Ep 62: Why You Need a "Share Chair" In Your Reading and Writing Workshop: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.
Hey, teachers, if you have a classroom and a commute, you're in the right place. I'm your host, Rachael, and I want to ride along with you each week on your ride into school. This podcast is the place for busy teachers who want actionable tips, simple strategies, and just want to enjoy their job more. Let's go.
Hello, hello! Welcome back to another episode of The Classroom Commute Podcast, I'm Rachael your host. Thanks so much for joining me today. I'm going to talk about something that I don't think I have really talked about, at least not in depth here on the podcast before. I've mentioned it maybe once or twice in my episodes on Readers and Writers Workshop. I might have talked about it a little bit this summer when I released an episode all about how to launch Readers Workshop or the episode that I did on how to launch Writers Workshop but I don't think I've really given it the attention that it needed.
I wanted to do an episode today on something that I call the "Share Chair". Now, before I say more, I want you to know that the "Share Chair" just might be the most valuable part of your Readers and Writers Workshop. If you don't know what the "Share Chair" is, let me explain. A "Share Chair", or actually I used to call it the Readers Chair or the Author's Chair in my classroom, is a special chair that I invite my students to sit in while sharing something about their reading or their writing. Something that they maybe did during the independent or center group time during our Readers and Writers Workshop. During the last ten minutes of our workshop time, I would invite two to three students to come sit in this special chair to talk about a skill or a strategy that they've tried to do on their own during their independent time, or even just to share a portion of the story that they've written or have read.
Now, before we talk more about what to do in the "Share Chair" and how to manage it, let's first talk about the chair itself. This chair needs to be fancy, fancy with a capital F/ Mine was bedazzled from top to bottom and came complete with the crown that students could wear when sitting in the chair. You would not believe how excited they would get about that crown. The success of implementing a "Share Chair" in your classroom stems directly from how amazing your chair is. I know it sounds silly, but go with me here. A standard chair will simply not do, you want your students to beg to sit in the "Share Chair", the more ridiculous the chair is, the better. I invite you to type author's chair, reader's chair or share chair into Pinterest and allow that to give you some inspiration. I would also suggest to keep an eye out at garage sales or thrift stores for wooden chairs that you can paint or add sparkle to or whatever you want to add to make it look special. Places like thrift stores are a great place for that or if you are in the market for some new furniture in your dining room, make sure you keep one of your old chairs to turn into your classroom "Share Chair".
Now that we understand the importance of how your "Share Chair" looks, I'm going to walk you through how to set up this special time in your literacy block so that it can be the most valuable portion of your workshop. Let's first dive into how we get started with the "Share Chair". I've already mentioned that using a share chair in your classroom will be one of the most valuable parts of your workshop. That's because it's during this time that you really get to see if your students "got it". You also get to witness some of the most meaningful interactions between your students. To get started, you'll need to decide how often you will use your "Share Chair". For me, it was every Friday because it does take about ten minutes and your time is valuable. It's likely not something you're going to do every single day in your classroom. You might decide to pull it out on a Wednesday or a Tuesday if something magical happened in your class and you want to make sure that you share it right then and there. But for me, our typical "Share Chair" time was on Fridays after Readers and Writers Workshop. To make sure that I use this time wisely, I would preselect two to three students and those students would know that it was their "Share Chair" day. Our class had a schedule of who would be sharing each Friday so they could come prepared. That's going to help your students who maybe are a little reluctant or get a little anxiety when it comes to speaking in front of the class. Of course, the "Share Chair" should never be something that you push on your students or make them do. Over time, you might find that even your most reluctant students choose to participate and will actually want to as time goes on. Give them that space to first see how it works with other students and give them the opportunity to choose to do it on their own. Once they're ready, you can add them into the schedule and they can begin participating in the "Share Chair" as well. Go ahead and select two to three students who you know will be comfortable and that will know that it's their time time so they can come prepared. Start with the schedule and put it where your class will be able to see it.
All right, once you've got your schedule and now it's time to talk about what's going to be happening in the actual "Share Chair". What you allow your students to do and share during that time is completely up to you. However, I found that the most successful "Share Chair" times in my classroom was when I gave the students a specific point of focus for what they should be sharing each week. For example, if we were in writing and my mini lesson during the week focused on how to craft an engaging beginning to their stories, then the guidelines for the "Share Chair" time would be for students to share the beginning portion of their stories with the rest of the class. By giving those guidelines, it's actually going to help keep this time at the end of your literacy block a little more focus structured and of course more beneficial. I'll also say that another benefit of doing the "Share Chair" on Friday afternoons is because if you are working on a skill over the course of a week your students have gotten lots of practice over three, four, or five days and now they have had a chance to work at it and practice it a little bit before they're ready to share. Fridays make a really great day for "Share Chair" time.
