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.
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.
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. I got so… Continue reading
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 Nave at Riverside… Continue reading
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!
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.
What teacher of writers superpower would you like to develop this year?
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
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.
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
Find out what sprinkled cupcakes and figurative language instruction have to do each other!
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.
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…
Reflecting on my first experience using TCRWP’s goals & technique cards for informational writing with a small group of writers.
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.
Have you ever wondered what some of the writing workshop lingo means? Here’s another look at some commonly used workshop jargon.
Learn some tricks for reading the Units of Study, whether you’re new to the units or have been using them for many years.
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 introduce kids to mentor texts while helping them find their own mentor texts.
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
