Risk-taking in the Writer’s Notebook
We learn when we experiment and take risks. The writer’s notebook could be a place worth considering as a place to do some risk-taking!
Category Archive: tcrwp
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On the Pitfalls of Hiding Out
Sometimes in a busy and chaotic schedule, we inadvertently miss attending to some of our students who like to “fly under the radar.” Being systematic and intentionally positive can make a big difference for some of our writers.
Finding Our Teacher of Writers Superpowers
What teacher of writers superpower would you like to develop this year?
Teacher-Written Mentor Texts: Diving into Information Writing
I’ve long believed teacher-written texts can serve as excellent mentor texts during a unit of study. While I’m a huge advocate of student-written mentor texts, sometimes student writing doesn’t have everything we need… Continue reading
Get REALLY Good at Conferring
Are you new to writing workshop? Are you trying to get better at conferring? Are you having a tough time making conferring work for you? I’ve got seven tips to help you become a stronger conferrer.
Moving from Partnerships to Peer Conferring
I attended Kathleen Tolan’s “Once You Have Taught Workshops for Years, How Do You Go from Good to Great? Tap the Power of Peer Conferring and Supporting Student Independence and Goal-Setting.” Workshop at… Continue reading
The Cupcake Metaphor
Find out what sprinkled cupcakes and figurative language instruction have to do each other!
A Virtual Publishing Celebration
It’s hard to have a publishing celebration for people who live miles apart from you. Therefore, a virtual publishing party is the best I can do for Anna and Beth today. Please stop by to leave a congratulatory comment for them since their books have been published.
Learning from the Summer Institute via #tcrwp
I was not able to attend the Writing Institute at TC this week, but I was able to live and learn vicariously through a steady stream of Tweets and blog posts – teachers are nothing if not generous with their learning…
Goals & Techniques Cards
Reflecting on my first experience using TCRWP’s goals & technique cards for informational writing with a small group of writers.
What should I teach next?
There are a few weeks left in the school year. Here are some tips for working through the If… Then… books if you’d like to plan your own unit of study.
A Quick Guide Workshop Lingo, Part II
Have you ever wondered what some of the writing workshop lingo means? Here’s another look at some commonly used workshop jargon.
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.
Work Smarter: 5 Tips for Checking Writer’s Notebooks Efficiently
Grace Chough led a session, “Turning Writer’s Notebooks Into Workbenches, and Using Them to Work Deliberately Towards Big Goals,” at the June 2014 TCRWP Writing Institute. She shared lots of smart thinking about… Continue reading
Inquiry-Based Centers in Grades 3-8
Inquiry-based centers introduce kids to mentor texts while helping them find their own mentor texts.
You don’t have to write, you get to write.
After your students decorate their writer’s notebooks and you review your expectations, the notebooks go home. This is exciting! Who doesn’t love writing in a new notebook?!!? I’ll tell ya, there are plenty of… Continue reading
Flash-Drafting Leads to Large-Scale Revision
Flash-drafting helps get thoughts down on the page quickly so writers are open to large-scale revisions.
Summer Institutes Here We Come!
Whether it’s an institute put on by your own district, or an expert is coming to town, or if you’ll be traveling many miles to take part, I hope that you are as excited about attending your institutes as I am about teaching them.
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”… Continue reading
Tips from Amanda Hartman, Conferring Guru
Amanda Hartman, author of One to One: The Art of Conferring with Young Writers, offers tips for teachers on how to strengthen their writing conferences.