Amping up Agency Blog Series · picture book · Read Aloud

Five Read Aloud Books for an Agency Study: Amping up Agency Blog Series

I’ve put together a text set of newer picture books to explore the concept of agency with kids. Imagine how it might look across a week to read these books aloud, co-creating an anchor chart with similarities between the actions of the main characters. What might we anticipate writers noticing? What connections might kids make to writing workshop? How might these characters serve as mentors as we collectively build our writing workshop, ensuring it is a place where each writer is encouraged and challenged to make decisions, to initiate the action they need to move their writing work forward?

Amping up Agency Blog Series · choice

A Writer’s Choice: Amping Up Agency Blog Series

It is by making choices that students build agency within our workshops and learn how to navigate the struggles that all writers encounter.

Slice of Life Story Challenge

Slice of Life Tuesday

It's the first Tuesday in February, which means we're getting close to our month-long writing challenge. Gear up by sharing a slice of life story with our writing community today.

agency · Amping up Agency Blog Series · conferring · reflections · Reflective Practice · sharing · small group

The Language to Develop Agency: Amping Up Agency Blog Series

Teachers can build and increase students’ agency by using specific phrases at when conferring, leading small groups, or holding reflection/share sessions at the end of a workshop.

Amping up Agency Blog Series

Introduction: Amping Up Agency Blog Series

This week the co-authors of Two Writing Teachers address various ways to increase students’ agency within their writing lives. This post provides an overview of what's to come.

partnerships

Growth through Vulnerability

It was through engaging in writing partnerships that I gained greater compassion for my own writers.

authentic writing · conventions · writing workshop

Tackling Sentence Struggles With Older Writers

If you're a teacher of older students (3rd grade and up) and have ever found yourself asking what you can do for kids who are still struggling with basic capitalization and punctuation, you're not alone! Today's post provides ideas to support teaching and transfer of sentence writing conventions in authentic and fun ways with our older writers.

Slice of Life Story Challenge · the persona of a writer · writer identity · writers

Sign up for the 16th Annual Slice of Life Story Challenge #SOL23

Attention new and returning Slicers: Please fill out this year’s participant information form. Filling out the form takes less than five minutes and helps us stay organized during the Challenge.

slice of life · writing workshop

It’s Tuesday! Welcome to the Slice of Life!

It's Tuesday- join us for Slice of Life. Write your slice, share it, and leave comments for others.

partnerships

Partners in the Process

We’re hunched over a table, sitting in chairs made for kindergarteners. The sun hasn’t fully risen yet, and the hallways are still quiet. There’s a typed piece, a draft, laid out between us. On that draft is black chicken scratch, the initial thoughts, and suggestions made by my writing partner, Dawn. One line at a… Continue reading Partners in the Process

immersion · mentor texts

What’s the Big Idea?

Ever get lost in the details of a writing unit? Ever get overwhelmed by the "bigness" of your vision? Plan for that and shift: from details to the big idea and back again.

checklists · conventions · editing · grammar · process · spelling

Editing Along the Way…Often in 5 Minutes or Less

The other day, I did it again. I drafted an email to my bosses. Read it. Reread it. Hit send. Got distracted. Then… saw it. The error.  These moments of regret keep me humble! And so, when I notice students not applying taught spelling and grammar concepts, I remind myself that they are not defiantly… Continue reading Editing Along the Way…Often in 5 Minutes or Less