Using an iPad with your reading workshop

How Technology Can Support and Enhance Your Reading Workshop writes:

As with most of my planning, I started with the end in mind. I thought to myself, “What if students could jot their thinking down, in real time, and receive feedback without interrupting the workshop?” Even if they didn’t receive feedback in the moment, could they at least jot their notes down to share at a more appropriate time? This is when I started using our reading notebooks in a more meaningful manner. I began to model “during reading” responses instead of only “after reading” responses. We began to use our notebooks in a more authentic way. After workshop, we would have rich, shared discussions.

However, for everyone to have the opportunity to share would have taken too long. So, instead of having one child share at a time, I started utilizing partnership and small group sharing. This worked well, but not every child had the chance to grow from the group’s thinking. I wished there was a way that each child had a chance to share their thinking with the whole group. This way, the odds of receiving specific feedback that would be most beneficial would be enhanced. The more minds working together, the better.