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.
Category: middle school
Planning for Independent Writing Time: A Middle School Solution
With the volume of students most middle school writing teachers serve, how is one to plan for differentiation? Using a basketball analogy, here is one play you can run...
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The Argument Scavenger Hunt
Although I'm not typically a fan of stand-alone activities, this exercise, presented at last year's NCTE Conference, incorporated many positive elements aimed at supporting writers working doing argumentative work...
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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...
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Teaching Shares: Ending Strong
Working within a tightly segmented middle school schedule (or any pre-planned schedule) can sometimes pose a challenge to "fit in" an opportunity for closure. With this special challenge in mind, how can we perhaps be more intentional about this important time in our workshops?
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Make Curiosity Your Best Friend
As a new teacher, I sometimes made assumptions about my students that may not have been based in reality. Of course, this is human to do so. We all make assumptions at times. But when it comes to teaching writing, what if we replaced the act of making assumptions with curiosity? What if we worked to make curiosity our best friend in our teaching?
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Throwback Thursday: Setting Up for Success in the Middle School Writing Workshop
As each new year approaches, many of us begin thinking about the physical space(s) we create for our writers. How might it/they be more effective? Inviting? Or different? The spaces we design for our middle school writers can greatly affect how they "view" writing. Check out this week's Throwback Thursday for ideas on creating space for writing in the middle school writing workshop!
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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...
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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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Trust the Kids
Finding ways to trust kids, it might be said, creates more space for learning. In this post, I offer a few ways trust can be manifested in a writing workshop...
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Where is the Attention?
Sometimes it can be difficult to imagine creating or allowing a wider audience to read our students' writing. But there is great possibility in doing so. It just takes a shift in attention...
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Time to Write
Donald Murray, author of the seminal text A Writer Teaches Writing (Houghton Mifflin, 1985), teaches us that one of the most important things to a writer is time, time to write. But with the many time constraints faced by teachers, how can we be thinking about time in ways that make a difference for our students?
