Author: Amy Ellerman

Reader, writer, and instructional coach. Always thinking. Collaborating to innovate the learning experience for students and educators.
Engagement and the Writing Workshop
engagement · writing workshop

Engagement and the Writing Workshop

Amy Ellerman2 Comments

I had the opportunity to hear Cornelius Minor speak at the CCIRA Conference earlier in February, and I cannot stop thinking about it. He defined engagement in a way that is both conceptual and precise.  I may have stopped breathing as my brain short circuited in response.

Five Read Aloud Books for an Agency Study: Amping up Agency Blog Series
Amping up Agency Blog Series · picture book · Read Aloud

Five Read Aloud Books for an Agency Study: Amping up Agency Blog Series

Amy Ellerman9 Comments

I’ve put together a text set of newer picture books to explore the concept of agency with kids. Imagine how it might look across a week to read these books aloud, co-creating an anchor chart with similarities between the actions of the main characters. What might we anticipate writers noticing? What connections might kids make to writing workshop? How might these characters serve as mentors as we collectively build our writing workshop, ensuring it is a place where each writer is encouraged and challenged to make decisions, to initiate the action they need to move their writing work forward?

A Deep Dive Into One Spectacular Mentor Text
inquiry · mentor texts · touchstone texts · universal theme

A Deep Dive Into One Spectacular Mentor Text

Amy Ellerman2 Comments

In this post, I’ll describe the ways I would use Rabbit and the Motorbike as a mentor text for instruction with writers in upper elementary grades through middle school. This is an example of the thinking work I do in advance of sharing a mentor text with students, anticipating what students might notice and planning for the questioning I will do to help them name those craft moves. My goal is always to get kids to the HOW, because that is the level of understanding they need to be able to try strategies out in their own writing.

Coaching à la Carte: Stronger Together Blog Series
coaching · collaboration · literacy coaches · Stronger Together: Involving Other Professionals in Your Workshop Blog Series

Coaching à la Carte: Stronger Together Blog Series

Amy Ellerman16 Comments

In this post I’ve curated some quick coaching possibilities: coaching à la carte, if you will. Each offering on this menu has the potential to have an immediate impact on student learning in the workshop with a minimal time commitment from teachers. It might not be the gold standard, four-course meal of a coaching cycle, but each option is designed to nourish and energize teacher(s), students, and coaches with a quick burst of collaboration.

Preparing for Fall Conferences With Families
caregivers · conferences · parent involvement

Preparing for Fall Conferences With Families

Amy Ellerman

As the temperature drops and the leaves begin to change color, teachers begin preparing for conferences with families. I know for many teachers, this can be stressful (and time consuming), making decisions about what to share in that precious 20-30 minutes that will both inform and reassure caregivers that their child is learning. Here’s an idea that I'm hoping helps all workshop teachers to feel more confident about conference prep.

How do we Know When our Workshops are Working?
agency · community · feedback · goals · management · routines

How do we Know When our Workshops are Working?

Amy Ellerman4 Comments

Launching a writing workshop is hard work. Intentional work. What are those “look fors” that let us know that our workshops are gelling? That community is being built, routines are being established, and writing work is happening?