challenges · goals · plan

When Your Reality Doesn’t Match Your Expectations

October is the time when the mismatch between our expectations--what we think kids can do--and the reality--what our kids can actually do--sets in. How can we help our students (and ourselves) bring expectation and reality closer together?

Maximizing Writing Time Blog Series · plan · writing workshop

Begin With Strong Planning: Maximizing Writing Time Blog Series

Actually doing the work of writers is where writers strengthen their skills—and this takes at least two thirds of the total minutes in any workshop. The more clear we can be while unit planning, the more strategic our instructional time will be, leaving more time for writers to write.

curriculum planning · june planning · lesson plans · month-long planning · plan · plan book

Three Ideas for Planning a Multiage Curriculum Calendar for Writing Workshop

In this post, I'll share three things I've learned from my own school district, where we have many multiage classrooms.

month-long planning · plan · process · process log · writing process · writing workshop

Personal Writing Calendars for Each Student

With a personal writing calendar, each kid can see what is going to happen in the unit of study, and has the power to adjust it.

Expand the Possibilities of Genres You Teach · plan · standards

The Importance of Knowing the Standards: Expand the Possibilities of Genres You Teach

In expanding the possibilities of our different writing units, let us not forget the important guide points the Common Core State Standards - or whatever your local iteration of those standards are -  provide us. 

coaching · collaborative planning · curriculum planning · june planning · literacy coaches · plan · summer vacation

Literacy Coaches: Thinking Ahead to May & June — Already?!

Here are three things I'm working on, right now, in the first week of February.

plan · purpose · story mountain

Finding Purpose Before We Write: Making the Most of Planning & Rehearsal

Writers need a purpose. A foundation.  Yet sometimes we rush kids through the planning and rehearsal phase of writing. What are some ways to support kids in heading into writing grounded in purpose? Read on to learn a few strategies...

conferences · conferring · plan · record keeping · writing workshop

Conferring Notes: The Key to Unit Planning

Crafting a system for conferring notes can be a catch-all of sorts, a strategy for ensuring that teammates engage in the highest leverage instructional conversations before the unit begins—even if they haven’t had extended time to unit plan together.

middle school · plan · sharing

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?