#DUBLIT15

Saturday February 28, 2015Saturday February 28, 2015 Betsy Hubbard5 Comments

I am a Michigan girl at heart, but there is something special about the educators in and around the Dublin, Ohio area. I had the privilege of presenting and attending the Dublin Literacy Conference this past weekend. What a great group to share such a wonderful day of learning. The day opened up with Chris… Continue reading #DUBLIT15

writing workshop

Gearing up for the PARCC Test: Some practice work

Friday February 27, 2015Thursday February 26, 2015 Tara Smith4 Comments

On Tuesday, my sixth graders will file into the large testing room our middle school has set up, and begin three days of ELA testing for the PARCC. The last few weeks have included a steady diet of preparation for this endeavor - the unglamorous, but necessary work of making sure my kids understand the… Continue reading Gearing up for the PARCC Test: Some practice work

Songs for Celebrating Writing

Sunday February 15, 2015Monday February 16, 2015 BethMooreSchool13 Comments

A quick list of some favorite songs for writing celebrations, to brighten your day!

feature articles · nonfiction · writing workshop

Charts and mini charts to anchor writing moves

Friday February 13, 2015Friday February 13, 2015 Tara Smith11 Comments

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

Sunday February 8, 2015Sunday February 8, 2015 BethMooreSchool14 Comments

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

Sunday February 1, 2015Saturday January 31, 2015 BethMooreSchool1 Comment

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

Saturday January 31, 2015Friday January 30, 2015 BethMooreSchool9 Comments

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

Friday January 30, 2015Friday January 30, 2015 Betsy Hubbard4 Comments

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

Tuesday January 27, 2015Monday January 26, 2015 Anna Gratz Cockerille6 Comments

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