Time to Recharge Our Batteries: A Summer Break and Some Ways to Keep Learning

Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes (619 words)

Whether you’ve closed up your classroom for the summer or you’re still waiting to cross the school year finish line, summer is upon us once again. As always, our team at the Two Writing Teachers is taking a break for the summer to rest, recharge, and reset for the upcoming school year.

Summer doesn’t mean the learning and growing has to stop, though. Here are some great ways to keep up (and catch up) with the Two Writing Teachers blog and #TWTpod this summer!

Check Out the Latest TWTPod Episodes!

Stacey and Melanie are wrapping up the second season of the Two Writing Teachers Podcast this Sunday, June 2. Don’t miss the final episode of the season, and make sure to check out some of the highlights from this year, including episodes on AI tools, addressing perfectionism, leveraging oral language, building writing toolkits, and more!

Stacey and Melanie are taking a much-deserved break in June, July, and August and will be back with all-new episodes on Sundays starting on September 1. 

Writing Workshop in Contentious Times: A Digging Deeper Dialogue – Two Writing Teachers Podcast

In the season four finale, Stacey Shubitz and Melanie Meehan tackle the increasingly contentious topic of “writing workshop” in today’s educational climate. They reflect on the origins and evolution of the writing workshop, the research supporting its key principles, and why certain foundational practices remain crucial, even if the label itself is under fire. Drawing from recent evidence-based recommendations and their own classroom experiences, Stacey and Melanie unpack what truly effective writing instruction looks like and why authentic, joyful writing communities matter now more than ever.Resources Mentioned:“All Children Can Write” by Donald H. GravesCommon Core State Standards for English Language Arts“Evidence-based recommendations for teaching writing” by Steve Graham, Alyson A. Collins & Stephen CiulloLiteracy Specialist Graduate Program at Teachers CollegeMore Than Words: How to Think about Writing in the Age of AI by John WarnerSentence Structure for Young Writers: A Tip for Tomorrow from MelanieThe Art of Teaching Writing by Lucy CalkinsTransfer Writing Skills Across Genres: A Tip for Tomorrow from StaceyWriting, 20th Anniversary Ed.: Teachers & Children at Work by Donald H. GravesSend us Fan MailPlease subscribe to our podcast and leave us ratings/reviews on your favorite listening platform.You may contact us directly if you want us to consult with your school district. Melanie Meehan: meehanmelanie@gmail.com Stacey Shubitz: stacey@staceyshubitz.comEmail us at contact@twowritingteachers.org for affiliate or sponsorship opportunities.For more about teaching writing, head to the Two Writing Teachers blog.

1. Writing Workshop in Contentious Times: A Digging Deeper Dialogue 45:58
2. Use the Summer to Cultivate Your Wri-dentity: A Tip for Tomorrow from Stacey 06:57
3. What General Educators Need to Know About Neurodiversity in the Writing Classroom: A Writing Roundtable 01:02:45
4. Introduce Summer Writing Bingo Boards: A Tip for Tomorrow from Melanie 08:14
5. Turn Authors Into Mentors for Your Students: A Tip for Tomorrow from Stacey 07:10

In the meantime, if you have liked what you’ve heard during seasons one and two, we’d be honored if you took a moment to rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And if you have a favorite episode, please make sure to share it with a friend or colleague!

Revisit a Series

Each TWT blog series is a collection of current thinking, best practices, resources, and tools to support writing teachers in all settings and stages of your career. Catch up on the 2023-24 series:

• Fall Blog Series: Save a Seat For Every Writer
  Looking for ideas to start next school year with energy for every unique writer in your classroom? This blog series focuses on seeing the strengths in every type of writer to kick of the year with success.
• Winter Blog Series: Build Your Expertise
  The educational landscape is grounded in evidence-based practices. This blog series is a round-up of the most current research to support writing workshop structures and practices, including oral language, community-building, invented spelling, explicit teaching of grammar and conventions, and more.

Keep Your Learning Going

• Write with us every Tuesday for our weekly slice of life. Whether you’re a seasoned slicer or new to the community, summer is the perfect time to spread your writing wings and share your story! Post to your blog, share the URL to the call for slices on the blog every Tuesday, and share comments on other writers’ posts.
• Join Lainie’s Summer Writing Circle. Check out the details here.
• Catch up on some treasures from years past by checking out our monthly round-up of “From the Archives” posts. Here are a few can’t-miss resources to get ready for the new school year:
  • The Build a Writing Community collection from Jenna Komarin
  • The Leaping into Whole Class Instruction collection from Stacey Shubitz
  • The Paper Choices collection from Betsy Hubbard.
• Follow us on social media, where members of our team will share our learning throughout the summer. You can find #TWTblog on both Instagram and Facebook.

What’s Next?

We’ll return from our summer blogging break on Friday, August 2. Our back-to-school blog series will launch on Sunday, August 4. Here’s a quick sneak peek:

We wish you a safe, happy, and relaxing summer and look forward to sharing even more writing tips and ideas in the fall!

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