1st blog birthday card to ruth Originally uploaded by teachergal One year ago, today, Ruth and I started this blog. For two months we wrote content and tried to finesse it so that it was ready to go "out into the world." And here we are, one year and over 800 posts later! What a… Continue reading Two Writing Teachers Turns One Today!
Category: writing workshop
Favorite Genres
One of the questions on my Year-End Writing Evaluation was "What was your favorite genre/unit of study this year and why?" All of the kids only choose three genres from a list of eight. They chose (in order of popularity): Memoir Poetry Picture Books/Fiction The unpopular genres were personal narrative, friendly letters, personal essay, literary… Continue reading Favorite Genres
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Shifting Gears: From Drafting to Revision and Editing
Poetry is one of my favorite genres to teach. I simply love the way the genre empowers ALL kids to have success with their words. (Quite frankly, I wish I could teach it in November, right before personal essay, but for some reason it never happens that way! Making it the last genre of the… Continue reading Shifting Gears: From Drafting to Revision and Editing
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Preparing for Tomorrow’s Mentor Poems Lesson
Starting My Poetry Craft Table Originally uploaded by teachergal Tomorrow, I'm doing some explicit instruction on identifying poetic tools in poems we admire and then trying to use those tools in our own poetry. Hence, I'll be using this Poetry Craft Table, which I either adapted from Pat Werner or from Davis & Hill's Book… Continue reading Preparing for Tomorrow’s Mentor Poems Lesson
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the big picture.
Yesterday I received a note in snail mail from a former student who graduated this year. Here is what it said, typed as closely as possible to the original: Thank you Mrs. Ayres, you tought me alot you always were there for me to help me through the ruff times. you Believed in me when… Continue reading the big picture.
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Making Mentor Poems Accessible At Any Time
Mentor Poems Bulletin Board, originally uploaded by teachergal. I realized the other day that it was unfair to only provide extra mentor poems, from my mentor poems binder, to kids when I conferred with them. Hence, in addition to handing out a packet of mentor poems after each minilesson, I also put together this new… Continue reading Making Mentor Poems Accessible At Any Time
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Summer Reading.
At my daughter's k - 3 school, there is a summer reading challenge. Each year the challenge changes, but the idea is to encourage a LOT of reading over the summer. This year it is to read 1000 pages over the next 10 weeks. Wow! At first I thought we'd have trouble. However, last night… Continue reading Summer Reading.
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Thomas Sweet: The Evolution of My Blend-Ins
My father began taking me to Thomas Sweet Ice Cream Shop when I was around six or seven years old. He introduced me to Blend-Ins, which is ice cream that is blended with candy in a special machine. YUM! I started off with Sweet Cream Ice Cream and blended-in Oreos, Plain M&M's and Reese's Peanut… Continue reading Thomas Sweet: The Evolution of My Blend-Ins
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Teaching Figurative Language with Mentor Poems
I was conferring with one of my students in Writing Workshop yesterday and quickly found, as I researched, my compliment (meaningful line breaks while drafting) and teaching point (using figurative language, specifically similes). I started to demonstrate what similes were by reviewing the concept of comparing two things with the words like or as. However,… Continue reading Teaching Figurative Language with Mentor Poems
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“Memoir Mondays” Inspiration
Is there a place you have been eating at for years… by yourself or with family? Is it a place you come back to for comfort food again and again? Have you celebrated special occasions at this place or is it just a local hangout? Consider indulging your writing (and maybe your palette too) this-coming… Continue reading “Memoir Mondays” Inspiration
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thinking things through.
The past week of my professional life has been dedicated to meeting with teachers and reflecting on their writing workshops. The gist of our meetings involves discussing successes and general good stuff happening in workshop, as well as goals and hopes for next year. I'm touched by how driven many teachers are in the quest… Continue reading thinking things through.
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The Queen of Forms Page Led Me to Create This!
elementary school version of the end of the year reflection tool that ruth created Originally uploaded by teachergal I went to Ruth's Queen of Forms Page, as per her earlier post today, to take a look at the Year-End Writing Evaluation that she has for middle school students. I adapted it to my elementary school… Continue reading The Queen of Forms Page Led Me to Create This!
