copyright: Bill Watterson - Calvin and Hobbes This is pretty much how Josh felt when I pulled my conferring stool up next to his desk yesterday and asked, "So, how's it going?" He had been working on his memoir for the past week, and making very slow progress. Most of our writing workshop class… Continue reading Reflections on writing workshop: Sometimes when they say they’re “done” they’re really done
Category: writing workshop
Happy Charting: ‘Smarter Charts’ Authors Marjorie Martinelli and Kristi Mraz Share Some Tips for Your Classroom
It's always a joy to learn with Majorie Martinelli and Kristi Mraz. In this interview, they share some excellent advice on using charts to support independence in the classroom.
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Sneak Attack!
A project inspired by radio but inspiring to the heart.
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Nourishing the writer in the writing teacher.
All week long, Heinemann Publishing has been celebrating Don Graves on their Facebook page, featuring his groundbreaking work, and asking educators this question: To honor Don Graves, help us keep his legacy alive. Tell us your story. What inspires your teaching? And, all week long, educators like Nancie Atwell and Mary Ellen Giacobbe have… Continue reading Nourishing the writer in the writing teacher.
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Close reading leads to close writing: “Falling in Love With Close Reading” in writing workshop
I have truly fallen in love with Falling in Love With Close Reading, the just-released book by Christopher Lehman and Kate Roberts. As with Kylene Beers and Robert Probst’s Notice and Note, this is a book that pushes my thinking about reading - my own, as well as that of my plot-crazy students… Continue reading Close reading leads to close writing: “Falling in Love With Close Reading” in writing workshop
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Tailoring Our Teaching: Stretching our gifted writers
Every year, I have one or two writers who arrive at my sixth grade writing workshop door fully formed: they love to write, they write beautifully, and they write well across many genres. While some of their classmates struggle with everything from generating ideas to the nitty gritties of punctuation and paragraphing, these… Continue reading Tailoring Our Teaching: Stretching our gifted writers
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Tailoring Our Teaching with Conferring: The Basics with the Youngest Writers
What chair are you sitting in when it comes to conferring? Is it too hard, too soft or just right? Read on to find common questions and tips when sitting beside the youngest writers.
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Tailoring Our Teaching: Using a Writing Engagement Tool
During a 40-minute block of independent writing time, we sat back and observed the students. We recorded their independent writing behaviors at eight separate time intervals.
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Tailoring Our Teaching: No Need to Wing It If You’ve Got Great Conferring Notes
Lucy Calkins, author of many books on teaching writing, often says that conferring is the heart of writing workshop. I once heard her say to a group of graduate students that she wished we called it “conferring workshop.” This way it would be clearer to everybody that it is the conferences that really make the… Continue reading Tailoring Our Teaching: No Need to Wing It If You’ve Got Great Conferring Notes
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New Blog Series: Tailoring our Teaching / Assessment-based Strategy Groups for Expository Writing
When I first began teaching using a workshop model, I spent forever planning my minilessons. I wanted to make sure that my language was exactly right, and that I got to each part of the minilesson (I often forgot the active engagement). I felt that the quality of my minilessons was the measure of my… Continue reading New Blog Series: Tailoring our Teaching / Assessment-based Strategy Groups for Expository Writing
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Coaching Conferences in the Writing Workshop
It’s January, at the top of a mountain in Vermont. Ten six and seven year olds are lined up on the side of a ski trail. Their skis all pointing toward me, ready for me to guide them down the mountain. “All right everyone, HOT CHOCOLATE!” I shout. Kristin, the tiniest one, in the front… Continue reading Coaching Conferences in the Writing Workshop
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Using the Cut-and-Tape Method to Draft
As a district, we have experimented with several ways to get students' writing out of the notebooks and into a draft. This is one of those ways.
