Here's the link in case you want to pass this video along to someone else: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMcfrLYDm2U To join in the Shift Happens Conversation, click here. I particularly like their discussion questions, which are as follows: # What are your initial reactions to what you saw in the presentation? # How are these changes manifesting themselves… Continue reading Did You Know 2.0
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.
Advice from Poet Laureate Billy Collins
I heard Poet Laureate Billy Collins speak today at Columbia University's Roone Arledge Auditorium. He was fascinating, funny, and filled with ideas for teachers on how to be better teachers of poetry. Here are some of his tips: * Some good questions to ask kids about poems are: 1. How does this poem go? 2.… Continue reading Advice from Poet Laureate Billy Collins
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Poetry Friday: The Poets’ Room
THE POETS ROOM has nothing in it. No comfortable furniture, no TVs, voices, clocks ticking, nothing except beats of air and blood pulsing through your lungs. You take a clean breath and quietness comes in. Your favorite films start flaring on theatres of walls, whenever you are brave enough to chase your images with words.… Continue reading Poetry Friday: The Poets’ Room
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Fourth of July Parade
Hear the blare of bugles, Hear the beat of drums, Hear the sound of marching feet. Down the street there comes, Playing, marching, Marching, playing, In the sun and shade, All the music, All the color Of the Fourth's parade. See the buglers blowing, See the drummers pound, See the feet go up and down… Continue reading Fourth of July Parade
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Resume Writing
How many kids do you know that have resumes? Well, I now know five since I just helped to create resumes for five of my former students on Career Kids, which is a website that prepares students to take charge of their future. I'm starting to believe that resume writing is a type of technical… Continue reading Resume Writing
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Writing About Reading
I wrote the following in a reflection after hearing Ellin Oliver Keene speak at Teachers College on April 3rd, 2006. I think what I wrote then is worthy of mentioning on this blog right now as we, as literacy educators, think about the ways in which we'll assess our students after they read. "Ever since… Continue reading Writing About Reading
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Poetry Friday: The Final Days of School
I put the following poem into my students' fifth grade yearbook. The irony is that on the last day of school, which was two days ago, we DID do the chant greeting of "1-2-3-4, C'mon _____ Hit the Floor." However, it wasn't done with pep and many kids didn't chant anything at all. Interesting... THE… Continue reading Poetry Friday: The Final Days of School
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WN ENTRY: Kids on Leashes
Ralph Fletcher gives young writers 11 tips for things to collect in their writer's notebooks. Fletcher encourages writers to notice the world around them and write about it. Here's what I observed/noticed this evening. I felt the droplets of rain touch my feverish skin as I left Duane Reade with my plastic bag chock-full of… Continue reading WN ENTRY: Kids on Leashes
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Ch-ch-ch-changes
I asked my students how they've changed as writers from the beginning of the year until now. Here's what a few of them said: In the beginning of the year I was terrible; all I did was rush. Now I'm an amazing writer. My writing flows and creates a sense of understanding. I was a… Continue reading Ch-ch-ch-changes
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Timelines and Writer’s Notebooks
I divided my kids up into ten groups today, printed out my Google Class Calendar, and asked them to work with a partner to organize and illustrate a month of the year. We put all of the pieces together into one long timeline that spans 15 feet at the back of my classroom! So what… Continue reading Timelines and Writer’s Notebooks
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Acrostic Poetry
I did quite a bit with acrostic poetry this year since a huge pet peeve of mine is watching kids write meaningless acrostic poems in their writer's notebooks just for the sake of writing a poem. Many kids don't know what a true acrostic poem looks like, which is why I feel we need to… Continue reading Acrostic Poetry
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The Rules of Writing Poetry
One of my students, Allandra, just e-mailed me this morning. (She's also a co-author of DEAL WITH IT! Powerful Words from Smart, Young Women. I'm not sure what prompted her note to me, but she decided to send me a list of "rules" for writing poetry. I've never had a list before, so I wasn't… Continue reading The Rules of Writing Poetry
