At the start of the school year, I often get overwhelmed with ideas to implement in my teaching. This year, I’ve decided to apply a thinking exercise to my own goal-setting. I’m sharing my ideas here, and I’d love for you to consider doing the same alongside me.
Category: goals
Three Ways to Make Student Growth Visible Across the Year
Young writers show tremendous growth each year, but sometimes lack the tools or the skills to see it. This year, be intentional about putting systems and routines into place that not only make this growth visible but also allow your students to push themselves in new directions.
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Ring in the New Year with Crystal Clear Goals: Reflective Practice
New year = new goals. What if we zoom in and focus on just one goal to teach our writers with clarity and intention?
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Quick & Fun Lesson Closures? Yes, Please!
Embrace the thrill of trying something new. Know that doing so doesn't require abundant time, energy, or preparation. Small shifts have a real impact on classroom energy, enthusiasm, and engagement. How do you add variety, joy, and/or playfulness to lesson closings?
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Writing Your Way into a New Year: Be a Lead Writer in 2023
Are you ready to start 2023 as a Lead Writer in your classroom as well as a Teacher? Grab a notebook, pick up a pen, and start writing! You’ll be amazed at your own growth–and at the impact it will have on your students.
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Inviting Caregivers into the Learning Journey
A few tips to strengthen the home-school connection.
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Minilesson Alternatives: Considering OTHER Ways to Kick Off Workshop
If you have ever felt that you were going through the motions of a minilesson, know that there are plenty of other ways you can choose to gather as a community and launch writing time. Here are ten alternatives for beginning a writing workshop session - - with joy, intention, and inspiration.
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Student Agency, Self-Assessment, and Small Group Instruction
Nudging students toward self-assessment and goal-setting leads to students' increased understanding of what they are working on and why they're working on it. That intentionality is a critical aspect of learning!
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When Your Reality Doesn’t Match Your Expectations
October is the time when the mismatch between our expectations--what we think kids can do--and the reality--what our kids can actually do--sets in. How can we help our students (and ourselves) bring expectation and reality closer together?
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The Power of Goal-Setting
Read about how to support writers with goal-setting and visual tools.
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A Small Group in Action: Elaboration Strategies, Here We Come!
Having walked around a classroom of fourth-grade writers yesterday, I had pinpointed four writers who were all ready to think about elaboration strategies. This post describes the first session of a few to inspire these fourth-grade writers to use more elaboration strategies.
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How do we Know When our Workshops are Working?
Launching a writing workshop is hard work. Intentional work. What are those “look fors” that let us know that our workshops are gelling? That community is being built, routines are being established, and writing work is happening?
