Assessment: How Do You Assess Students Using Reading Workshop?

Assessment:  How Do You Assess Students Using Reading Workshop?

Assessment has been on my brain a lot lately.  After I wrote a guest post for the Three Teachers Talk blog about the effects of giving students choice in what they read, one of my mom's friends (a retired teacher), asked my mom, "I love what Melissa is doing with the teachers in her school, but HOW do these teachers assess what their students have read?"  That question is a tough one and I think teachers would have varied answers depending on their philosophy of the purpose of a high school English class.

My philosophy:  Straight up - I am not an English teacher.  I don't believe that every student must read Lord of the Flies or The Great Gatsby to be a productive member of society or to be able to understand literary terms.  As a child, I loved to read, but I wasn't very good at it.  I was what many English teachers would call a "surface level" reader.  I got the basic plot, but missed all of the symbolism, similes, metaphors, figurative language, etc. that I was supposed to understand to get to a deeper meaning of a text.  My teachers made me feel so stupid that I refused to read the required books, instead I was just like many of the students I work with today.  In order to pass my English assessments, Cliff Notes and I were best friends.  

I vowed that I would never make my students feel the way I did about reading. Instead, when I taught 4th and 5th grade, I embraced Reading Workshop and literature circles with my students.  My ultimate goal as a teacher was to spark my students interest in books and to push them to challenge themselves as readers.  As a classroom teacher, my reading assessments were simple:  I had my students talk about their books with each other and write A LOT.  The students and I wrote letters to teach other every week about what they were reading.  They researched their authors. They researched the time periods or events that occurred.  They created their own group discussion questions based on their analyses of the books they were reading and then reflected in writing on what they learned more deeply about the book from their group members.  When asked, "Have you read all of these books or how do you know if they are truly reading?" I always told the doubters to come into my classroom and talk with my students. Ask them about the books they are reading and why they chose the books they did to read? They will tell you.

Now that I am helping teachers implement Reading Workshop in high school English classes the question of assessment has popped up again.  Many high school teachers struggle with not being able to keep up with all the books their students are reading or are worried that the students are not reading them "beyond the surface level."  I believe high school students can still be assessed through conversation and through writing. There is no need for reading quizzes on the minute details of a text.  The teachers I work with are assessing their students daily:  We touch base with students individually as often as time allows to really delve into what they were reading.  We use shorter texts to teach deeper analysis and ask their students to apply analysis practices to their own books.  We encourage students to create book clubs and record their group conversations to show them how deeply they have connected with the novels.  Our students create book trailers, give book talks, and of course, write.  No matter what method, our students are constantly being asked to reflect on the books they have read and how they have grown as readers. These assessments are exciting to hear, read, and grade!

I am always looking for new and creative ways to assess students.  How do you assess reading workshop?  Please share in the comments below.