Strong relationships are the foundation of effective writing instruction. This post shares concrete routines and research-based strategies to help teachers get to know their students as people and writers from day one.
Category: writer identity
If You Write, You ARE a “Real” Writer!
Author and poet Rebecca Gardyn Levington struggled for years with severe Imposter Syndrome, until one day her 7-year-old son made a comment that completely changed her perspective, boosted her self-esteem, and ignited her writing career.
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Exploring Inclusivity in Writing Workshop
Writing workshop is the perfect space to provide students with the tools and vocabulary to represent themselves and the world around them, in pictures and words.
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Exploring Identity in Writing Workshop: Identity Webs as a Conferring Tool
Add a new tool to your conferring toolbox: students' identity webs. Identity webs can help students bring more of themselves to their writing.
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Sign up for the 17th Annual Slice of Life Story Challenge #SOL24
The Slice of Life Story Challenge is back for its 17th year, and we're excited to reconnect with our global community of participants and welcome new ones! By signing up, you'll have access to a supportive community of writers and resources to help you make the most of this month-long challenge.
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And Then. . . IT IS MAGIC
I believe in communities like this one, where teachers of writers come together to learn and to share, where we do the writing work we are asking kids to do.
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Sign up for the 16th Annual Slice of Life Story Challenge #SOL23
Attention new and returning Slicers: Please fill out this year’s participant information form. Filling out the form takes less than five minutes and helps us stay organized during the Challenge.
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Energizing Information Writing
While none of these ideas for information writing require that students go through the entire process of writing an introduction-to-conclusion information piece, they do have the potential to inspire students to do some on-the-spot information writing, and sometimes these short spurts provide the practice or jump-starts that students need.
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The Power of Writing Identity
I was in a fifth grade classroom in February during writing workshop, and a student flagged me down, eager to share her work. Now this is a student who (historically), I have been much more likely to encounter reading on the sly than writing during workshop.
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Nurturing Your Writing Soul: Rethinking Self-care
Everywhere I look, the world wants me to engage in self-care. Instagram posts, TV commercials, Twitter threads, email newsletters…all of them chock-full of reminders that even as the world falls to pieces around us, It's important to fill our buckets, put on our own air masks first, give ourselves grace. But how about creative self-care? What can we do to make our writing selves feel stronger, happier, more resilient?
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Mining the Moments Between Minilesson and Work Time
In those quick moments between minilesson and work time, as writers are settling in (or not), I pay attention to what is—the current reality. I seek leverage points to both know writers better and to support writers in continuing to grow. Over time, I notice as more and more writers find the processes and strategies that work for them.
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Getting to Know the Writers in Your Classroom- Part 1: Academic and Linguistic Domains
Who students are and what their past experiences have been impact them as writers, and those impacts should have implications on instruction. Therefore, it's worth the time and energy to have systems and structures for learning about students as writers in your classroom.
