Minilessons work best when they are not isolated bits of instruction, but a series of connected lessons orchestrated over days and weeks. By building thoughtful minilesson sequences in reading workshops, teachers help move students to higher levels of understanding and conversation. In this workshop, Franki Sibberson will take you through the planning and implementation process for developing sequences of minilessons. These lesson series help children build critical skills for understanding characters, using nonfiction text features to aid comprehension, and exploring themes in literature. The day will include:

• Book selection tips;
• Suggestions for differentiating instruction in minilessons;
• Strategies for keeping minilessons short and powerful at the same time;
• Samples of lesson progressions from a few days to over a week in length;
• Examples of ways to integrate technology into minilessons; and
• Design templates for creating your own lesson progressions.

You can view preview footage from the DVD in this player:

Franki Sibberson is the co-author (with Karen Szymusiak) of many books for teachers, including Day to Day Assessment in the Reading Workshop, Beyond Leveled Books, and Still Learning to Read. She writes the popular A Year of Reading blog (http://readingyear.blogspot.com/) with Mary Lee Hahn, and is a lead contributor to Choice Literacy (http://www.choiceliteracy.com).

Testimonials from participants in Franki Sibberson's workshops last year: 

This workshop was exactly what I was looking for to improve my reading instruction!  Wonderful tips with fabulous books given to us that I will use in my classroom right away.  What a wonderful surprise.

                                                            Deb Hanewich

Franki did a great job connecting fiction and nonfiction units to themes, inferring, predicting, etc.  I loved the giveaways of books to take back and use.

                                                       Lisa Altham-Hickey

Franki has me chomping at the bit to get back to school and get started.  I loved the explanation of how planning should be done - how it makes sense and the lack of numbers or graphs needed to do it.

                                                                     Pat Geller

Truthfully, I'd go to any Choice Literacy Workshop.  Every one is fabulous - I still can't get over how many lovely "prizes" you give out.  A million thanks for a wonderful day.

                                                      Betsy Joseph

fantastic It was all wonderful - great pace, presenter, good variety, so helpful.  Thank you!

                                               Beverly Gallagher

Choice Literacy is such an exciting group of professionals - having real lessons shared, and seeing the videos of the ideas in action was invaluable.  What amazing treats and books!

                                                     Jennifer Peacock

I love being able to hear leaders in the literacy field share - these are the people I looking up to, and read their books and blogs.  The workshop is so helpful with ideas teachers can take and use right away, but we also receive many ideas for reflection.

                                                             Diane Donat

This workshop was very fast-paced and extremely helpful.  I had only heard great things about Franki and expected it to be a terrific day - and it was!

                                                     Kathy Provost

Franki explained step by step how to expand our teaching with a particular strategy using different books and minilessons, moving from simple to more complex strategies.  Franki is so informative, funny, and you can tell she loves what she does.  What an outstanding workshop!  So much information and wonderful gifts.

                                                              Debbie Dailey

This is my second Choice Literacy workshop and both were fabulous.  Franki was great!

                                               Andrea Bell

Franki's vast knowledge of books, her energy, her up to date research. . .it all made the day fly by.  She makes me pause and think in new ways about my teaching.

                                            Mary Johnson