Review
A terrific guide to writing and reading workshops. Hindley works with language-arts innovator Shelley Harwayne, which is evident in the graceful way she integrates literature lessons into her writing workshop. --
Instructor November/December 1996What makes this book powerful is that it is Joanne Hindley' story - an honest portrait of how one teacher continues to evolve as a teacher and learner. Although this book is a story of one third/fourth-grade classroom, I recommend it to educators of diverse interests and backgrounds: teachers of all grades who care to learn through another teacher's classroom research; college professors who are seeking a thoughtful, artful, and rigorous account of what it means to teach; and administrators who value passion, excellence, and taking risks. --
Harvard Educational Review, Summer, 1997Whether you're a beginner or an old pro at using reading and writing workshop, In The Company of Children is a book you should add to your collection. Not only does Hindley give you the basics of reading and writing workshops, but she also shares firsthand experiences - from giving minilessons, lifting the quality of student work, and conferencing with students to including parents and students in the assessment process. In The Company of Children is chock-full of fresh ideas and strategies that you can adapt for your own classroom. Hindley, coleader of the Teachers College Writing Project, shows you how to make every minute count.- --
Learning, March/April 1997
From the Back Cover
In schools of every description, teachers are working to turn their classrooms into reading-writing workshops. They're filling bookcases with the best of childrens literature, and students are tucking writers' notebooks into their bulging backpacks.
This new look calls for meaningful change in teaching practice, but many questions about implementing literacy workshops remain. In this clear and practical book, Joanne Hindley takes a hard look at how to make every minute count and offers specific suggestions for creating rigorous, efficient, and successful reading and writing workshops.
Grounding her story in the lives of her third graders, Joanne tackles difficult issues and offers thoughtful direction and ideas you will appreciate:
- How to manage a productive workshop setting in a crowded classroom.
- How to launch writer's notebooks with your students.
- How the study of one genre can help you manage the reading/ writing workshop.
- Where to get ideas for mini-lessons for the reading/writing workshop.
- Guidelines to help you improve your conferring with individual readers and writers.
- How to assess student progress in a process-oriented classroom.
In the Company of Children is a treasure trove of fresh ideas and strategies that teachers-inservice and preservice-will draw on and adapt for their own classrooms.
