It helps to have a plan for how you’ll navigate these resources so you can get a sense of the materials and get going as quickly as possible. Lucy Calkins and Mary Ehrenworth, the series co-editors, have a few tips for getting started. Rather than reading a full Unit of Study book cover to cover, they recommend starting with the Orientation to the Unit section, along with the first session. If the unit has a Day Zero letter with more getting started information, such as in A Deep Study of Character, they recommend reading that as well. Then, they recommend setting up your online resources, and skimming those so that you know what is available to you for download and you don’t end up recreating these. Next, take a look at the Table of Contents of the Guide to the Reading Workshop for Middle School Grades, and read a few chapters that seem particularly relevant to you and the students you teach. For example, if you are new to workshop teaching, pay particular attention to Chapter 5 “The Big Picture of a Reading Workshop," Chapter 6 “The Architecture (and the Principles) that Inform Minilessons,” and Chapter 7 “Management Systems.”
When orienting yourself to any new curriculum, it’s always important to keep your beliefs about best practices and your hopes for your students in mind. Before embarking on this curriculum, you might jot a quick list of what you hope your middle schoolers will do, be, and become as readers during their time with you. Some of these hopes might include:
As you navigate this series, pay attention to ways the series will help you to nudge your students toward these hopes. At this week’s TCRWP Twitter chat, Cornelius Minor, middle school lead staff developer, will lead a discussion on ways to more ways orient and immerse yourself in these engaging new units. If you teach middle school and if you have or are planning to get the Middle School Units of Study in Reading, mark your calendar for this chat.
Each Wednesday night at 7:30pm eastern, The Teacher's College Reading and Writing Project hosts a Twitter chat using the hashtag #TCRWP. Join @MisterMinor to chat about the new middle school units in reading tomorrow night.
Not on Twitter? Take Heinemann’s free Twitter for Educators course here.
Follow her on Twitter @annagcockerille