Over the past week, the Co-Authors at Two Writing Teachers Blog have elevated some of our favorite things about launching writing workshop. We are anticipating the start of this new school year with joy, and we hope you are as well. Each post in the series spotlights elements of workshop practice that we want to be mindful of as we plan for the return of students and teachers to our buildings.
So, in case you missed it, here’s a quick recap (plus links) to the posts in this series:
MONDAY: Betsy Hubbard shared her tips for getting mentally and physically ready to teach a new grade level in “Leveraging Grade Level Changes: Our Favorite Things.”
TUESDAY: Kathleen Sokolowski described how she plans for getting to know each of her learners deeply while building class culture in “Creating Community: Our Favorite Things.”
WEDNESDAY: Stacey Shubitz curated resources to support writers in grounding the year with strong notebooking habits in “Entry Points to get Students Writing in Their Writer’s Notebooks: Our Favorite Things.”
THURSDAY: I shared the conferring moves that give writers a vision for how workshop will work (and feel) in our classroom in, “Top Three, Predictable Beginning of Year Conferences: Our Favorite Things.”
FRIDAY: Beth Moore opened up her conferring toolkit and showed us all the goodies inside that support her in having powerful conferences with writers in her post, “My Conferring Toolkit: Our Favorite Things.”
SATURDAY: Melanie Meehan highlighted the need to revisit, review, and remind writers to be mindful in applying conventions while writing in, “Ways to Teach Conventions: Our Favorite Things.”
TODAY: We encourage you to dip back in and read any of the posts that you may have missed. What are your favorite things to do with intention at the beginning of the year? Which practice(s) might you be ready to refine or extend this year? We hope this blog series will inspire you to reflect on both questions.
Thank you to everyone who has commented already. Your engagement makes it so much fun for us, and we value your participation and investment in the TWT community!
Giveaway Results:
Congratulations to Kellie Hooper-Bressler! Her comment on Thursday’s post was the winner (as selected by our random number generator).
Many thanks to Heinemann Publishers who is donating a copy of ONE of the Classroom Essentials (link to https://www.heinemann.com/series/115.aspx) books (i.e., winner’s choice).
TWO WRITING TEACHERS 
I have absolutely adored this whole series! Thank you so much! My favorite routine at the beginning of the year is establishing our literacy routines: “book love” time, book talks with youtube trailers, book speed dating, and decorating our notebooks. It is exciting because middle schoolers LOVE watching the book trailers and then rating their interest. Pulling books out of my library and placing them all around the room for speed dating, and then just getting writing in our notebooks every day sparks a lot of joy. Your post on Wednesday has a lot of ideas for notebook entries I will be borrowing :). THANK YOU FOR THIS SERIES!
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Thank you, Janeen, for sharing your plans for infusing book love into the start of your year!
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Thank you for all the wonderful ideas! I can’t wait to implement them.
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I have decided to intentionally focus on two writing practices with my Scholars this year. One, I will engage in the same writing activities in which they engage, and I will share my notebook and process. Two, I will be intentional about having conversations with them about our writing. I am looking forward to learning from them.
Thank you again to all of you for sharing your wealth of knowledge with us. You and these posts have sparked a flame of hope and excitement for me about this upcoming year. Thank you for that as well.
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Those are two goals that will have a tremendous, positive impact on writers. Thank you so much for sharing your thinking, Donnetta! When we say/write our intentions out loud, we are much more likely to accomplish our goals. We’ll be cheering you on!
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