This week I'm going to pull-out a bunch of texts that are memoir-ish: When the Relatives Came, What You Know First, The House on Mango Street, and maybe even Marshfield Dreams if I can find it in-time. However, I'm unsure as to whether or not I want to share the memoir I wrote about my… Continue reading Memoir Stuff On-Tap for This-Coming Week
Author: Stacey Shubitz
Stacey Shubitz is a K-6 literacy consultant and former elementary teacher. She is the author of CRAFT MOVES and other professional books on writing workshop. Her new book, MAKE THE SCHOOL SYSTEM WORK FOR YOUR CHILD WITH DISABILITIES (Guilford Press, 2026), empowers parents to navigate the special education system.
Marching to the Music: A Great Way to Review Content & Have Some Fun
I'm introducing a bunch of new games to my students this week during Morning Meeting. I got all of them from 99 Activities and Greetings: Great for Morning Meeting... and other meetings, too! by Melissa Correa-Connolly. One of the ones I found in Correa-Connolly's Book is called "Milling to the Music," which is a great… Continue reading Marching to the Music: A Great Way to Review Content & Have Some Fun
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Taking Down the Scaffolds Slowly
After studying Vygotsky 's ZPD in the very first education class I took in college, I came to realize how important scaffolding was. Last summer, nine years after my first education class (That was in 1998: I toyed with the idea of becoming a teacher in college and literally took one ed class my junior… Continue reading Taking Down the Scaffolds Slowly
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Reading First Was Deemed “Ineffective”
The NY Times published an article entitled, "An Initiative on Reading Is Rated Ineffective" today. Not exactly a shocker most of us literacy educators, but perhaps shocking to others who haven't followed this part of the NCLB Legislation that closely. I know this blog is about writing, but I felt I'd be remiss if I… Continue reading Reading First Was Deemed “Ineffective”
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We’re Doing Poetry at the Zoo
at the zoo Originally uploaded by teachergal I just booked a field trip to take my class (and Kate's) to the Zoo next month. I'm so excited since they'll be observing the animals and writing poetry. Hence, NEXT Friday, I'm going to give them this poem as a way of breaking the news to them.… Continue reading We’re Doing Poetry at the Zoo
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Trusting Me With the “Stuff” of Their Lives
I was out due to the extreme amount of neck pain I had yesterday. Therefore, when I returned to school this morning, I found the students' work trays brimming with papers waiting to be checked. I sorted them into my file tote folders and started making my way through them about two hours ago. I… Continue reading Trusting Me With the “Stuff” of Their Lives
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Poetry Portfolio Guidelines
My colleagues and I met during our Common Planning Time today and solidified this year's Poetry Portfolio Guidelines, which is an adaptation of what my fifth graders did last year. We're going to have three sections: mentor poems/texts, original poetry writing, and responses to poems that the kids love. I'm pretty happy with it and… Continue reading Poetry Portfolio Guidelines
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Gearing Up for Poetry
Poetry Portfolio Originally uploaded by teachergal It's May. National Poetry Month is over. However, that means that I'm just three weeks away from the start of our final unit of study: POETRY! 🙂 I decided to take the eight poems I had done for the One-Week Poetry Challenge and put them into a binder. However,… Continue reading Gearing Up for Poetry
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Weekly Slice of Life Story Challenge
Please add the following image to your post and/or link back to this post so folks can find other participants. Please register your SOLS with Mr. Linky: THANKS!
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Not exactly a deep SOLS, but it’s a slice of my day!
Major neck pain has found it's way to the forefront of my life yet again. I spent most of my night waiting for and having an MRI to determine why I'm having numbness in my hand. Hence, I couldn't write much tonight, but since I make it my business to write daily, I threw this… Continue reading Not exactly a deep SOLS, but it’s a slice of my day!
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In Their Words
Today's Workshop, in my classroom, was spent immersing my students in the memoir genre (or is it genre of memoir... both sound funny to me!). The kids realized that most memoirs are a combination of exposition and narrative. (I compared memoir to a hybrid car. That definitely helped!) After my kids listened to four of… Continue reading In Their Words
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WN ENTRY: What do we do when we find ourselves repeating history?
"Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it." My high school History Teacher, Tom Wilcox, didn't originate that phrase, but he repeated it to us quite a few times during tenth grade. It stuck with me. I remember this phrase each and every time I have to teach something difficult from our nation's… Continue reading WN ENTRY: What do we do when we find ourselves repeating history?
