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.
Category: writer identity
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.
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.
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.Â
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?
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.
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.
Writing with Wren: Nurturing a Writing Identity
An eight-year-old writer helps her mom reflect on ways that teachers can help to foster the habits and conditions that nurture children who grow up believing that they have words, ideas, and stories worth writing and sharing.
Identity Webs to Generate Ideas for Information Writing
When it comes to generating ideas for information writing, my experience has been that some students freeze. There are two things I have learned about why this occurs.
Celebrating Growth When(ever) it Happens
It’s dramatic when the light comes on, when a writer suddenly takes a step they had only recently not yet been ready to take. As a teacher of writers, I can’t wait to pounce on those moments, to facilitate the avalanche of growth on the horizon.Â
Fostering Authorship, Identity, and Agency in the Early Childhood Classroom Through Storytelling
As the storytelling culture is developed in the classroom, children are likely to begin to see themselves as authors and to use their voices in braver ways to share their ideas and who they are with their peers.
A Letter to Families as we Launch Remote Writing Workshop
As I considered what to write this week, I decided to share a piece I was crafting for back to school, as an instructional coach/remote kindergarten teacher this year. The process helped me to focus on what families might need, as they experience writing workshop in new ways (i.e. at their kitchen tables).