A Peek Inside Conferring Toolkits Blog Series · conferring · presentations · professional development

EdCollab Gathering

Four of us will present at The Educator Collaborative Spring Gathering tomorrow at 2:00 p.m.

PD Possibilities Series · professional development · staff development · video

Video Case Studies: P.D. Possibilities

One of my favorite kinds of professional development is having an opportunity to visit other teachers' classrooms (aka: lab sites). It helps to see how other teachers carry out instruction with their students. Visiting other classrooms provides us with the opportunity to borrow ideas for our own teaching practice. However, sometimes small classrooms make it… Continue reading Video Case Studies: P.D. Possibilities

coaching · lab site · PD Possibilities Series · professional development

Teaching Side-By-Side: Coaching and Classroom Visits

This month, interspersed with the Slice of Life Story Challenge, my colleagues and I are writing about professional development possibilities. Many of our readers are literacy coaches, team leaders, administrators, professors, and classroom teachers who support each other in their professional growth and learning. These professional development posts will be helpful for anybody who wants to… Continue reading Teaching Side-By-Side: Coaching and Classroom Visits

lab site · professional development · staff development

Make Lab Sites Meaningful

General tips for literacy coaches to use when facilitating writing workshop lab sites.

mentor texts · professional development · writing workshop

Who’s Up For a TWT Voxer Book Club?

Are you a Voxer skeptic? Read on to find out how Voxer can enrich your teaching life and an opportunity to use Voxer with others in our TWT community.

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.

NCTE · presentations · professional development · Slice of Life Story Challenge

Highlights from NCTE

We're sharing our presentations from NCTE with you, along with quotes I jotted down from a variety of authors and literacy leaders. ALSO, take a peek at some photos from our Slicer Dinner.

professional development · social media · social networking

Free Professional Development! Tweet All About It.

I admit, when I first heard about Twitter, I thought the concept was ridiculous. Shooting a message of 140 characters or less into the world? Why? Who would care? Since my initial incredulity, Twitter was to become one of the predominant social media platforms, one with a markedly professional bent. Many authors, businesses, marketing consultants, tech… Continue reading Free Professional Development! Tweet All About It.

balanced literacy · classroom · independent writing · lesson plans · lucy calkins · minilesson · organization · professional development · tcrwp · units of study · 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. It's "curriculum season" in many places around the country. For many writing teachers, that means diving into the Units of Study for Opinion, Information, and Narrative Writing by Lucy… Continue reading How To Read A Unit of Study

authors · giveaway · grammar · illustrators · professional books · professional development · public education · summer vacation

Five on Friday + Book Giveaways

Want to obtain some high quality professional development at no cost to you? Need some books to sink your teeth into this summer? Feel like kicking back and just enjoying some time off? If you answered "yes," to one of these questions, then read on!

NCTE · professional development

Learning & Connecting at NCTE

I returned from three wonderful days at the NCTE Annual Convention in Boston late last night. I learned from authors, poets, classroom teachers, literacy coaches, PhD students, university professors, and other literacy leaders. Here's a sampling of some the things I gleaned at this year's convention.

professional development · tcrwp · technology · writing

Sharing Some Thinking from the Writing Institute

I've been wanting to try out Storify for awhile, but haven't head a reason to use it.  Until now.  I decided to put together Storify some of my tweets and pictures from last week's TCRWP Writing Institute.  I hope it gives you a glimpse into some of the things I learned from my section leaders,… Continue reading Sharing Some Thinking from the Writing Institute