In addition to having students who are sitting in the "Share Chair" sharing that specific point of focus that you have given them the guidelines for, you can also use your "Share Chair" time to have your students ask for suggestions or feedback from their classmates. This works particularly well for your writing block specifically. Students can ask for advice on word choice or vocabulary or even on how to end a story. Think of the meaningful and authentic conversations that you're going to be fostering here by allowing them to have this special time in their readers and writer's block. Now, you might be thinking, oh yeah, that's great, this is going to be a complete disaster. They're not going to know what to say. They're not going to know what kinds of suggestions and feedback to give. That's why I really like to start, especially at the beginning when we first introduce the "Share Chair" in our literacy block, is to give them a bit of a 'script' to help keep them on point when they share. For example, near the "Share Chair", you might have a poster with the following phrases, 'Today I will be sharing...", "I would like some advice on...", "I'm wondering what you all think about...", "How can I change...?", "A strategy I use in my reading and writing today was...", "An interesting part of my reading today was...", "I have a question about...". By providing those easy and quick prompts, students will be able to have a little bit of a jumpstart when they go to start their "Share Chair" share time in your readers and writers literacy block.
If you taught your students to ask their classmates questions and ask for advice, you're going to have to teach your students who are not in the chair to respond to the student who is in the "Share Chair". It's equally as important to teach students how to respond to their classmates who are sharing. I encourage students to do one of the following when they respond to their classmates. Again, this makes for a great poster to put alongside your "Share Chair" for students to refer to. When a student is ready to respond to the student in the "Share Chair" they can do one of these things. One, they can provide constructive feedback. Two, they can ask a thoughtful question. Three, they can offer praise. Or four, they can make a meaningful comment. Of course, you're going to have to give examples of what each of those look like but those are the four choices that the students have. By giving them these four options, it eliminates them from launching into a story about something that they wrote or even a slightly related story. You only let them provide feedback, ask a thoughtful question, offer praise or make a meaningful comment. I make it very clear that students at this time should be centered and focused around the student sharing. It is not a time to talk about their own reading and writing.
Of course, there are going to be guidelines on how to provide these types of responses to the student who is sharing. It has to be done in a respectful manner. It has to be helpful and it has to be on task. In teaching students to use the "Share Chair", there is going to be some instruction needed for your behavioral expectations as well. Just like you might offer some scripted responses to help students who are sharing, you can also offer some scripted prompts that give students some guided responses. It might sound something like this, "I like or love the way you...", "What if you...?", "I'm confused about...", "Could you explain more about...?", "What do you mean when...?", "I think that...", "I have a question about...". If this is sounding somewhat familiar, a few weeks ago I did a whole episode on Accountable Talk, I will link to that episode in the show notes, but this plays on that so nicely. If you want students to begin using accountable talk, this is a great controlled environment to get their feet wet in using accountable talk, because these are a lot of the same phrases that students are going to be using in accountable talk. I encourage you to go check out that episode, it was Episode 57, so go ahead and check that out and learn about accountable talk. Once you start learning about accountable talk, you'll see how it plays a great role in things like the "Share Chair" and other times when students are having a discussion. Of course, students are not required to use these prompts, but it will help those students, especially, those who are reluctant to share a response. Then once they get used to using these phrases and they get more comfortable with it, they will start putting their own spin on it and making it more authentic to them. It's always a great idea to give students a little bit of a stepping stone, a little bit of a starting point so that they feel comfortable diving in.
Don't get discouraged if you hear crickets when it comes to sharing and responding. When you first start using the "Share Chair", students are definitely going to need a little time to warm up to the idea and get comfortable with sharing and responding to each other, so focus on modeling best practices and the students will follow. That might mean that you are the first participant of the "Share Chair" and you model what it looks like to be the person sharing and then take the role of the responder. The students sitting on the carpet or at their desks who are listening to the person sharing and model things that you would say and advice that you would give and feedback. You're going to have to take an active role and hopefully students will take your lead and begin to use some of the "Share Chair" prompts all on their own. There you have it, how to set up a "Share Chair" in your classroom.
I like to do a quick recap of the things that we talked about in the episode. Let's do that now. I think that you'll find that the "Share Chair" will be one of the most valuable parts of your reading and writing block. I suggest that you do it once a week on Fridays where you preselect two to three students who are going to be sharing either something that they read or something that they've written. Once you're ready to get started with the "Share Chair", you're going to come up with the schedule so students know ahead of time when it's their turn to be in the "Share Chair". Of course, we can't forget that the "Share Chair" is going to be extra fancy so that students will beg to be a part of it. Once your schedule is up and running and those two to three students are ready to go, you're going to want to make sure you give them a specific point of focus of what they will be sharing each week. You may even give them some prompts to share on a poster where they can refer to them to give them a starting point for their sharing time. Of course, you're also going to teach students who are sitting in the audience some guidelines on what they can do as a response to their classmates by providing constructive feedback or asking a thoughtful question or offering praise or making a meaningful comment. Of course, this is all going to be done respectfully to be helpful and they must be on task. You can also give them a set of prompts that they can use in their responses. Finally, you have to model, model, model. You have to not let yourself get discouraged. If it doesn't feel like it's picking up some speed at the beginning, give it some time and make sure that you are playing an active role in modeling what it looks like and what it sounds like.
All right, that's it for me today. I hope you are excited to begin using a "Share Chair" in your classroom. I would love to hear how it goes with your students. You can always shoot me an email at hello@classroomnook.com, I would love to hear how it's working. I also would love it if you would leave a quick review of the podcast if you have not already done so. Look for it in your iTunes app and leave a little love there.
All right, have a great rest of your week and I will be back next week. Same time, same place. Bye for now.
Sonix has many features that you'd love including automated subtitles, secure transcription and file storage, upload many different filetypes, transcribe multiple languages, and easily transcribe your Zoom meetings. Try Sonix for free today.
