The open ended nature of reading workshop creates opportunities for all kinds of student growth, but it can also make things feel unmoored and chaotic. Even when your students have the routines down pat, you may wonder if your instruction and assessment are a little too free-form. For me, the problem went like this: my reading block was short (80 minutes a day), and I often had to choose between giving students time to read each day (the heart of workshop), or doing some kind of paperwork that would translate into a grade for that week. Time was so limited that losing even one day of independent reading a week…
