A group of sixty educators attended a PDNGKC workshop
led by Cris Tovani that focused on using the workshop model to maximize time
and student growth. Below is a reflection from Mrs. Sheahan, 6th grade ELA
teacher at Excelsior Springs Middle School.
Today's workshop
taught me that teaching students how to read and comprehend does not solely
fall into the hands of ELA teachers. There are multiple versions of text
which could range from math story problems to science text books. They are
read differently and different strategies need to be taught to understand a
variety of text. She taught us to incorporate critical thinking into our
assessments and gave us many resources to do so.
My favorite part of the
workshop was the work she shared about teaching metacognition. We all have a
thought process while reading that helps us understand what we have read. She
showed us how to get our students to share their "inner
conversations" with the text and how to keep students thoughts on track.
I think it would be incredibly beneficial to begin the year giving the
students the tools to practice these "inner conversations".
