Author Archive

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Ways to Organize Writer’s Notebooks: Notebook as a Writer’s Tool

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There is no one “correct” way to organize writer’s notebooks. So much depends upon the purpose the notebooks serve in your classroom and how students will utilize them during writing time. My goal with this post is to share different possibilities for organizing writer’s notebooks and present you with various options. To section or not to section will depend on how you see writer’s notebooks and the role they play in your workshop.

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Thoughtful Third Grader: Building Relationships Through Writing

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Making some time and space in the day to celebrate a student each week has enriched my class as readers, writers, and human beings. How do you use writing to lift up the students in your class? 

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Out of the Classroom and Into the World: Workshop by Katherine Schulten

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What are the educational issues calling your name? How can you use writing to share about your teaching experiences?  A Long Island Writing Project workshop, facilitated by Katherine Schulten, inspired me to keep sharing my teaching stories.

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Finding Your Voice, Telling Your Story

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In what ways have you pushed yourself to try a new type of writing or to share your ideas in a public way? In July, I pushed myself to write a keynote speech and learned lessons along the way.

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Write Them Back!

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Do you receive letters from your students at the start of the year? Do you write them back? In what ways do you get to know new students? How do you keep track of the information and use it as a guide for helping your writers grow?

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Questioning Traditional Homework Practices

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It can feel scary and uncertain to step away from a traditional practice like assigning homework. Following your teacher heart (and your gut) and reading what other professionals and researchers have shared can make you feel more confident in taking a risk and trying a new policy. Read on to see how one teacher (me) changed how and why homework is assigned.

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Quick Tip: Twitter Digital Notebook

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Do you wish you can save all the bits of inspiration and ideas you read on Twitter? Now you can! Read on for an easy way to never lose those tweets again.

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Planning for Intentionality: Elementary Planner Giveaway

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Do you have a love/hate relationship with your plan book? Are you looking to be more inspired when you jot your weekly plans? Read on to learn about the Intentional Educator Planner (Elementary) and comment for a chance to win your own copy!

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This is the Year I’m Going to Make Share Time a Priority

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A glance at the clock tells me we have just three minutes to get our coats and lunches and line up. Students are still writing, but now there is no time to gather and share.  I sigh, realizing this has become a pattern; without a clear plan for making the share happen, it often does not. But all that will change because… This is the year I’m going to make share time a priority!

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It’s Tuesday! Time to Write, Share and Give

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It’s Tuesday and time to share your Slice of Life! As the calendar turns to August tomorrow, TWT returns from our summer break to start a new school year. Stay tuned for our August blog series, “Dreaming Big for This Year’s Writing Workshop”, which kicks off August 5th and continues through August 13th.

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It’s SOL Tuesday!

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It’s Tuesday! Are you ready to write, share and give?

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It’s Slice of Life Tuesday!

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It’s Tuesday! Before you write, share, and give, please check today’s post to find a link to a podcast featuring one of our longtime dedicated Slicers, Lisa Corbett! She talks about the SOLSC and what it means to be a teacher who writes.

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It’s SOL Tuesday!

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It’s Tuesday! Time to write, share, and give!

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It’s Slice of Life Tuesday!

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It’s Slice of Life Tuesday! Time to write, share and give!

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Write to the Finish!

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It’s the final countdown to summer for me and my third graders. Here are some ways we’ve used writing to end the year in a meaningful way.

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Patterns of Power: Review + Giveaway

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At a time when  thoughts turn to sandy beaches and alarm clock-less days, it takes a very special professional book to make me wish (at least a little) that it was September and I could start implementing all these fabulous, fun and important lessons now! Patterns of Power: Inviting Young Writers into the Conventions of Language is a book that will make you happy to have the opportunity to be a teacher, working with young writers to help them explore, wonder, and apply the conventions they learn. It’s a book that I believe will transform how teachers and students look at conventions

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Organization Wishes and Happy Writing Dreams

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Are you the writing teacher you dream to be?

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Making the Most of May and June: Looking Back and Moving Forward

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By taking some time in May and June to try new writing projects, we can motivate students to stay connected and continue living the writerly life when no one is assigning them to do it. They can write (and read) because it’s part of who they are and how they live each day. Let’s not allow May and June become movie-watching, worksheet-filling, killing-time days. Let’s make each day count and keep our writers enthusiastic about all the possibilities being a writer brings.

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Write at the Start: No More Morning Worksheets

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How can we let writing be part of a “soft start” for students instead of making them complete joyless worksheets? How do your students start the day or class period? Please join the conversation!

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Super Spellers: Review + Giveaway

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How do you approach teaching writers to spell? Mark Weakland’s book Super Spellers: Seven Steps to Transforming Your Spelling Instruction might have some new insights for you!