It's true what Lucy always said about speaking loud enough so other students hear you while you confer... they do learn by listening in! I've known this for awhile, but was reminded of it yesterday when I brought six of my students up to my classroom at lunchtime to further assist them with creating solid… Continue reading Conferring
Category: lucy calkins
first grade poetry.
I've been working alongside Colette Berg & Melissa Possell in their first grade rooms. We've been having students do a lot of collaboration as they make their first foray into poetry. Last week we taught them one secret of poets -- Poets see ordinary stuff in new ways. Then we make "poet goggles" by ringing… Continue reading first grade poetry.
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“New Literacy”
I'm in a political mood today since today is Primary Day in R.I. Therefore, I have been thinking about the way that politicians work with educators to affect change. Hence, I decided to pull-up something I wrote (last year) as a response to reading chapter 12 of Patrick Finn's Literacy with an Attitude: Educating Working-Class… Continue reading “New Literacy”
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Writing Space
Over the mid-winter recess I asked my students to sketch out their at-home writing space. Further, if they didn't have an at-home writing space, I asked them to create one. They came back from vacation with sketches of what they created, which was fascinating. However, the most fascinating was one of the boys in my… Continue reading Writing Space
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Ideas for Creating a 3-D Character from Today’s M.L. Active Engagement
First, I have to say that today's lesson I taught, which was adapted from Session 11 of Calkins & Cruz's Book on Fiction Writing in Grades 3 - 5 is AWESOME. It's all about revising with different lenses. My students read my story yesterday and commented on it, which was helpful to me. One thing… Continue reading Ideas for Creating a 3-D Character from Today’s M.L. Active Engagement
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Teaching Fiction in a Pin-Drop, Silent Room
WN Entry - Fiction pg. 1 Originally uploaded by teachergal Today's Writing Workshop Teaching Point came right out of Calkins and Cruz's Short Fiction Book - Session 1. While I used the skeleton of their lesson, my demonstration was all my own. During the active engagement, I reread an old entry from August 2006 to… Continue reading Teaching Fiction in a Pin-Drop, Silent Room
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Mentoring A Toast
Marc and I are eagerly awaiting our wedding. We've started writing a speech to our guests and parents. I decided to mentor myself after the way Lucy Calkins, my former professor and advisor, opens up each summer institute for the TCRWP. I think it's powerful. Thoughts? You’ve come from as near as New Jersey, Connecticut,… Continue reading Mentoring A Toast
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I’m noticing…
I'm noticing that the quality of my students' writing is getting better. I think it's because of the personal essay unit of study (Calkins and Gilette) that I'm using in my classroom for the second year in a row. The "Pushing Your Thinking" Prompts have now been infused into their daily speech patterns, as well… Continue reading I’m noticing…
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Creating Folders for “Patches of Thought”
During my first year of teaching I attended a Calendar Day hosted by the TCRWP where I got the idea for creating portable folders for my students to use in Writing Workshop to assist them with collecting "patches of thought" for each of their subordinate ideas during the personal essay unit of study. Though Lucy… Continue reading Creating Folders for “Patches of Thought”
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Stacey’s WN Entry: Two People Who’ve Really Changed My Life
The two people who changed my life were both my teachers. Carol Snook Role: 1st Grade Teacher Carol Snook was the most amazing teacher a child could ask for. She celebrated each student and cherished what was unique about each of her 14 kiddos (the year I had her). She insisted that we keep in… Continue reading Stacey’s WN Entry: Two People Who’ve Really Changed My Life
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An Inspired Writer
The purpose of Ruth's other blog aims to inspire readers and writers. She definitely did that with me today! I decided that what I had already bought my Mom for her upcoming birthday was not enough. Thus, I took Ruth's idea and transformed a memoir I wrote about my Mom for Lucy's Writing Class in… Continue reading An Inspired Writer
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A Must-Read for All WW Teachers
An article published this past summer in Education Next came across my desk today. "The Lucy Calkins project: parsing a self-proclaimed literacy guru" disturbed me for two reasons: 1. Lucy was my professor for four courses when I was a graduate student at Teachers College. She taught me how to be a better teacher of… Continue reading A Must-Read for All WW Teachers
