A meeting place for a world of reflective writers.
My strategy for meeting the needs of advanced writers: personalization. Strategic, pre-planned opportunities, set like a vision trap to capture the imagination of each writer. Once caught, these writers can be reeled in to a level of complexity they had no idea they were ready (and willing) to try.
Our instructional minutes count more than ever this year. Read on to discover a new professional book that will help you maximize your teaching in reading and writing while helping your students grow in character and mindset. JoEllen McCarthy’s new professional book, Layers of Learning, is a must read! Comment on the post for a chance to win your own copy.
Sarah Zerwin is workshop to her core, and she has found ways to ensure that her assessment practices are not sending conflicting messages to kids. Point-Less will challenge readers to reflect and inspire them to advocate for change.
In my experience, many young writers struggle to use a writer’s notebook as a tool. They’re excited to have a notebook but unclear about what to “do” in there. Shared writing can be a powerful way to teach writers how to generate ideas for writing and to get themselves started, based on the books we are reading and discussing as a community.
You know that expression people use: “It’s like riding a bicycle?”
It’s supposed to mean that once you learn a skill set you’ll never forget it.
Turns out reading and writing are not like riding a bicycle.
Take a little tour with me as I share highlights from this new book by Katie Egan Cunningham.
Don’t shy away from the formulaic “I am” poem! There are so many possibilities…
When I tested Jennifer Serravallo’s Independent Reading Assessment (Scholastic), I was an immediate believer. Finally, here is a reading assessment that gives rich, clear information about upper grade readers, using … Continue Reading Quality Reading Instruction Leads to Better Writing: A Review of Jennifer Serravallo’s Independent Reading Assessment
Every summer I dream of my classroom. When considering my third grade writers, what do they need to grow and how can I provide classroom spaces for that?
“Writers,” Ali said as she leaned in close to teach her second graders, “I’ve got an important tip for you about your realistic fiction characters. You’ve done such a great job describing … Continue Reading Reading & Writing Connections: Getting to Know a Character on the Outside and the Inside
Some weeks ago, when the school year was brand new, I wrote about setting up our Reading Journals for a year of writing about our reading. Now we are approaching … Continue Reading Writing About Reading Begins With Thinking About Reading
When I first began teaching, Nancie Atwell’s In The Middle was my go to PD book for all things to do with reading and writing workshop. I modeled so many … Continue Reading Writing about reading: offering students choice in reading responses
This week I’m sharing the Happy Like Soccer craft table my graduate students created. My students worked in partnerships to flesh out explanations for craft moves they identified in Maribeth … Continue Reading Craft Tables for You — Part III of III
This is the second in a series of three posts that include craft tables you can download for use during your conferences or strategy lessons. If you missed last week’s … Continue Reading Craft Tables for You — Part II of III
Craft tables are a way to organize one’s thinking about a books teachers will be use as a mentor text. Since a good deal of the mentor text work we … Continue Reading Craft Tables for You — Part I of III
Stella Villalba teaches English as a Second Language at Beechwood Elementary in Columbus, Ohio. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, she started her career in education teaching ESL in Asuncion, Paraguay. … Continue Reading GUEST BLOG POST: Growing as Writers through an Author Study
Edited by Ruth: Pssst…today is Mary Helen’s birthday! Won’t you join me in leaving comments on her blog post about one of her very favorite books? Mary Helen Gensch is … Continue Reading GUEST BLOG POST: Savor a Book: Reading like a Writer
So I took some time to create a video about the system I created in order to track and reflect on my summer reading. Because I pushed myself to reflect … Continue Reading Reflecting on Reading Like a Writer
We’ve all had that kid in our class. You know who I mean. It’s the kid who sticks out like a sore thumb because of his weight, because of his … Continue Reading A Mentor Text that Deals with Social Issues
Ruth was shocked when she learned that I had never heard of Scaredy Squirrel Books when we passed the Kids Can Press Booth at the NCTE Conference. Quite frankly, once … Continue Reading Scaredy Squirrel Books in the Primary Writing Classroom
