How to Plan a Minilesson from Scratch
Minilessons are actually really easy to plan, and fun to teach. What? You don’t believe me? Let me show you, right now, how to do it.
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Sharpen Your Workshop Routines: Writing Centers to Organize All Your Materials
Every year, around this time, I start having dreams about setting up my classroom. In the classroom of my dreams, I’m moving around small circular tables, unfurling a brand new rug for the… Continue reading
Two Writing Teachers Summer Vacation
The six of us will be recharging our batteries, planning and brainstorming, coming up with even more great ideas to share with our lovely community of teachers and writers.
But don’t worry, we’ve got lots to keep you going in the meantime!
Summer Institutes Here We Come!
Whether it’s an institute put on by your own district, or an expert is coming to town, or if you’ll be traveling many miles to take part, I hope that you are as excited about attending your institutes as I am about teaching them.
How To Read A Unit of Study
As the school year comes to a close, many of the schools I work with are launching into a week or so of in-service, summer institutes, and other professional development. It’s “curriculum season”… Continue reading
Summer Writing for You, the Teacher
You’ve got to practice writing to teach writing!
Get Out Your Calendars! It’s June Planning Time!
If we do nothing else, we do this one thing…Read this post to find out what it is!
It’s Time for the Tuesday Slice of Life Challenge
Welcome to the Tuesday Slice of Life Challenge! Did you know that there have been quite a few newcomers in the past few weeks? Take some time to spread the love by visiting at… Continue reading
How Are You Going to Read All That?
It’s almost summer! Time for sunshine, flip-flops, barbecue grills, and reading student writing.
Join Us for the Tuesday Slice of Life Story Challenge
It’s Tuesday! Time to share a story from your life with our amazing community of writers. Here are some words of wisdom about writing from author John Green, who, if you didn’t already know,… Continue reading
An Interview with Educator and Author Chris Lehman
Recently, I caught up with my friend and colleague Chris Lehman. For a little end-of-the-year inspiration, please enjoy our interview: Beth: Your books make it clear that you have a passion for reading… Continue reading
Time for the Tuesday Slice of Life Story Challenge!
Join us for the Tuesday Slice of Life Story Challenge!
A Quick Little Conference About Choices
I pulled a child-sized chair over to Zach and sat down next to him. “How’s it going?” I asked. “Not good,” was his reply. “What seems to be the trouble?” Zach explained that… Continue reading
Tuesday Slice of Life Story Challenge
Welcome to the Slice of Life Story Challenge. Here are few quotes for inspiration. Enjoy! When I write, my mind’s not filled with visual imagery. It’s filled with language. Words. I seek words,… Continue reading
Independent Writing Blog Series Starts Now!
Today launches our Independent Writing Blog Series! Join us all week long as we write about writing projects, summer writing, getting published in the real world, multi-genre projects, pulling back to let kids write on their own, and much, much more! Also join us for a Twitter chat on Monday, May 12 at 8:30pm EST with the hashtag #TWTBlog.
Top Ten Ways to Keep Minilessons from Turning into Maxilessons
We’ve all been there. You’ve gathered your students into the classroom meeting area, nice and cozy, with the intention of doing just a quick l’il minilesson. Just a quick tip about writing and… Continue reading
April Vacation
Here in Vermont, winter is white and sparkly, all jingle bells and sleigh rides. Summer is green and luscious, with blue skies and sunshine. Fall is golden and red and drop dead gorgeous.… Continue reading
A Mini-Crash-Course on Oral Storytelling
It’s been several months since I’ve written for Two Writing Teachers. In December my son was born, and I was on maternity leave until a few weeks ago. Then, in March I pushed aside all excuses… Continue reading
Remembering Newtown
There are no words.
Shared Writing 101: A Crash Course in Writing Together
A quick, down and dirty, overview of shared writing and how it might support your students.