“Excuse me Mom,” Sam said as we ended a chapter in The Magician’s Elephant. When he talks like this it always makes me smile. I pause and look at him. “You know, I’ve been thinking about Gloria Dump.” “Gloria Dump?” I raise my eyebrows. “Yes. Gloria Dump. In Because of Winn Dixie. Do you remember?”… Continue reading Reading Together (Ruth’s SOLS)
Category: authors
Words that are Speaking to Me
Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." --- Scott Adams Have you heard about Sara Zarr's speech for the SCBWI conference in NY? Anyone lucky enough to be in attendance? Her worlds are inspirational. You can read about it on The Official SCBWI Conference Blog.
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Saturday Mornings
This is my vision of you on Saturday mornings: A mug of something warm -- coffee, tea, or chai -- in your hands Snuggled in a comfy chair Allowing peace to replace the stress from the week Happily thinking about the power of words and education to change the world Wait a minute -- maybe… Continue reading Saturday Mornings
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Genre Choice
Going into the last leg of the school year, I'd like to take a minute to encourage you to empower students to chose the genre they are going to write. It is important for students to have the choice of genre throughout the school year. Often Writing Workshops become genre study after genre study. Before… Continue reading Genre Choice
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Author Studies Help Children Write Better
Last month I was consulting in a school with some primary grade teachers. They expressed concerns about infusing mentor texts into their classrooms. I provided them with some language for developing theories about what an author is doing in a text, as well as links to booklists I've created and a book that serves as… Continue reading Author Studies Help Children Write Better
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Memoir Monday: Origins of Writing
I've been thinking a lot about the questions Pam Muñoz Ryan posed to the audience at the TCRWP Writing Institute last week. There are many reasons I write: to communicate with others quickly, to persuade, to record family stories, to venture to new worlds, etc. However, none of those quick reasons really get at the… Continue reading Memoir Monday: Origins of Writing
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Greater Expectations
Greater Expectations by Robin Turner is an excellent resource for secondary Writing Workshop teachers. As a high school teacher, he shares real life experiences, authentic teaching points, superb advice, and high quality rubrics and units. The subtitle of the book is Teaching Academic Literacy to Underrepresented Students. He offers practical, wise advice for preparing this… Continue reading Greater Expectations
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Virtual Author Visit
video visit_2, originally uploaded by happygirl_77. Yesterday was Ball State University's first virtual author visit of the school year. Sue Price and Betsy Likens(middle school language arts teachers) joined their classes in order to visit with Betsy Lewin and Doreen Cronin (careful, there's sound at Doreen's site!), author-illustrator team of Click Clack Moo. Sue and Betsy reported… Continue reading Virtual Author Visit
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Personal Narrative Texts.
In many of the classrooms I'm working in, we are moving into a Personal Narrative study. I asked teachers to gather books they would like to use to anchor their teaching. Below is a list of some of the texts: A Tree Named Steve by Alan Zweibel and David Catrow Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good,… Continue reading Personal Narrative Texts.
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You’ve Gotta Sign Up!
Thanks to my colleague, Mary Helen Gensch, I know in time this year to sign up for Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing and Ball State Univeristy's MYVisit Virtual Author Series. On October 7, BSU Virtual Author Series is going to host Doreen Cronin & Betsy Lewis of the Click Clack Moo (& other) books. (My kids'… Continue reading You’ve Gotta Sign Up!
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Ruth’s Memoir Monday: Collecting Memories
Not so much a memoir post, but a post about collecting memories. Soon after the girls arrived in our home a book arrived in my mail. Photo Freedom by Stacy Julian has revolutionized my life. When we realized the girls would be moving into our home in just over a week, we had to do… Continue reading Ruth’s Memoir Monday: Collecting Memories
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reflecting on charts.
Yesterday in Sue Price's sixth grade language arts class, I led the sharing. Her students are in the middle of reading their research (on a topic of their choice) in order to write a two page magazine spread. One of the components is a feature article. At the end, all of the magazine spreads will… Continue reading reflecting on charts.
