Sharing Anecdotal Notes To Shift From Mine To Ours: Resetting Our Workshop Practices
How can we build even more self-efficacy with our student writers? A few simple moves can transform your anecdotal notes and empower you
Leveraging Technology to Amp up Feedback for Writers: Reflections and Shifts as we Move Forward
In this topsy-turvy year, when I was not expecting to teach a remote kindergarten class, I was also not expecting to discover strategies for upping my feedback game with writers—strategies that I plan to continue using once the world has righted itself and workshop is in-person again.
Five Tips for Parents and Caregivers for Offering Feedback to Writers
How can I be clear about aligning what families hear me teaching with what their children are doing with the feedback both they and I offer kids along the way?
Joy and Agency: An Origin Story
What are the ways I can let writers know that I SEE them, that I understand and appreciate all that they are bringing to the page and the process? How might my feedback serve as a mirror, reflecting back to writers a clear image of who they are, of what is important to them, of evidence of their growth?
Spinach in a Writer’s Teeth: To Point it out, or not to Point it Out?
When this scenario happened to me (years ago), it did give me pause. As a teacher of writers, I am not the conventions police—I have always been the kind of writer who values content over conventions in the workshop. This is not to say I do not teach conventions or have high expectations for their use. However, it would be fair to say that this particular situation challenged me to think about grammar, punctuation, and spelling differently—shifting the way I approached conventions in the classroom going forward.
Point-Less by Sarah M. Zerwin: A Review and Giveaway
Sarah Zerwin is workshop to her core, and she has found ways to ensure that her assessment practices are not sending conflicting messages to kids. Point-Less will challenge readers to reflect and inspire them to advocate for change.
Seen, Valued, Heard: Providing Feedback AFTER Establishing Community
If your fall instruction plan includes any kind of virtual teaching, then building and maintaining relationships will be more crucial than ever. In order to engage and motivate students, educators must work to genuinely connect with students before focusing on academics.
Beliefs Guide Actions
Right now, we really do not know how school will look in the coming year. Will it be virtual? Will it be physical? Will it be a hybrid model? Who knows? But if we agree that our beliefs are implicit, and that they guide our intentional actions, then perhaps not only reading this post but also examining and identifying your own will help you be the best you can be… whatever the circumstances you find yourself in next year.
Building Each Other Up, Cheering Each Other On
THIS is what teachers need right now. This is my work as a coach, and this is what we can all do for each other in this challenging time.
Hanging On To What Matters: Feedback
During this time, an important question nagging at me has been, “What elements of good teaching will be possible to hang onto in our current, stay-at-home situation?” One element might be effective feedback. Today I share a few ideas to consider as we all navigate this uncertain time in our world . . .
A Few Reasons to Stop Writing on Student Work
Even if you were somebody who enjoyed your teachers’ written comments or corrections on your papers, there are some solid reasons to consider not writing on your students’ work.
There Is No Finish Line
Using student work as feedback for our teaching informs us. It empowers us. In a way, it allows young writers to become our teachers…
Taking Stock: Moving Forward
As teachers, how might we reflect on our own practice in a way that could make a difference for our students next year? Here are a few lenses for setting some goals…
Rethinking Learning Targets
We all want to support and nurture inspired writers who work independently. So how might we carefully avoid creating uninspiring, teacher-dependent environments for learning? I present a few ideas here…
Reimagining Writing Assessment: A Reflection + Giveaway
In the opening pages of Maja Wilson’s book, REIMAGINING WRITING ASSESSMENT, Thomas Newkirk gets the ball rolling with this statement, “Rubrics regularly fail to offer help to a writer because they focus on what writing has (features) not what writing does (effect).” Today I’m sharing my reflections as well as offering a giveaway to one lucky reader.
Our Favorite “Back-to-School” Posts
Whether you’re already back in school or returning in the next two weeks, I’ve rounded up some of our team’s best blog posts that will help you launch & sustain writing workshop in 2018-19.
In Case You Missed It: Looking Back and Moving Forward
Thank you for joining us for our blog series Looking Back and Moving Forward. I think we all agree on the importance of reflection in the lives of writers. In case you missed any of our posts over the past week, here’s a quick summary.
Our Most Powerful Tool- Our Words: Looking Back And Moving Forward
In Visible Learning For Literacy, Fisher, Frey, and Hattie, explain “When feedback is delivered in such that it is timely, specific, understandable, and actionable students assimilate the language used by their teacher into their self-talk. (2016, 100)” These words stopped me. When our words become the self-talk of our students, they become the most influential tool we have as teachers.
A Closer Look: Learning About Our Writers with Formative Assessment
Sound assessment plays a vital role in showing and in detailing progress students are making toward reasonable goals.
The Hard Parts
Earlier this month, I had the privilege of attending the TCRWP August Writing Institute. The week began with Lucy Calkins delivering an inspirational keynote, “Learning from the Hard Parts” inside the … Continue Reading The Hard Parts
TWO WRITING TEACHERS 