feature articles · nonfiction · writing workshop

Charts and mini charts to anchor writing moves

Last Tuesday, Clare wrote a wonderful slice of life post about what everyday learning in a classroom really looks like and feels like, aptly entitled: Learning is Managed Chaos. These lines resonated with me: "We need to remember, however, that young learners can only appear independent in an environment that is carefully and thoughtfully managed… Continue reading Charts and mini charts to anchor writing moves

compliment · conferences · lucy calkins · writing workshop

A Compliment Conference

In my day-to-day teaching I often get swept up in trying to load students up with next step after next step... after next step. Sometimes, what might benefit some students most, however, is clear explicit feedback on what they are already doing well. There's certainly an art to giving clear feedback, especially when it comes to… Continue reading A Compliment Conference

Aim Higher Blog Series · writing workshop

ICYMI Aim Higher: Outgrow Old Goals and Set New Ones

Last week Tara, Betsy, Dana, Anna, Stacey and I wrote about the importance of having writing goals for your students: how to set them, how to keep track of them, how to make them visible, and how to make them a part of your daily classroom life. In cased you missed it, here's a round up of our posts.

Aim Higher Blog Series · conferences · goals · writing workshop

Aim Higher: Conferring and Student Goals

So, you've studied your students' writing, analyzing their work for strengths and next steps. Maybe you took home a giant stack of writers notebooks, or a huge pile of on-demand writing assessments, or maybe you've just finished reading their published pieces. Now what?

Aim Higher Blog Series · writing workshop

Aim Higher: The Rest of the Story

Earlier in the week Anna talked about making goals visible. This is so true. When we make goals visible for students they are able to go back to that visual multiple times and the goal or objective we are aiming for becomes more attainable. With young writers, goals always have to be visible. Young students… Continue reading Aim Higher: The Rest of the Story

writing workshop

Aim Higher: Why Goal-Setting Matters and Making Goals Visible

Why Goal-Setting Matters Much has been written about the current environment in education. We can choose to focus on the ways in which fear is driving the work that we do, the ways in which we feel forced to take time away from what really matters to prepare for the hoops we and our students must jump… Continue reading Aim Higher: Why Goal-Setting Matters and Making Goals Visible

writing workshop

Call for Slices

Write, Share, Give

Aim Higher Blog Series · editing · goals · writing workshop

Aim Higher: Setting Goals for Editing

See how my students set personal editing goals.

Aim Higher Blog Series · goals · writing workshop

Preview: Aim Higher Blog Series

A preview of our new blog series

conventions · editing · grammar · Mary Ehrenworth · punctuation · units of study · writing workshop

Grammar Lessons: A Time and A Place

Encouraging kids to make decisions about their writing, rather than blindly following grammar rules helps lifts the level of their thinking, and the level of their writing.

listening · silence · Talking · writing workshop

The Art of Listening

Silence. It is the other side of talk. It is the back board of listening. When we are silent it opens up our mind to what is going on around us. It allows us to listen and reflect on what others are saying. When we are silent we are able to tap into the art… Continue reading The Art of Listening

writing workshop

An Invitation & SOLS

Write, Share, Give