assessment · authentic assessment · minilesson · self-assessment · small group · strategy lesson · strategy lessons · writing workshop

Instant Minilesson Follow-Up

A strong active engagement, and a routine for informally assessing student work during the minilesson can give you the tools you need to be sure that no student leaves the meeting area completely confused.

minilesson · writing workshop

Sometimes It’s Actually Not a Choice: Accountability in the Writing Workshop

My goal for the next few weeks is to pay close attention to kids when they leave the meeting area to start working. How many are actually trying out the new strategy? How many are going right back to their old habits? And what can I do to coach them to try new things?

minilesson · writing workshop

A Short & Sweet Minilesson Formula

There is a formula that I use, time and time again, to adapt my own minilessons. Yes, this formula helps me keep my minilessons to about ten minutes and makes planning more streamlined, but more importantly this formula helps me with one of my personal goals as a teacher: student engagement.

conferring · minilesson · strategic conferring · strategy lessons · teaching tools · writing workshop

Quick Tips for Writing Teaching Points

A guide to crafting your own teaching points for 1:1 conferences, strategy lessons, minilessons, mid-workshop interruptions, and share sessions.

balanced literacy · classroom · independent writing · lesson plans · lucy calkins · minilesson · organization · professional development · tcrwp · Throwback Week · units of study · writing workshop

Throwback Week: How To Read A Unit of Study

Learn some tricks for reading the Units of Study, whether you're new to the units or have been using them for many years.

demonstration · mentor texts · minilesson · shared writing · student work · teaching tools · writing workshop

Demonstration Texts, Part Deux

Thinking about your demonstration texts this way can give you some inspiration for multiple ways to teach the same minilesson, to the whole class, or to small groups as follow-up.

curriculum · curriculum planning · independent writing · minilesson · plan · preparation · procedures · writing workshop

Minilessons: It’s All About the Link

It's all about the link. Make sure your minilessons link to ongoing work. Link to making choices. Link to all the other minilessons. Link to the charts and resources in the room. Most of all link your minilesson always to problem solving and independence.

back to school · lucy calkins · minilesson · shared writing · writing workshop

There Are More Ways Than One To Teach A Minilesson

Last week I wrote a post titled How To Plan A Minilesson From Scratch, and I outlined a very simple way to plan minilessons, based on the work of my wonderful colleagues at the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project. Now, I am going to backtrack a bit and revisit just a teensy weensy bit of what I said. I wrote, "Every minilesson can pretty much go the same way." And this is absolutely true, most of the time. Except for those times when it's not true.