Last week Mrs. V asked about how best to use instructional assistants.  Then Stacey asked her for clarification and Mrs. V wrote: With instructional assistants I mean classified staff adults in the classroom. I have heard some people also call them aides or paraprofessionals. Is that enough clarification? I have an instructional assistant two days… Continue reading Back to School Week: Instructional Assistants

Inspired by Friday's "Living Like a Writer" post, I took a few moments to slow down and make a list of gratitudes when it comes to my teaching life.  To kick off Back to School Week, won't you do the same thing?  Then take a few minutes and leave a comment with your three favorite… Continue reading Back to School: I’m Thankful . . .

Next week will be a week where we celebrate returning to school.  It is our vision to use the week to answer questions or elaborate on ideas that are most pressing to our readers.  We'd love to know what's on your mind . . . so please leave a comment or take the poll (or… Continue reading Back to School Week.

So much of writing is living.  The actual putting of words to paper is only a small fraction of what it means to be a writer.  For us in the Midwest, school is in full swing and life is busy.  Teachers feel pressure, students feel pressure, administrators feel pressure, parents feel pressure . . .… Continue reading Living Like a Writer: Slow Down.

As I was finding links for the last post, I came across this announcement on Heinemann's website: Congratulations to Penny Kittle! She has won the 2009 NCTE’s James N. Britton Award for Write Beside Them. Penny will receive the Britton Award on November 20th at NCTE’s annual conference in Philadelphia. For the complete announcement, click… Continue reading Congratulations Penny Kittle!

I have loved Wednesdays this summer on Two Writing Teachers.  Lately Stacey has been blogging on Wednesdays and I've been envisioning my post for one of my recent favorite books from the field.   For those who are regular readers, it won't come as a surprise that it is by Penny Kittle.  Her book, Public Teaching:… Continue reading Need inspiration? Check out this book!

Welcome to Memoir Monday.  Those who are regulars, we are looking forward to reading your memories as you record them and share them today.  If you are new to Two Writing Teachers, or a Memoir Monday rookie, we would love to have you join us.  Here are two simple ways to dip your toes into… Continue reading Memoir Monday

I live with a three year old.  Sometimes he becomes obsessive about a book.  He'll get on a streak and only want the same story read over and over and over -- many times a day for many days in a row.  The current obsession is David Shannon's A Bad Case of Stripes.   At first… Continue reading Mentor Texts: The Importance of Rereading

My apologies for the late post today.  Teachers returned yesterday at my school district.  We had huge thunderstorms and lost power.  Can you imagine no copy machines on the day before opening day?  The Internet was still down today.  Not to mention that on the home front my second grader and kindergartener started school today… Continue reading Are you out there Slicers?

This week I thought it would be fun to focus on some mentors of editorials.  This genre, which is typical for middle and high school writers, is among my favorite to teach.  The primary reason it is my favorite?  Because of these outstanding editorialists! (Note:  I try to pull articles that represent both sides of… Continue reading Mentor Text Thursday: Editorials.

Swan Boats: Boston -- June 2009 Originally uploaded by teachergal A few days ago, one of our readers pointed out that we were getting close to having a half-million hits here on TWT. Today 500,000 hits became a reality. On behalf of both of us, thank you for being part of our blog about the… Continue reading 500,000