The Writing Teacher’s Happiness Project
To end the year on a happy note, I am setting some goals for April, May and June in my own version of a Writing Teacher’s Happiness Project. What would you work on to end your year in a happy way?
A Class Hub To The Rescue!
A class hub can make all the difference for digital writing and learning!
A Game Plan for Writing Workshop Transitions
Have you ever visited a colleague’s classroom or watched a video of a lesson and wondered, “How are those kids so perfect? How do they seem to know exactly what … Continue Reading A Game Plan for Writing Workshop Transitions
What do I do with all of my students’ writing?
Are you feeling inundated with paper in your writing workshop? Here are some quick tips to help you help your students organize their writing so that their desks and writing folders are less cluttered.
Crafting Nonfiction: Conducting Research and Organizing Information
Melissa Stewart, award-winning author of more than 150 nonfiction books for children, steps into our Author’s Spotlight today. In her post, she shares about the chunk and check process, which will help your students conduct research.
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.
Sharpen Your Workshop Routines: Writing Centers to Organize All Your Materials
Every year, around this time, I start having dreams about setting up my classroom. In the classroom of my dreams, I’m moving around small circular tables, unfurling a brand new … Continue Reading Sharpen Your Workshop Routines: Writing Centers to Organize All Your Materials
Sharpen Your Workshop Routines: 5 Secrets to Great Meeting Areas
Are you looking to make the most out of your classroom’s meeting area? Find out how to create and maintain a meeting area that will function as the focal point of your writing workshop.
How To Read A Unit of Study
As the school year comes to a close, many of the schools I work with are launching into a week or so of in-service, summer institutes, and other professional development. … Continue Reading How To Read A Unit of Study
Tailoring Our Teaching: No Need to Wing It If You’ve Got Great Conferring Notes
Lucy Calkins, author of many books on teaching writing, often says that conferring is the heart of writing workshop. I once heard her say to a group of graduate students … Continue Reading Tailoring Our Teaching: No Need to Wing It If You’ve Got Great Conferring Notes
Getting the Room Ready
I miss having a classroom of my own at this time of the year. There’s something about putting up fadeless paper and borders, getting supplies ready, preparing the meeting area, … Continue Reading Getting the Room Ready
Highlights from the Week
I have been in a lot of different writing workshops lately. Just this week I’ve been in 13 writing workshops and have met with 13 different teachers in either reflective … Continue Reading Highlights from the Week
Finding Time to Write
Of all the things I’ve done to become a more proficient teacher of writing, the act of putting words on a page has had the biggest influence on my practice. As I’ve … Continue Reading Finding Time to Write
Office Tour
Welcome to my office. 🙂 I’ll share some images and a little candid commentary. At the end I reveal my dark secret about organization. Computer Area I’ve used this so much the letters … Continue Reading Office Tour
Organzing Teaching Materials
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
Take a Few Minutes to Organize.
Several years ago I took a class focused on organizing memories. The basic mantra of the class was this: You can only scrapbook as well as you are organized. During … Continue Reading Take a Few Minutes to Organize.
Classroom Re-Org for 2009
Spaces & Places: Designing Classrooms for Literacy Written by Debbie Diller Published by Stenhouse Publishers in 2008 Review copy provided by the publisher It’s a new year, not a new … Continue Reading Classroom Re-Org for 2009
Slicing Away on Tuesday
Note: Jazz Music will play when you open up the slide show below. Make a Smilebox slideshow
Reminder Sign
New Sign by the Door Originally uploaded by teachergal I was on Etsy about two weeks ago and came across a customizable sign from K is for Calligraphy that would … Continue Reading Reminder Sign
Keep Your Writing in a Home!
Yesterday, Tonya Haywood (a kindergarten teacher who really needs to keep a blog — wink wink), used Eric Carle’s book, A House for Hermit Crab, to talk with her novice … Continue Reading Keep Your Writing in a Home!
