The Workshop model

The one teaching tool all new teachers should have in their pocket is knowledge of the workshop model. Some schools worship this method and so does the state education department....but what is it?


The Workshop model is basically is a framework for your lesson plan. The lesson is mainly student oriented, so there is less teacher talk. It's built on the ideal of a constructivist approach where students build on the material you taught to teach themselves and their peers.


The first part is about 10-15 minutes where the teacher gives a mini-lesson in which they give background information and model an activity or problem. For example if you were teaching a lesson on rate of change you would create a Do Now introducing the topic. So what I did was give a bunch of words that had to do with rates (ex. texts per minute) and asked them what they had in common. Then I explained they were all rates and gave them a definition and modeled a rate of change problem and gave out a student worksheet. When you give the model you explain your expectations or a rubric how many points they would receive for each problem and what a grader looks for. Next students were to work in pairs (think pair share) and worked on 2-3 problems together. Then you have the students present their work and explain what they did. After student presentations you would evaluate their work. Grade each problem while reviewing whats good and whats bad. This also gives students a chance to correct their work. Then assign a homework so my students completed the remainder of the problems for homework and I graded them for a quiz grade. Then you give a summary with real world applications. Where would I use this and why?


Below is a webpage explaining workshop model in more detail and I will also post a lesson plan for workshop model next post.


http://www.teachersnetwork.org/ntny/nychelp/Professional_Development/workshopmodel.htm