Revision is one of my favorite parts of the writing process to teach.  I enjoy figuring out ways to encourage writers to make significant revisions.  It seems so often our students revise just to appease the teacher and the revisions don't really matter to the writer and don't really matter to the meaning of the… Continue reading Encouraging Revision

This morning as I was listening to the radio on my way to school, they were asking little kids to respond to the question:  How do you know someone loves you?  This response stuck with me: You know someone loves you by the way they say your name.  Your name just sounds safe in their… Continue reading Making Students Feel Valued.

It's getting late.  I'm tired.  A blog post is required before I go to bed.  Although I have a list of possibilities, I don't have the energy for them.  Not tonight.  Tonight I simply want to take Walter Wellesley "Red" Smith's advice:  "There's nothing to writing.  All you do is sit down at a typewriter and… Continue reading Write What Matters Most.

Today Tony Miller and his third grade class invited me to celebrate with them the publication of their first pieces.  (Although we considered this the launch unit, it was actually the third unit of study, following Oral Storytelling and Launching Writing Notebooks.)  It was a perfect celebration. We started in the traditional way, meeting in… Continue reading Here’s to Writing Workshop!

I've been thinking a lot about authenticity when it comes to Writing and Reading Workshops.  I'm beginning to think that a big part of authentic instruction lies in trusting students.  Today Mr. Miller showed me what it means to trust students. We were conferring with a student and the longer we talked to him the more… Continue reading Trust

I took the list of Ways to Revise and made it into a minichart for students to keep in their notebooks.   Here is a link to the document for anyone who is on this line of thinking in Writing Workshop: Ways to Revise

Do you know about the "little books" for student writers by Ralph Fletcher?  I think they are lifesavers for Writing Workshop teachers, at least they were for me.  I loved them because by reading them to my students (for my focus lesson) I learned to "talk like a writer." Now I use them in my… Continue reading Inviting Revision

Last week, someone asked me:  How do you balance it all? This question always makes me smile sheepishly and give my standard response:  I don't. Yet her question has tumbled around in my mind for a week now.  So here I am, Sunday evening, nearing 10 pm, with a zillion items to do on my lengthy… Continue reading Breathe.

This week my coaching has taken me into middle school classrooms.  In one class, the teacher has asked me to launch notebooks and move into a personal narrative study.  As we've gotten into notebooks this week and have shared bits of our lives, I'm struck by the way building a community, establishing procedures, creating opportunities… Continue reading Building a Community of Writers

This weekend I was rereading some past posts on Two Writing Teachers and came across a few "Monday Musings."  I was inspired to write a post like this for today.  My OLW (One Little Word) for 2009 is delight.  As I reflected on my learning with this word, I realized that it is a constant… Continue reading Monday Musings

All-Write is hosting Cris Tovani in northern Indiana on October 15.  If you're in the area and teach grades 4 - 12, you will not be sorry if you attend this conference.    Click here for the registration and more information.  BTW:  If you do decide to attend, I'd love to know so we can meet. … Continue reading Cris Tovani