July Blogging Break

Ah, summer vacation! Time to exhale, reboot, and recharge. At Two Writing Teachers, we are taking a short blogging break for the month of July. We will be spending time with our families, reading, writing, reflecting, and, of course, planning new blog posts to share with you as we get ready to start a new school year.

Don’t worry, though, we have a lot of resources for you while we’re gone!

Slice of Life Story Challenge

You can find us here every Tuesday for the Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOLSC). I am hosting for the month of July. If you have never participated, July is the perfect time to try something new. The Slice of Life community is a warm and welcoming writing community, perfect to get your feet wet. Simply write a story from your life on your own blog, and then on Tuesdays, share a link to your story in the comments section on the daily call for SOLSC post. Comment on at least three other posts, and enjoy all the comments that you will receive in return.

Our Next Blog Series

We will come back in August with our next blog series, Writing Workshop Fundamentals. Each of the co-authors will dedicate a post to an essential component of writing workshop. We will cover everything from unit planning to conferring to mentor texts. You can mark your August calendar for our Twitter Chat on Monday, August 7th at 8:30 PM EDT. Use the hashtag #TWTBlog to join the conversation.

Speaking of blog series, as you are thinking about and planning for next year, you might find one of our past blog series useful. You can click on any of the links below to access a past blog series:

November 2013: Tailoring Our Teaching
February 2014: Writing About Reading
May 2014: Independent Writing,
August 2014: Sharpen Your Workshop Routines
November 2014: Work Smarter, Not Harder
February 2015: Aim Higher: Outgrow Old Goals and Set New Ones
May 2015: Conferring Toolkits
August 2015: Creating Classroom Environments to Launch the School Year
November 2015: Diving Into Information Writing
February 2016: Discovering the Writer’s Life
May 2016: Teaching Writing with Mentor Texts
August 2016: Starting with What Matters Most
November 2016: Assessment Strengthens Writers
February 2017: Authentic Purposes for Writing
May 2017: Keep Learning Going Throughout the Summer

Wait! There’s More!

We recently launched a new “Presentations” page on Two Writing Teachers which lists all the places you can find us out and about. In July you can catch Betsy at nErDcamp in Parma, MI, where she will be presenting “Bringing the Love to Revision: Stepping Out to Dig In.” On July 25th, Stacey will be presenting “Help Kids Envision Possibilities in Their Writing by Using Mentor Texts” at Millersville University Literacy Institute in Millersville, PA.
Make sure you are following all of us on Twitter this summer. (You can see our Twitter feeds at the bottom of our main page):
- Stacey @sshubitz
- Betsy @Betsy_writes
- Beth @BethMooreSchool
- Kathleen @MrsSokolowski
- Lanny @lannyball
- Deb @Deb_Frazier
- Melanie @MelanieMeehan1