writing workshop

Turn and Talk

One of the greatest benefits I have had in my classroom, that encompasses all things literacy, has been the addition of purposeful talk. When it comes to inviting students to think and learn after a writing strategy or any other reflective work, talking is one of the most important strategies we can use. When students… Continue reading Turn and Talk

jacqueline woodson · Reaching Your Writers Blog Series · writing workshop

In Case You Missed It: Reaching Your Writers

Our hope is that this blog series helps to bridge the divides between how we teach writing and how students learn writing because we all believe not only in the importance of writing, but also that all children can learn to write-- and learn to write well-- and even like writing!

adults in the classroom · communication · crystal-clear clarity · Reaching Your Writers Blog Series · writing workshop

Communication, Collaboration, and Clarity: Reaching Your Writers

The more we can communicate, collaborate, and empower the people we work with, both adults and students, so that they know and understand the learning that should be happening in our writing classrooms, the more we will see that learning happen. When we all know what we’re working on and we have the tools and systems to support our pathways, great things happen!

writing workshop

Rituals and Transitions: Reaching Your Writers

When writing workshop rituals become woven into the daily grooves of the writing community, cohesive safe zones develop. The consistency of rituals in a classroom helps students transition within the workshop environment smoothly... Well-established rituals create the space for students to concern themselves less with movement and more with the work of a writing.

goals · independence · Reaching Your Writers Blog Series · strategies · strategy charts · writing workshop

Entry Points to Build Independence: Reaching Your Writers

Where are the places your writers find themselves stuck? Identifying our writers' sticky spots can help us determine entry points for writers to pull themselves out of being stuck and instead strive!

blogging · Reaching Your Writers Blog Series · writing workshop

Helping Students Who Don’t Want To Write: Reaching Your Writers

How do we reach our writers who come to us from traumatic backgrounds? How do we help writers who have painful stories they don't feel comfortable sharing? How do we help children feel safe to write something when they prefer to sit and write nothing? Please share your ideas and experiences in the comments so we can learn from each other and reach more of our writers.

Reaching Your Writers Blog Series · writing workshop

Reaching Your Writers Blog Series

All week here at Two Writing Teachers we will be sharing how to reach ALL of your writers.

charts · opinion writing · progressions · standards · teacher writing · writing workshop

Sitting Side By Side With Standards

There is power in knowing and understanding standards because within them, we can extract teaching points, learning targets, and even success criteria. In this post, we'll thing about how we can use the standards so set up anchor charts, as well as learning progressions in order to establish clarity and navigable pathways for writers.

conferences · conferring · plan · record keeping · writing workshop

Conferring Notes: The Key to Unit Planning

Crafting a system for conferring notes can be a catch-all of sorts, a strategy for ensuring that teammates engage in the highest leverage instructional conversations before the unit begins—even if they haven’t had extended time to unit plan together.

conventions · quick write · word study · writing workshop

Trying It Out! Using Ideas From Professional Resources

How do you keep learning and growing as a teacher of writing? How do you apply what you've learned from reading professional texts? Today I am sharing the way I am applying my learning from professional texts with my third grade students.

Talking · writing workshop

A Book That Will Inspire Better Talk and Listening– and a Giveaway

Every now and then, a professional book comes along that has the potential to really change how I teach. You have a chance to win a copy of Unlocking the Power of Classroom Talk by Shana Frazin and Katy Wischow, and I know you will love this book!

partnerships · sharing · student engagement · Talking · work space · writers · writing space · writing workshop · writing workshop routines

Three Keys to Writing Partnership Success

There can be many moving parts in the writing workshop. Partnerships can be a driving force in the growth and goal setting of writers within your classroom. In my experience, there are three areas I work to strengthen within my writers to ensure partnerships foster this growth and development across the year.