This may also be referred to as "I do it, we do it, you do it", which lends itself to a plan of instruction that calls for demonstration, prompting, and practice (Levy, 2007). The teacher models, does guided practice with the students, the students do independent practice, and the student then apply what they have learned not only in reading, but across the curriculum. There are three main components of a balanced literacy approach; reading, writing, and word study. The balanced literacy approach bases its focus on different types of reading and writing. The types of reading and writing are found within the Reading and Writing Workshops.
My students will know the purpose of them reading and writing every day. I will simply tell them that reading is something that they use every day in almost everything they do. It connects to all of the content areas. I will then go on to give them examples. For instance, I would say something like when you are given a word problem in math; you have to be able to read the words in order to solve it. I will also tell my students that we not only read to new information, but for fun as well. The reading workshop consists of a read aloud, shared reading, guided reading, reading conferences, and independent reading. It is important that students know what level they are at, so I will make it my priority to inform my students of their reading levels and make sure that they are choosing books that are appropriate for their level. .
Students are learning how to work together, make choices, talk about what they have read, and set goals for themselves. During the reading workshop, I will first give a book talk then a mini-lesson. In the minilesson, I will introduce one concept and give clear examples so that students understand why they are learning what I am teaching. At the end of the mini-lesson, I will remind students why they learned the concept and how they will use it when they read independently.