Over the past two weeks, the co-authors at Two Writing Teachers Blog have shared some of their shifts in workshop teaching over time. In this August blog series, our goal has been to celebrate the growth we notice as reflective members of this community, ever seeking strategies to become increasingly responsive to the writers in our care.
This is how we grow (so that writers grow).
In case you missed any of the posts in the series, here’s a quick recap:
- Lainie framed the series on August 1, elevating the importance of recognizing when we make instructional shifts over time.
- On August 2, Melanie weighed the power and importance of paper charts over the convenience of charts on digital slides in The Importance of Charts in Classrooms.
- Morgan shared three impactful ways she’s discovered to spend the five minutes between the minilesson and her first conference in Make Space After the Minilesson on August 3.
- On August 4, Leah described what helped her to toss those one-size-fits-all graphic organizers in Graphic Organizers Limit Creativity.
- Sarah shared a huge aha around the way she now uses conferring records with students in her post, Sharing Anecdotal Notes to Shift From Mine to Ours, on August 5.
- In week two of the series, Stacey outlined her reasoning for not writing on student work any more in Writing on Students’ Work in Progress.
- Betsy challenged us to gather, interrogate, and rephrase the feedback we give to writers on August 9 in Interrogating our Feedback.
- On August 10, Beth shared a variety of strategies for making spelling a more intentional and impactful part of the workshop in Spelling Words for Kids.
- And to round out the series of August 11, Jenna explained her thinking around having primary students write using Flair pens rather than pencils in A Writing Tool That Honors the Writing Process Itself.
Thank you to everyone who engaged with the August blog series!
Every comment left on any of the above posts entered the commenter into a drawing for our giveaway text, Answers to Your Biggest Questions About Teaching Elementary Writing, generously donated by Corwin Literacy.
The winner of our giveaway is Pam (no last name provided, but luckily she did include her email so we can contact her), who commented on Leah’s post about graphic organizers.
We hope the series inspired you to reflect on your own practice and to celebrate your own growth. Two Writing Teachers Blog is a space where educators are welcome and encouraged to ask questions, to take risks, and to share their thinking. Thank you for being here, and all the best to you as we gear up for the start of the 2022-23 school year!
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