Recently, I caught up with my friend and colleague Chris Lehman. For a little end-of-the-year inspiration, please enjoy our interview: Beth: Your books make it clear that you have a passion for reading and writing. Have you always loved to read and write? Chris: Well, that’s complicated. Ha. I have always loved writing. I had… Continue reading An Interview with Educator and Author Chris Lehman
Month: May 2014
How Do First Graders Choose Narrow Topics?
We will be starting a unit on informational writing to wrap up the school year. I wanted to demonstrate a different way of finding a topic, a narrow topic. I find that young writers can often think big, making it hard to get to specific details. As I was thinking about this idea, of narrowing… Continue reading How Do First Graders Choose Narrow Topics?
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Five on Friday: Picture Books Edition
Find out which five, NEW picture books I'm fawning over this Friday.
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Nonfiction Book Clubs: A Snippet of an IRA Workshop
Today's post is based on a workshop presented at the International Reading Association conference titled: Thinking, Talking, and Writing about Nonfiction Reading. Nonfiction Book Clubs provide the perfect opportunity for students to solidify all they are learning and to get better at writing about their reading.
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Time for the Tuesday Slice of Life Story Challenge!
Join us for the Tuesday Slice of Life Story Challenge!
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A Quick Little Conference About Choices
I pulled a child-sized chair over to Zach and sat down next to him. "How's it going?" I asked. "Not good," was his reply. "What seems to be the trouble?" Zach explained that he was trying to add dialogue to his story, but his story was about falling asleep on the couch with his puppy,… Continue reading A Quick Little Conference About Choices
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ICYMI: The TWT Independent Writing Blog Series
In case you missed it...all of last week we've been running a blog series devoted to fostering independent writing across grade levels, across the school year, and even during the summer! Here's what each day in the series looked like: On Monday, Beth wrote a post on Independent Writing in the Early Grades (K-2) : We all strive… Continue reading ICYMI: The TWT Independent Writing Blog Series
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Independent Writng: Multi-genre writing projects to celebrate a year of writing workshop
The last quarter of the school year brings gifts all its own - it’s a time to celebrate all the investment that has been made during the first three quarters: our students have a sense of independence and ownership of their learning, and they are ready, willing and able to spread their wings… Continue reading Independent Writng: Multi-genre writing projects to celebrate a year of writing workshop
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Independent Writing: 10 Ways to Get Students Published in the Real World
Some students want to write more than what is required of them in writing workshop. Enter independent writing projects! But how do you go from being another set of eyes on some additional writing a student does to helping him/her go public with their work?
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Independent Writing: Back-Up Work
Encouraging students to have back-up work honors who they are as writers.
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Summer Writing Projects in the Upper Grades
Channeling students to write over the summer can generate loads of independence and engagement. Read on for tips on how to get started.
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How Do You Pull Away? Let Go of Their Hand
Letting go can be hard. Here are some thoughts on how to engage and disengage from the writer during the process of building independence.
