Ruth’s Slice of Life: A Nearly Perfect Moment

Tuesday February 24, 2009 Ruth Ayres2 Comments

Sun streaming in Watching my students Pencils moving Thoughts swarming Ideas evolving Lives changing

quote

Quote.

Tuesday February 24, 2009 Ruth Ayres1 Comment

Ali Edwards has had this up on her site for a few days now. It's speaking to me. Souza : For a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business,… Continue reading Quote.

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Ruth’s Memoir-ish Monday: Give Choice a Chance

Monday February 23, 2009 Ruth Ayres2 Comments

So we've been studying persuasion in my ninth grade English class. Since my students were required to write a persuasive piece, I placed the same expectation on myself. I'm "getting away" using this as my Memoir Monday post because I used a narrative scene as evidence to support my claim. I was inspired by my November… Continue reading Ruth’s Memoir-ish Monday: Give Choice a Chance

memories

Memoir Monday

Monday February 23, 2009Monday February 23, 2009 Ruth Ayres8 Comments

Happy Monday! Please link your marvelous Monday Memoirs in the comments section of this post! (By the way, this will be the last Memoir Monday post until April 6, due to the month-long Slice of Life Story Challenge.)

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messy assessment :)

Sunday February 22, 2009Sunday February 22, 2009 Ruth Ayres1 Comment

Terri left the following comment on a recent post, "Tracks of Teaching." I was just thinking of this very thing this morning. How do you assess kids on what you have taught if none of it is evident? For example, I taught a unit of study on narrative poetry. A student turned in an essay… Continue reading messy assessment 🙂

georgia heard · poetry

A Thought + A Poem

Sunday February 22, 2009Saturday February 21, 2009 Ruth Ayres3 Comments

Around Indiana, Kindergarten Round Up is in full swing. This personally effects me since my red-headed flair of a five year old will be entering kindergarten next year. She is so excited. She's unable to keep still just thinking about going to kindergarten. I watch her pretend and imagine and dress up as a ninja-dentist-ballerina… Continue reading A Thought + A Poem

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tracks of teaching.

Saturday February 21, 2009Saturday February 21, 2009 Ruth Ayres4 Comments

I've always been a big believer that the "tracks of teaching" should be evident when walking into a classroom. By this, I mean that if I simply scan the walls of a classroom, I should be able to know what has been studied. Right now, if you would enter the classroom I teach in, you… Continue reading tracks of teaching.

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Back to Basics: Assessment (Part of TWT’s Big Picture Series)

Friday February 6, 2009Friday February 6, 2009 Ruth Ayres1 Comment

Assessment. Is there anything basic about it? As I've lamented about what to post on this topic today, I decided to look back and share how I survived assessing writing when I first began teaching according to the Writing Workshop philosophy nearly nine years ago. Here is a golden nugget: Assess writing through different lenses.… Continue reading Back to Basics: Assessment (Part of TWT’s Big Picture Series)

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A Word About Giveaways.

Wednesday February 4, 2009 Ruth Ayres3 Comments

After having several emails in regards to our decision to give away "prizes" to our well-loved Slicers, I feel the need to make a public post about our rationale. The long and the short of the matter: We thought it would be fun. In no way did we imagine it would be at odds to… Continue reading A Word About Giveaways.

big picture · minilesson · tcrwp · writing workshop

Back to Basics: Minilesson Parts (Part of TWT’s Big Picture Series)

Monday February 2, 2009Monday February 2, 2009 Ruth Ayres3 Comments

So what are the basic parts of a minilesson? Here's a short list according to the Teachers College Reading & Writing Project at Columbia University: Connection -- The reason for teaching today's lesson. A great way to start out is with these words, "Yesterday I noticed . . . " Our teaching should be in… Continue reading Back to Basics: Minilesson Parts (Part of TWT’s Big Picture Series)

slice of life

Ruth’s Slice of Life: Heartmelting.

Thursday January 29, 2009Friday January 30, 2009 Ruth Ayres5 Comments

This little conversation took place just after six o'clock this morning. We were getting ready to visit a pregnant friend: Me: So what's happening to W.'s belly? My son: There's a baby growing in it. Me: curious about what he would say, Did you grow in my belly? Him: Nope, your belly's broken. A slight… Continue reading Ruth’s Slice of Life: Heartmelting.

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What’s On Your Mind?

Thursday January 29, 2009Sunday February 1, 2009 Ruth Ayres11 Comments

Just wondering what some of the issues are in our blog readers' Writing Workshops. Would you leave a comment and let us know what's on your mind about Writing Workshop? Don't feel like commenting? Then just take a second and click on the poll. Wanna comment, but don't know how? Just click on the comments… Continue reading What’s On Your Mind?