Is it possible to duplicate the live, in-person experiences? Of course not, but maybe some of you could feel the authenticity of a high-five or hug I'm sending your way. So let’s think about some ways to bring virtual classrooms to life, maybe thinking of it as duplicating some of the processes of your classroom in a virtual world.
Category: small group
Planning for Independent Writing Time: A Middle School Solution
With the volume of students most middle school writing teachers serve, how is one to plan for differentiation? Using a basketball analogy, here is one play you can run...
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Continuing to Think About Google Forms
I am so grateful to have this resource available to me as an educator at no cost. Maybe someday, I'll get to thank whoever is behind the Google Curtain in person. In the meantime, I'll share what's been working and I'll look forward to hearing about how some of you end up doing it even better!
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Coaching Writers in the Small Group
Coaches of young athletes often offer tips, reminders, and suggestions from the sidelines in hopes of eliciting the best possible performance from the team. As teachers of writing, we can borrow this structure in our small group settings.
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This is the year I’m going to keep better records.
Want to keep (better) conferring records, but don't know where to begin? This post will help you discover analog and digital record-keeping systems.
Read all the way through since there will are lots of downloadable templates to help you get started.
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Urgent Small Groups: Eating the Whole Cookie
Recent longitudinal studies have shown that students who in early years perform as strong writers do not remain strong writers into middle school. Rather, they slip to the middle of the pack- or worse, they become unmotivated to write. Why is that? And what can we do about it?
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Student-Led Small Groups: Beyond the Fundamentals of Writing Workshop
Small group instruction allows for efficiency and strategy sessions with more than one student. Allowing students to lead these groups and sessions gives purpose and opportunity to not only further the understandings of the leader but impacts your community of writers as they grow.
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Teaching Small Groups in the Middle School Writing Workshop
For many middle school teachers, planning and teaching small groups in writing workshop feels a little like the Rubik's Cube; like this famous puzzle, there is a sense that small groups are doable (somehow, maybe?), yet the orchestration of all the many parts can make them feel overwhelming and perhaps even insurmountable. If you feel this way, know that you are not alone.
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Not All Writers Are the Same! Ideas for Differentiating in the Writing Workshop (Part 2)
The fact is, just like athletes that show up to the first day of practice, writers bring different skill sets. Some arrive to middle school not knowing where to put a period, while others already know how paint vivid pictures with words that knock our socks off. How do we plan for such a wide variety of writers?
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Small Groups: Writing Workshop Fundamentals
Our blog series on writing workshop fundamentals continues through the weekend. Take a look at how you can benefit from incorporating small groups into your daily writing workshop routine.
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A Peek Into My Evolving Chartbook
Over the years, my chartbook has evolved. Here are some of the latest pages.
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Reminders About Small Group Instruction
Whenever I pull a small group for a lesson, there are some important guidelines I try to remember and follow.
