Wondering how to use the final weeks of school to keep your writers growing? Just a few simple steps can help you maximize your end-of-year small group teaching!
Category: collaborative planning
Teacher Teams: Stronger Together Blog Series
Peer observation is just one of the many ways teacher teams can work together to enhance student experiences. Everyone--even the host--walks away a better teacher.
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Three Steps to Prioritizing Your Writing Instruction During the Pandemic
Whether you are fortunate enough to have a structure to collaborate with others on your grade-level team, or if you are planning solo here are three steps you can take.
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Literacy Coaches: Thinking Ahead to May & June — Already?!
Here are three things I'm working on, right now, in the first week of February.
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Thinking Big About Writing
The writing work in our building is transforming, and it is exciting to be a part of the change, to witness the impact on kids as we make our workshops increasingly authentic and compelling. We are constantly reflecting on what’s working—what’s leading to measurable shifts in how we plan for writing (and how kids experience writing)—as well as where we might be getting stuck: places there is genuine motivation to transform the task, and yet, our best intentions are still missing the mark in some significant way.
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Nurturing a Sense of Optimism Through Vertical Visits
Although this time of year predictably proves to be extremely busy, creatively scheduling a little bit of time to visit at least some of your next-year's writers can pay valuable dividends.
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A Writing Workshop Learning Walk
As much as I try to flatten the walls of my classroom using technology, the truth is there are still walls. It is me and 25 third graders, and most recently, a fabulous student teacher. Still, the walls are there and often I don't get to see other teachers in action. Last month, I had the opportunity to remedy that problem for a day.
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Using Colleagues to Create Your Own Professional Development: PD Possibilities Series
My husband is an eighth grade ELA teacher. We often find ourselves having conversations about our day. One night he was mentioning he had to step into a colleagues room for a few minutes and he noticed some really innovative engagement techniques. He was immediately thinking about how he might try this with his students.… Continue reading Using Colleagues to Create Your Own Professional Development: PD Possibilities Series
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New Units of Study
I purchased the original Units of Study for Teaching Writing, Grades 3 - 5 when they were published in 2006. In the early days, those books were like a Bible to me. I used them to help me plan the scope and sequence of many of the units of study I taught. When I moved… Continue reading New Units of Study
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How much collaboration is too much?
There were a few times when I sat back at the end of a day of teaching and thought I don't know if I'd want to be a student in my own classroom. The reason for this horrible realization? There was just too much group work going on, especially in mathematics. I often felt as… Continue reading How much collaboration is too much?
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Planning Read Alouds that Support the Workshop Model
lock·step noun, often attributive \ˈläk-ËŒstep\ Definition of LOCKSTEP 1: a mode of marching in step by a body of persons going one after another as closely as possible 2: a standard method or procedure that is mindlessly adhered to or that minimizes individuality — in lockstep : in perfect or rigid often mindless conformity or… Continue reading Planning Read Alouds that Support the Workshop Model
TWO WRITING TEACHERS 