Slice of Life Story Challenge · writing workshop

Day 8 of the March 2020 SOLSC #SOL20

SEAT stands for Scribing Everyday Augmentable Time. If you have made it through the first week, slicing every day and commenting daily on at least three other posts, then you are eligible. Fill out the form by midnight on Monday for a chance to win a SEAT Prize!

Slice of Life Story Challenge · writing workshop

DAY 7 OF THE MARCH SOLSC! #SOL20

And the first week is winding down! Woo hoo! Welcome to Day 7 of the Slice of Life Story Challenge 2020.

goals · informational writing · writing workshop

Moving Along — and Backing Up — in Information Writing

When any task involves many skills, there are a lot of places for a metaphorical bump in a straw. When we break the task down, the final product involves many potential downfalls!

giveaway · Joy · writing workshop

Start With Joy: Book Review and Giveaway

Even if you don’t win the copy of Start With Joy as a giveaway from us, I hope you will consider adding it to your collection of professional books. Students face so many pressures and challenges in their daily lives, both in and out of school. Ultimately, we want them to learn, for sure, but we also want them to find joy in the process. This book not only reminds us of the importance of happiness, it also provides ways to design for joy.

giveaway · Slice of Life Story Challenge

2020 Slice of Life Prize Reveal

This year, we are trying out some different ideas for prizes, and we are excited to share what will be happening in March with the community!

Expand the Possibilities of Genres You Teach · informational writing · narrative · writing workshop

Narrative Writing: Expand the Possibilities of Genres You Teach

So many stories, so many possibilities for weaving narrative writing into other genres-- and so much fun we can have doing it!

Expand the Possibilities of Genres You Teach

Expand the Possibilities of Genres You Teach Blog Series

All week at Two Writing Teachers we will be writing about how we can expand the possibilities of the genres you teach throughout the year.

charts · immersion · informational writing · self-assessment · writing workshop

A Peek Into the Start of an Information Unit

When we show students examples of what they should be creating before and during their writing, we are, in many ways, providing them a figurative ride up the chairlift with many good skiers in front of them. In two separate classrooms, I introduced an information writing unit with a classroom teacher with a pile of books and writing samples and the students sitting in a circle. "Your job," I said, "is to look at these books and pieces like writers. What did the author do? How did they do it?"

conferring · Joy · writing workshop

Three Ways To Make Your Conferring More Effective

I've been trying to improve my own skills as I sit down next to writers throughout my years of teaching writing, and there is so much more to conferring than the three ideas that I'm sharing in this post.

argument writing · Joy · NCTE · play · social justice

A Few Reflections and Shares From NCTE 2019

For the last few days, I have had the privilege of attending the National Council of Teachers of English Convention in Baltimore, Maryland. While there were many colleagues and friends who shared the experience, I know many others couldn't attend. I'm sure there are others who will share in the upcoming weeks, but for now, in somewhat of a post-convention haze, I'm scrolling through my notes and pulling out some of my favorite quotes and ideas from my experiences.

jacqueline woodson · Reaching Your Writers Blog Series · writing workshop

In Case You Missed It: Reaching Your Writers

Our hope is that this blog series helps to bridge the divides between how we teach writing and how students learn writing because we all believe not only in the importance of writing, but also that all children can learn to write-- and learn to write well-- and even like writing!

adults in the classroom · communication · crystal-clear clarity · Reaching Your Writers Blog Series · writing workshop

Communication, Collaboration, and Clarity: Reaching Your Writers

The more we can communicate, collaborate, and empower the people we work with, both adults and students, so that they know and understand the learning that should be happening in our writing classrooms, the more we will see that learning happen. When we all know what we’re working on and we have the tools and systems to support our pathways, great things happen!