Assessment+in+Reading+Workshop


 * Assessment in My Reading Workshop**

Reading Workshop is a framework for teaching reading that allows students to read self-selected texts at their own level, and it provides me with many opportunities to differentiate my teaching to meet the wide variety of readers in my classroom. However, when teachers give up the traditional methods of teaching reading, there can initially be a concern when it comes to assessment. The basal texts and other prepackaged reading programs come complete with end-of-the-story comprehension questions for each selection, fill-in-the blank vocabulary worksheets to match the "one size fits all" stories, and specific questions to ask students as they are reading the stories. We know that these methods of assessment are not accurate indicators of true reading performance, nor do they help teachers guide their instruction to meet the specific needs of individual readers in their classroom. So you are probably asking, how can I implement a Reading Workshop and also assess my readers in an effective, efficient, and, most importantly, informative way?

Read on to find out how I use both formal and informal means of assessment to regularly evaluate my readers and inform my own teaching.

** Purpose of Assessment ** The most important thing to remember about assessment is that it should be used to build knowledge about students. Too often standardized tests and other assessments teachers give to students measure what they //can't// do. One goal of assessment in Reading Workshop is to determine where students are struggling. However, the most important goal of assessment in Reading Workshop is to determine what students //can// do. I truly try to learn about students so that I can match their learning experiences with what they read in order to be most successful. Old assessments (and those included in a basal reading text) assess students at the end of a unit. In Reading Workshop, assessment is ongoing throughout each unit so that I can alter and tailor my teaching to meet the needs of my students immediately.

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