some to overcome. 

So, why does this model work? It is because the onus is on the students. The workshop model allows the teacher to be a facilitator and coach rather than a sage on the stage. It also allows the teacher to get out of the way of authentic, organic learner that goes on. In each and every classroom, I saw students passion. That is not something that comes across when you are reading from a textbook or just looking at a ditto. There are no "skill and drill" activities. Just real learning and passionate teaching. 

Thank you, Washington Elementary!