The Faces of Data
To become more intentional about our students, our principal invited teachers to write three facts they know about each student in their classroom. Of the whole class, teachers chose five students to be curious about.
Writing About Reading
Writing about Reading When I am learning anything new, I take more than the average time to understand the new concept to its fidelity. Recently, a student’s mom gave me … Continue Reading Writing About Reading
Expanding Vocabulary and Use of Transitions in Students’ Writing
The work of Elfrieda (Freddy) Hiebert, professor and founder of textproject.org, explains further that “lists do not help our kids retain or expand their word knowledge. Students need networks of words that are grounded in ideas.”
Bringing Humor Into Writing Workshops
Laughter adds so much to our lives. Research the benefits and you find all sorts of them– engagement, higher levels of learning, greater sense of community, even health benefits… Just for those alone, it’s worth thinking about ways we can infuse humor and laughter into our instruction and the experiences we share with students.
Inquiry Minilessons: Beyond the Fundamentals of Writing Workshop
There are many ways to teach a minilesson effectively. Many people think inquiry minilessons are stickier than demonstrations since kids “discover” things on their own. As a result, learning stays with kids longer since they’ve come to the learning on their own.
Doing the Same Work as Our Students
I made many mistakes during my first year of teaching. I’m too embarrassed to blog about most of them since I cringe when I look back on my first year of teaching. … Continue Reading Doing the Same Work as Our Students
The Hard Parts
Earlier this month, I had the privilege of attending the TCRWP August Writing Institute. The week began with Lucy Calkins delivering an inspirational keynote, “Learning from the Hard Parts” inside the … Continue Reading The Hard Parts
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!
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 … Continue Reading Teacher-Written Mentor Texts: Diving into Information Writing
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 … Continue Reading Moving from Partnerships to Peer Conferring
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.
TWO WRITING TEACHERS 