A meeting place for a world of reflective writers.
I recently received an e-mail asking me: How do you organize your material (mentor texts, charts, minilessons, etc.) for Writing Workshop? I have just collected so much stuff this past … Continue Reading Organzing Teaching Materials
Tomorrow morning in Reading Workshop, I’ll be teaching a lesson with the following teaching point: Readers keep track of who is speaking in a text, regardless of whether or not … Continue Reading Follow the Dialogue
Georgia Heard’s Book The Revision Toolbox: Teaching Techniques That Work is one of the best books on the teaching of writing that I own. If it’s not in your bookshelf, … Continue Reading Verbs in Revision
Memoir: Early Strategy Chart Originally uploaded by teachergal I tend to have a lot of mini-charts for my students’ notebooks rather than hanging large ones around the room (these days). … Continue Reading Back to Basics: Strategy Charts (Part of TWT’s Big Picture Series)
So what are the basic parts of a minilesson? Here’s a short list according to the Teachers College Reading & Writing Project at Columbia University: Connection — The reason for … Continue Reading Back to Basics: Minilesson Parts (Part of TWT’s Big Picture Series)
Structures and routines need to be clear in your head so they can be implemented when you start Writing Workshop. You can shift to a new routine or modify one … Continue Reading Getting Back to Basics: Structures & Routines (Part of TWT’s Big Pictures Series)
My markers may have been drying up, but there was nothing that was going to stop me from recording my kids’ responses during the minilesson I gave today. Take a … Continue Reading Purposes for Writing in a Notebook: Kids’ Responses
I head back to school tomorrow. I am starting a new unit of study in both Reading and Writing Workshop (nonfiction and notebook writing, respectively). Hence, I thought I’d share … Continue Reading Launching Minilesson: Writer’s Notebook Unit of Study
After reading through “Using Web 2.0 in the Classroom” in the most recent issue of Reading Today, I went online to ReadWriteThink.org to read through a lesson entitled “Weekly Writer’s … Continue Reading Writing Lessons at ReadWriteThink.org
In Keith Bollman’s fifth grade class, students are beginning to consider moving into drafts. They’ve envisioned their writing and are moving out of the rehearsal stage and into drafting. Today … Continue Reading Moving from Storyboards to Drafts.
During the demonstration of today’s minilesson I added asterisks to my WN Entry to show a flashback in time. I said something like, “I’m going to put some stars here, … Continue Reading Using Asterisks
I was asked, by Ro, about my Strong Emotions/Skittles Lesson. I normally don’t post minilessons I write in this forum for several reasons (one of which is that it doesn’t … Continue Reading STRONG EMOTIONS MINILESSON
Ro left a comment a couple of days ago asking about meeting areas in upper elementary school classrooms. I’ve been corresponding with her, but thought that it might be useful … Continue Reading Meeting Areas in Upper Elementary Classrooms
Starting My Poetry Craft Table Originally uploaded by teachergal Tomorrow, I’m doing some explicit instruction on identifying poetic tools in poems we admire and then trying to use those tools … Continue Reading Preparing for Tomorrow’s Mentor Poems Lesson
When Lucy had us keep Process Logs for each piece we wrote for one of her classes, I (at first) thought it was a waste of time. I wondered how … Continue Reading Process Log Gets My Mind In-Motion Again
We’re starting a new unit of study on Monday: MEMOIR! I’ve taught it twice using Calkins and Chiarella’s Book. However, this year is going to be different. Kate and I … Continue Reading Gearing-Up for Memoir
Today’s Writing Workshop lesson went soooo well. I had never had kids write about quotations before, but it was such a success! I look forward to folding this lesson into … Continue Reading Quotes & Poetry
I like challenging myself and my students with their writing. So… in honor of National Poetry Month, I thought about creating a week-long poetry challenge since I’d like to create … Continue Reading POETRY CHALLENGE
During our common planning time today, my colleagues and I brainstormed a list of texts we’re going to have students select from for their literary essays. Many people think that … Continue Reading Literary Essay Texts
After hearing about Janet Angelillo’s new book from Ruth, I went online and started reading the sample chapter. I started thinking about the fact that each and every day I … Continue Reading Why am I writing this over and over again?
