A meeting place for a world of reflective writers.
Now our year is coming to a close and we are having to find new ways to end the year and say goodbye. With another change comes another opportunity for trauma… it is important to remember that the health and welfare of every person comes first, even and especially as we bring the school year to a close.
In the last two months, our world has required us to live in the space of continuous new experiences. All of us, but especially the world of education, have taken a hard and immediate shift. It would be blind denial to say it has been easy, but this past week has taken me by surprise.
Meeting the needs of our students may sometimes require much more than paper or pencils, but it is not always as hard as we might think.
All I wanted was for their pencils to keep moving, for the writing to flow without stopping. For a short while, that proved to be difficult, but not impossible.
What we place on the walls of a classroom tells students, or any other person who enters the room, what is valued most, and what we should value most in our classrooms is student work.
All students have stories to share. All of them. Our challenge may be to undo what has been done to have students believe they have nothing of value to share.
There have been many times I have had to hang on to patience, hold my breath, and wait. I have had students that do not hesitate to jump into writing … Continue Reading Wait Time
The truth… I’d rather not talk about spelling. There are more important things in a writing workshop, than to talk about spelling. Spelling well is a good thing. When we edit what we write, it is profusely important, but it has nothing to do with growing a writer.
When we focus on spelling or grammar correctness, the growing writer becomes stifled.
When my sister and I were kids, we played Super Mario Brothers on Nintendo. I witnessed her saving the princess at least three times during our summer video game marathons. … Continue Reading English Language Development Frames
Eight educators share their expertise to help us understand the way to meet the needs of students who are learning English within the context of writing workshop.
