The Reading Workshop: Creating Space for Readers by Serafini, Frank (2001) Paperback

by Frank Serafini

Every teacher will take to heart Frank's gentle guidance on how to create an environment where children and books intersect in the most natural of ways, and I'm positive that [this book] will give teachers the inspiration and guidance they might be searching for to create their own reader's community. - Georgia Heard With so many different approaches to teaching reading, how can you make sense of the best paths available? If you begin with Frank Serafini's The Reading Workshop, you can be certain that each step you take will leave a lasting impression. By describing his day-to-day schedule and giving an overview of how the workshop operates over time, he provides a flexible framework you can adapt and implement to suit your needs. And by bringing his love of literature to bear on his instructional ideas, Serafini shows how you can help students learn to read so they want to.Serafini explains how various practices - literature circles, read alouds, shared reading, and strategy groups - can be incorporated into teaching and how "preplanned engagements" can blend seamlessly with "response-centered" instruction. Suggestions for setting up a classroom library and museum, selecting multicultural literature and cornerstone books, starting the literature study cycle, and creating "shoebox autobiographies," "invested student discussions," and other student projects are accompanied by helpful charts, diagrams, and visuals to help you get started and keep students involved. Throughout the book, examples and vignettes from Serafini's classroom experiences offer vivid testaments to the effectiveness of his workshop approach, even for the most reluctant readers.

Genres: Education, Professional Development, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published July 1, 2001

About the author

Dr. Frank Serafini is an author, illustrator, photographer, educator, musician, and a Professor of Literacy Education and Children’s Literature at Arizona State University.
Frank has published seven books with Heinemann, including: The Reading Workshop, Reading Aloud and Beyond, Lessons in Comprehension, and Around the Reading Workshop in 180 Days and Classroom Reading Assessments which will be available in 2010. In addition, Frank has published Reading the Visual (2014) and Beyond the Visual (2022) with Teachers College Press.
In 2008, Frank began writing and illustrating a series of non-fiction picturebooks focusing on nature with Kids Can Press. The Looking Closely series contains books about the desert, garden, pond, rainforest, shore and forest. In 2009, Looking Closely Along the Shore won an International Reading Association’s Teachers’ Choice Award, and Honorable Mention from the Society of School Librarians International.
A true “Renaissance Man,” Frank loves to travel, sing, play guitar, cook, draw, read, visit art galleries, and watch movies. His workshops are packed with important information and practical ideas, all delivered with a great sense of humor.

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

in italiano: Leggere giorno per giorno

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good book for ideas when you're looking to start a readers' workshop in your classroom.

If you get a chance to take a class from Frank, I recommend it. He's quite witty and will entertain you while teaching you how he uses the Workshop.

Also, visit his site for lots of book recommendations and great ideas.

[Amber Elise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good for Back to School time or new teachers. A little too koom bay ya for me.

[Eileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent resource that I will refer back to for many years to come.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mainly for elementary teachers but some good quotable takeaway for middle and high school as well.