Embracing “First Words”: Writing FLYING HIGH: The Story of Gymnastics Champion Simone Biles
Michelle Meadows provides a look at her writing process for her new picture book biography about Simone Biles, gymnastics champion and Olympic superstar.
My Thoughts Are Clouds: Poems for Mindfulness
Poet and educator Georgia Heard discusses My Thoughts Are Clouds: Poems for Mindfulness and talks about how both poetry and mindfulness invite us to slow down, be present, listen more deeply, while quieting our restless minds.
Announcing the 6th Annual #TWTBlog Author Spotlight Series
For the next week, picture book and middle-grade authors will take over #TWTBlog to share their thoughts on writing, their writing processes, and the path to publishing with you.
Check out their daily posts for book + author chat giveaways!
Fostering Authorship, Identity, and Agency in the Early Childhood Classroom Through Storytelling
As the storytelling culture is developed in the classroom, children are likely to begin to see themselves as authors and to use their voices in braver ways to share their ideas and who they are with their peers.
Revving Up Opinion Writing– Or Any Unit!
Truth: Any unit at any point in the year has the potential to lose energy, and adding some play has the power to rev a unit right back up.
Reading + Talk + Writing = Innovative Expression Opportunities!
One way to keep writing interesting and fun right now is with the writing of life equations, supporting students in finding phrases to add together to capture small moments, experiences or feelings in their lives.
Tuesday Slice of Life Story Challenge
Join us today for the Tuesday Slice of Life Story Challenge!
ICYMI: Reflections and Shifts As We Move Forward
Today marks the end of the May blog series, Reflections and Shifts As We Move Forward. Did you miss a post in this series? I’ve got you covered! Read on for links to all the posts in the series and the announcement of our giveaway for The Responsive Writing Teacher!
Family Resources for At-Home Learning: Reflections and Shifts As We Move Forward
This post is a look back at the resources I created to support families with at-home learning throughout the pandemic, and some ideas for supporting families in the future.
Cross-Content Connections: Reflections and Shifts As We Move Forward
A topsy turvy year brings with it surprises. Some have been valuable enough to carry forward. I’m looking forward to bringing the best of the year with me and letting the challenges become a memory.
Multimodal Writing: Reflections and Shifts As We Move Forward
Universal Design emphasizes the importance of offering students ways to express what they know and are able to do in various ways. Multimodal writing not only provides multiple ways of expression, it inspires creativity and innovation, skills that matter in life.
Leveraging Technology to Amp up Feedback for Writers: Reflections and Shifts as we Move Forward
In this topsy-turvy year, when I was not expecting to teach a remote kindergarten class, I was also not expecting to discover strategies for upping my feedback game with writers—strategies that I plan to continue using once the world has righted itself and workshop is in-person again.
Tuesday Slice of Life Story Challenge
Join us for the Tuesday Slice of Life Story Challenge!
Improved Conferences: Reflections and Shifts As We Move Forward
As the 2020-21 school year progressed, some teachers reported improved one-to-one conferences when they were conducted through a screen. As students and teachers became more comfortable sharing their screens and recording videos, virtual conferences felt more natural. There are some aspects of virtual writing conferences that can be carried forward once everyone is back to school in-person 100% of the time and/or the masks get to come off indefinitely.
Putting Social Emotional Learning in All We Do: Reflections and Shifts Moving Forward
The research is pretty detailed and consistent that the relationship between teacher and student matters a great deal. It affects their sense of belonging, their relationships with peers, and affects their learning.
Reflections and Shifts As We Move Forward: A Blog Series
This week, our team at Two Writing Teachers plans to pause to reflect on this unusual school year, and share our thoughts on what we experienced and what shifts in our work we hope to see going forward.
It’s Tuesday: Welcome to the Slice of Life!
Write your piece!
Share it via a comment on this post!
Give feedback to others!
Carve Out More Time for Writing
If your writing workshop has felt squeezed for time, then NOW is the time to chat with your grade-level colleagues or administrator about allocating more instructional time for the teaching of writing.
Classroom SOLSC Week 5: Celebrations!
We’ve reached the final stretch of the Classroom SOLSC! How will you celebrate the end of the challenge?
Recording, Revision and Repetition: Empowering Multilingual Writers
Recording for revision, encouraging translanguaging, and repetition are useful strategies to exalt and empower multilingual writers. As teachers of multilingual students, encouraging translanguaging and recording as revision is akin to telling students: every aspect of you is valued. Every aspect of you is important.
