units of study · Work Smarter Not Harder Blog Series · writing process · writing workshop · writing workshop routines

Work Smarter: Use checklists throughout a unit of study …and beyond

I’ll begin by being honest - I don’t like checklists. It’s a personal thing.  Checklists make me anxious, they fill me with the fear of impending failure. As soon as I’ve taken the time to assemble a checklist, I am filled with a sense of dread. I wonder, how am I ever to accomplish any of… Continue reading Work Smarter: Use checklists throughout a unit of study …and beyond

commenting · Work Smarter Not Harder Blog Series

Work Smarter: Commenting on Student Writing

Seven tips to streamline the process of commenting on student writing.

writing workshop

Share Your Slice of Life: It’s SOL Tuesday!

Welcome to November everybody!

tcrwp · Work Smarter Not Harder Blog Series · writer's notebook

Work Smarter: 5 Tips for Checking Writer’s Notebooks Efficiently  

Grace Chough led a session, "Turning Writer's Notebooks Into Workbenches, and Using Them to Work Deliberately Towards Big Goals," at the June 2014 TCRWP Writing Institute.  She shared lots of smart thinking about the work students do in writer's notebooks.  But there one particular thing she said that resonated with me since I used to… Continue reading Work Smarter: 5 Tips for Checking Writer’s Notebooks Efficiently  

Work Smarter Not Harder Blog Series

Preview: Work Smarter, Not Harder Blog Series

Welcome to our “Work Smarter, Not Harder” Blog Series.  Contrary to what your students may think, we know you don’t live at school.  If the teaching of writing feels cumbersome to you, then stick with us this week.  We’ll help you maximize your time so the teaching of writing will feel more enjoyable. A preview… Continue reading Preview: Work Smarter, Not Harder Blog Series

voice · writers

What’s Your Writing Tic?

Read about writers' tics, and share your own.

assessment · authentic assessment

Using Assessment Tools to Teach Transference

Valuable lessons can be learned when an assessment tool designed for one genre is used to assess another.