Little progress is better than nothing...

I am beginning to see a some progress with the responses students are giving.  I will happily take 2 sentences over 1 sentence anyday.  When responding to the students' daily responses, I have been trying to be very intentional in mentioning a specific model as to how I would have responded to the same prompt.  Hopefully this will begin to click once they are able to see several examples. 

In my original plan, I intended on week 2 being the point in which I allowed students to respond to the book without a given prompt, but based on the results from week one, I am not confident in letting them go completely.  After reviewing my research completed in EDU594, I was able to get a few ideas to possibly use.  Simpson (1986) says it is important to "Brainstorm the kinds of responses a listener might have: a prediction, a comment on character development, an insight into evolving theme, or an appreciation or critique of the author's technique" (p. 46).  Tomorrow, I plan on sitting down with my 4 students and brainstorming a list together of possible topics they can write about.  As we make out list, I will be sure to take the discussion deeper and talk about how we could answer each prompt in an exemplar manner.

Also, hopefully the snow days and delays will stop happening because not having a normal Reading Workshop schedule is making this process VERY difficult!