A Critique of the Workshop Model for Teaching Reading
A Critique of the Workshop Model for Teaching Reading
(Originally titled “Let Strategies Serve Literature”)
In the Educational Leadership article, former New York City teacher Diana Senechal criticizes the common practice of teaching generic reading skills (main idea, making predictions, etc.) in an initial mini-lesson and then having students apply them as they independently read different books around the classroom. Here are her concerns:
- The usual reading strategies are too generic to be applied to a variety of books.
- Generic reading strategies downplay the role of content knowledge in comprehension; before background knowledge can be activated, it must be built.
- This approach treats different works of literature as interchangeable, which they aren’t.
(Originally titled “Let Strategies Serve Literature”)
In the Educational Leadership article, former New York City teacher Diana Senechal criticizes the common practice of teaching generic reading skills (main idea, making predictions, etc.) in an initial mini-lesson and then having students apply them as they independently read different books around the classroom. Here are her concerns:
- The usual reading strategies are too generic to be applied to a variety of books.
- Generic reading strategies downplay the role of content knowledge in comprehension; before background knowledge can be activated, it must be built.
- This approach treats different works of literature as interchangeable, which they aren’t.