Trust the Kids
Finding ways to trust kids, it might be said, creates more space for learning. In this post, I offer a few ways trust can be manifested in a writing workshop…
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SOL Tuesday
It’s April! Back to our regularly scheduled Slice of Life Tuesday. With only a one day break, let’s get back together, Slicers! Come write, share, give…
SOL Tuesday
It’s April! Back to our regularly scheduled Slice of Life Tuesday. With only a one day break, let’s get back together, Slicers! Come write, share, give…
Revising for Meaning
At the heart of all great writing is meaning. Writers select details carefully and deliberately, depending on the message we wish to convey to readers. How can we let meaning guide revision? Read here about a few ways…
SOL Tuesday
It’s April! Back to our regularly scheduled Slice of Life Tuesday. With only a one day break, let’s get back together, Slicers! Come write, share, give…
SOLSC Participant Pledge 2019
Congratulations to all for an amazing March Slice of Life Story Challenge! If you faithfully met the criteria for the challenge by slicing and commenting each day in March, we invite you to complete our form to become eligible for a prize!
DAY 31 OF THE MARCH SOLSC! #SOL19
Welcome to the final day of the Slice of Life Story Challenge. This is it! Day 31! Write! Share! Give!
DAY 30 OF THE MARCH SOLSC! #SOL19
Welcome to day 30 of the Slice of Life Story Challenge. So close to the end!
DAY 29 OF THE MARCH SOLSC! #SOL19
Welcome to day 29 of the Slice of Life Story Challenge. Write. Share. Give.
DAY 28 OF THE MARCH SOLSC! #SOL19
Getting close to the end now, Slicers! Welcome to Day 28.
DAY 27 OF THE MARCH SOLSC! #SOL19
Twenty-seven days into a daily writing habit. Congratulations!
Acknowledging Writers to Disturb the Universe
In writing workshop, we operate on multiple levels– we try to plan and deliver effective minilessons, we try to confer with our writers (and take some notes?), we create anchor charts, and so forth. But what about validating the voices of our student writers? Here are a few tips for disturbing the universe…
ANNOUNCING THE WINNER OF THE 1st 2019 SOLSC MID-MONTH COMMENTING CHALLENGE
Congratulations to the winner of this weekend’s Mid-month Commenting Challenge!
The First Commenting Challenge of the SOLSC is here!
Are you ready for a challenge? It’s our first mid-month challenge of the 2019 SOLSC! Get ready to roll out some extra comments…
Where is the Attention?
Sometimes it can be difficult to imagine creating or allowing a wider audience to read our students’ writing. But there is great possibility in doing so. It just takes a shift in attention…
Time to Write
Donald Murray, author of the seminal text A Writer Teaches Writing (Houghton Mifflin, 1985), teaches us that one of the most important things to a writer is time, time to write. But with the many time constraints faced by teachers, how can we be thinking about time in ways that make a difference for our students?
Honoring Student Voice: Teaching Writing With a Social Justice Lens
“Did he read it yet?” Anxiously, I stared into my mother’s eyes as she stepped inside the house, closing the front door behind her. After a day of teaching elementary school, my mom… Continue reading
Rethinking Learning Targets
We all want to support and nurture inspired writers who work independently. So how might we carefully avoid creating uninspiring, teacher-dependent environments for learning? I present a few ideas here…
Strengthening Writing Partnerships, Part 2
In my previous November post about partnerships, three ideas were shared: (1) Study existing partnerships to assess current and potential effectiveness; (2) Teach a replicable process for meaningful revision; and (3) Teach writers how to create process pages. Today I will share just a few more strategies for supporting and strengthening writing partnerships…
They Are All Precious
Each life we impact matters. Each one of the children with whom we interact is currently living into an uncertain future. Thus, with kindness and resolution, we greet writers each day and do all we can to help them learn what it takes to make their voices heard through the power of the metaphorical pen. This is our work.