“Suddenly, the most beautiful words filled the air. Eva was rehearsing her writing aloud, in Spanish. I quickly reached for my phone and recorded her, so she’d remember her plans. But Eva didn’t need that. The words came right back, this time, on paper.”
How do you handle these moments? What does a conference look like when you’re thinking, “Oh my goodness. Should I even be letting them write about this in school?!”
Are you the writing teacher you dream to be?
Tuesdays are Slice of Life days! Everyone is welcome in this community. Sometimes we find inspiration in the strangest places. Last week, I opened a Dove chocolate–the kind that has a message inside… Continue reading
Thank you for joining us for our blog series Looking Back and Moving Forward. I think we all agree on the importance of reflection in the lives of writers. In case you missed any of our posts over the past week, here’s a quick summary.
Sometimes it’s the feedback our students — rather than our administrators — give us that help us become better teachers.
In Visible Learning For Literacy, Fisher, Frey, and Hattie, explain “When feedback is delivered in such that it is timely, specific, understandable, and actionable students assimilate the language used by their teacher into their self-talk. (2016, 100)” These words stopped me. When our words become the self-talk of our students, they become the most influential tool we have as teachers.
As we approach the end of the year, it’s a great time to think about and ask children to think about the growth they’ve made since the first day of school. In the rush, it’s easy to forget about the importance of slowing down and taking the time to reflect, and yet, reflection is a cornerstone of learning.
Reflection can help foster both a writerly identity and act as a discovery process for possible future goals. This is likely true for any endeavor, whether it be coaching soccer or writing. This week, we as co-authors have been doing some thinking about the power of self-reflection. One possible lens for reflection is the writing process itself…
Revision is a process. It is also a frequently misunderstood endeavor. As a teacher, I have often revised my beliefs to re-see my goals and purpose when it comes to teaching my writers the best revision strategies.
Don’t let kids (or teachers) lose momentum for writing as summer approaches! There is no better time than now to implement independent writing projects, as we help kids prepare to lead writerly lives long after the school year ends.
Tuesdays are Slice of Life days! Everyone is welcome in this community. WRITE a slice of life story on your own blog. SHARE a link to your post in the comments section. GIVE comments to at… Continue reading
By taking some time in May and June to try new writing projects, we can motivate students to stay connected and continue living the writerly life when no one is assigning them to do it. They can write (and read) because it’s part of who they are and how they live each day. Let’s not allow May and June become movie-watching, worksheet-filling, killing-time days. Let’s make each day count and keep our writers enthusiastic about all the possibilities being a writer brings.
Someone once told me (or maybe I read it somewhere) that the best stories are like pearls on a string. Each moment or scene in the story is polished, lovely to read. But… Continue reading
Here’s a preview about our upcoming blog series that will help you close-out your writing workshop in meaningful ways.
Kids are inundated by rules. If the gift of writing is freedom of expression, are we imposing too many “rules” on writers? What if the rules of every genre, like poetry, were limited to just two or three?
Some sit at a keyboard and the words just pour out. Others use a pen and paper, working slowly and deliberately. I know one writer who prefers a typewriter to a laptop.
And then there are the storytellers.
How can we let writing be part of a “soft start” for students instead of making them complete joyless worksheets? How do your students start the day or class period? Please join the conversation!
It’s Slice of Life Tuesday! Come one, come all, come slice with us…
The more we show learners what the work looks like at different levels and the reasons for that level, the better they are able to self-assess, set goals, and improve.
