Keeping Mini-Lessons "Mini" by Allaisia

This truly is the book that keeps giving!  I love the way Anderson sequences the chapters in this book to parallel a teacher's likely thought process as they attempt to create or improve their Writer's Workshop.  At the beginning of the book, Anderson focuses on how to lay the groundwork for Writer's Workshop.  I appreciate the way that at the end, he focuses on specific ways to make important decisions that help to facilitate things.   He also helps to break down how a mini-lesson should be structured, which was something i really needed guidance on.  I also took a lot from his advice on managing the classroom during Writer's Workshop.

On making decisions, it was especially helpful to read that Carl Anderson advises teachers to spend 5 minutes on conferences on average.  I have read that about 4-6 minute is best, and I've also read about some shorter and longer time frames being used on conferences.  When I am actually in my classroom during Writer's Workshop, I often find that I get nervous that I'm not facilitating conferences correctly or not seeing enough students and I begin to rush my conferences.  Sometimes I start out really devoting my time and attention to conference but as I grow anxious over timing issues, I begin to cut them short or I pay less attention because I'm busy obsessing over how little time I have.  It helps to find that an expert suggests 5 minutes, and I loved reading about how committed he is to making sure students get that time.  It helps me to be calmer in my approach, and more confident that I am doing things in a way that is truly beneficial for my students and is the best use of our small window of time.

Anderson's writing on how to conduct mini-lessons was probably the most helpful part of this reading for me!  In the section on keeping mini-lessons "mini" he runs down all of the things that keep us from giving true mini-lessons.  I was surprised and a bit tickled to realize that I regularly do ALL of the things he advises teachers not to do in order to keep mini-lessons short!  I invite way too much student talk--ofen not wanting to cut them off or wanting to make sure their comments or thoughts are valued.  I never quite realized that I don't have this problem of cutting kids off if I never invite them to say anything.  I phrase things in a very inviting way during my mini-lesson, and since our learning in all other subjects has become so discussion-heavy, it's no wonder they have so many things to say!

Also, I make it a point to read a piece of literature for the first time when I am giving certain mini-lessons.  It's so helpful to realize I can use texts that have already been read, and just go back to parts that really help us to understand the skill.  And, I repeat myself!  I seem to need constant validation from my students so if they seem unenthusiastic or if they aren;t giving me the feedback I crave, I assume they dont get it and go back to square one.

Lastly, Anderson's section on how to manage the classroom during writing gave me some great ideas.  I have come a long way with classroom management, but things will be so much better now that I've read about identifying the main things that kids need to be able to do to work independently.  Classroom management is about so much more than making sure students are on task.  It also involves making sure students are using their time in the best way possible.  How can they do that if they spend an entire block trying to think of a new idea because they aren't sure how writers do this?