Classroom Slice of Life Story Challenge: Day 23 of 31

Monday March 23, 2015Tuesday March 17, 2015 BethMooreSchool26 Comments

A good comparison or metaphor can take you far!

Classroom Slice of Life Story Challenge: Day 22 of 31

Sunday March 22, 2015Saturday March 21, 2015 BethMooreSchool19 Comments

It’s Day Twenty-two of the Classroom Slice of Life Story Challenge. Welcome back! If your students are struggling to find inspiration, you might teach them a few new strategies.

SOLSC Classroom Challenge · writing workshop

Classroom Slice of Life Story Challenge: Day 21 of 31

Saturday March 21, 2015Friday March 20, 2015 BethMooreSchool30 Comments

Starting to get stuck for ideas? Try this strategy shared by Aparna Rugapathi on her blog, Serendipity.

demonstration · slice of life · Slice of Life Story Challenge · SOLSC Classroom Challenge · Teachers who write · teaching tools · writers · writing · writing workshop

Using Your Own Writing as a Teaching Tool

Monday March 9, 2015Monday March 9, 2015 BethMooreSchool9 Comments

It seems appropriate that today's post should be related to using your own writing in the classroom. We are, after all, in the midst of the March Slice of Life Story Challenge. And what an amazing month it has already been. This year has been our biggest, most successful year yet! We have over 300 participants… Continue reading Using Your Own Writing as a Teaching Tool

volume

The Amazing Cure for Students Who Won’t Write

Tuesday February 24, 2015Tuesday February 24, 2015 BethMooreSchool7 Comments

Are you hoping for a magic spell that will make kids write?

celebration · music · publishing · writing workshop

Songs for Celebrating Writing

Sunday February 15, 2015Monday February 16, 2015 BethMooreSchool13 Comments

A quick list of some favorite songs for writing celebrations, to brighten your day!

compliment · conferences · lucy calkins · writing workshop

A Compliment Conference

Sunday February 8, 2015Sunday February 8, 2015 BethMooreSchool14 Comments

In my day-to-day teaching I often get swept up in trying to load students up with next step after next step... after next step. Sometimes, what might benefit some students most, however, is clear explicit feedback on what they are already doing well. There's certainly an art to giving clear feedback, especially when it comes to… Continue reading A Compliment Conference

SOLSC Classroom Challenge

Calling All Teachers! Join the Classroom Slice of Life Story Challenge!

Sunday February 1, 2015Monday February 2, 2015 BethMooreSchool2 Comments

Calling all teachers and students! Join us for the March Classroom Slice of Life Story Challenge!

Aim Higher Blog Series · writing workshop

ICYMI Aim Higher: Outgrow Old Goals and Set New Ones

Sunday February 1, 2015Saturday January 31, 2015 BethMooreSchool1 Comment

Last week Tara, Betsy, Dana, Anna, Stacey and I wrote about the importance of having writing goals for your students: how to set them, how to keep track of them, how to make them visible, and how to make them a part of your daily classroom life. In cased you missed it, here's a round up of our posts.

Aim Higher Blog Series · conferences · goals · writing workshop

Aim Higher: Conferring and Student Goals

Saturday January 31, 2015Friday January 30, 2015 BethMooreSchool9 Comments

So, you've studied your students' writing, analyzing their work for strengths and next steps. Maybe you took home a giant stack of writers notebooks, or a huge pile of on-demand writing assessments, or maybe you've just finished reading their published pieces. Now what?

conventions · editing · grammar · Mary Ehrenworth · punctuation · units of study · writing workshop

Grammar Lessons: A Time and A Place

Saturday January 24, 2015Friday January 23, 2015 BethMooreSchool7 Comments

Encouraging kids to make decisions about their writing, rather than blindly following grammar rules helps lifts the level of their thinking, and the level of their writing.

growth mindset · writing workshop

Three Words for Fostering Adventurous Writers: “Just Try It.”

Saturday January 17, 2015Saturday January 17, 2015 BethMooreSchool6 Comments

At our house we have a rule at dinner time: You have to try everything on your plate. Personally, I think it's a great rule, if I do say so myself. It's a useful rule. It covers many situations: The "I'm all done" situation: "Mommy, I'm done!" "You have to try everything. That's the rule.… Continue reading Three Words for Fostering Adventurous Writers: “Just Try It.”