administrators · literacy coaches · Voices from the Community

Principals can be literacy coaches too!

Building administrators are and should be lead teachers! Although we often get bogged down in the mechanics of running a school, finding moments to reconnect with our own teaching passions is a key part in staying grounded, being a model for the staff, and building relationships with students. For me, writing has always been my passion and therefore I make it a priority to find time to teach, confer, and connect with my community to both share my passion about writing and fuel theirs!

Voices from the Community · writer identity · writing life

Writing with Wren: Nurturing a Writing Identity

An eight-year-old writer helps her mom reflect on ways that teachers can help to foster the habits and conditions that nurture children who grow up believing that they have words, ideas, and stories worth writing and sharing.

middle school · social studies · Voices from the Community

Integrating Social Studies into Reading and Writing Workshops

For Shaista Ashraf, the thought of teaching social studies not just as social studies, but through the minilessons of reading and/or writing workshop was daunting to start. But with some collaboration, sharing of ideas, and a thorough understanding of the units and sessions she taught, it became clear, lucid, and even enjoyable!

multimodal · Voices from the Community

Supporting Multimodal Composition in the Writing Workshop: Simple Ways to Begin

In this guest blog post by Angela Stockman, she contends that writing is and always has been multimodal. Check out her ideas for easy ways to begin supporting multimodal composition in your workshop.

cultural relevance · early childhood · Read Aloud · reading-writing connections · storytelling · writer identity

Fostering Authorship, Identity, and Agency in the Early Childhood Classroom Through Storytelling

As the storytelling culture is developed in the classroom, children are likely to begin to see themselves as authors and to use their voices in braver ways to share their ideas and who they are with their peers.

choice · community · Distance Learning · Freewriting · guest blogger · Voices from the Community · writing workshop

Becoming Writers Together: The Joyful Writers’ Club

Carving out space and time for experiences that honor student agency and their diverse writing lives is not only empowering but also gifts them with the habit of writing and the identity as writers. We can write our way through this pandemic, together and emerge as writers.

remote instruction · remote learning · Voices from the Community · writing workshop

Composing, Collaborating, Conferring, Conversing: Keeping an Eye on Student Writing During Remote Instruction

Today, TWT is honored to have Jennifer Serravallo as a guest writer, sharing ideas related to student writing during remote instruction.

mentor texts · Voices from the Community · writing workshop

I Write Therefore I Am: Using Mentor Texts to Study Identity in Writing Workshop

Today is a Voices From the Community post, written by Logan Beth Fisher. She writes, "Writing workshop is the perfect time of the day in which to create opportunities for students to truly do a deep dive into their identities. The more chances a child has to examine the things that make them who they are, the greater the chance that they will broaden their capacity to generate ideas in which to write. Like any other good writing unit, educators can rely on mentor texts to help model not only the craft of writing but will also offer ways in which students can consider their own identities based on the theme or subject of the text."

COVID-19 · occupational therapy · remote learning · technology

Easy Ways to Create a Healthy Ergonomic Set Up for Your At-Home Learner

For years, therapists have known that body positioning to increase attention and upper extremity stability is important. But those strategies have focused on children that have been seen by therapists in classrooms and clinics to address decreased attention span, core stability, and handwriting concerns. Today, Karen Reale, an occupational therapist, provides tips and tricks that can be applicable to any child who is learning in a classroom, hybrid setting, or at home this fall. This quick, informative post will help teachers educate caregivers on the importance of healthy positioning at home or wherever their child does their schoolwork.

COVID-19 · digital tools · EAL · multilingual · sharing · teaching tools · technology · Voices from the Community

Providing Tools for Writing and Sharing Writing Through the Pandemic

Calling all primary writing teachers. Today Janet Ahn shares how she worked with her Kindergarteners to continue thrive in writing workshop through the pandemic. These young scholars continued to draft pieces, engage in conferring, collaborate to mark up mentor texts, and publish their writing through online platforms. Their dedication to continuing the writing workshop virtually was a reflection of how they truly saw themselves as writers.

conferring · COVID-19

Taking a Little Dip Back into Tried and True Teaching: Simple Ways to Embrace the Writing Conference During Virtual Learning

When the world of education suddenly shifted, so did our teaching practices. Some of us might be ready to start bringing back some of the teaching structures we replied on in the classroom. This will offer some quick practical ways we might bring back parts of the traditional writing conference during virtual learning.