books · mentor texts · Reflective Practice · video

Words that are Speaking to Me

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside of you. --- Maya Angelou Remember awhile back when I shared about my YA reading life? I promised to share the way I'm closely rereading and studying a few of the books. One of the titles is Kristina McBride's (she's blogger!) The Tension of Opposites… Continue reading Words that are Speaking to Me

authors · quote · video

Saturday Mornings

This is my vision of you on Saturday mornings: A mug of something warm -- coffee, tea, or chai -- in your hands Snuggled in a comfy chair Allowing peace to replace the stress from the week Happily thinking about the power of words and education to change the world Wait a minute -- maybe… Continue reading Saturday Mornings

primary grades · procedures · routines · video · writing workshop

Beginning Procedures

I'm a believer in routine. When writing workshop is predictable everyone is able to work more efficiently. It takes several weeks to build the procedures necessary to create the culture of writing workshop. Over the past two weeks I've collected some footage of routines in primary classrooms. One of the important things about developing routines… Continue reading Beginning Procedures

spelling

Fixing-Up Spelling in a Writer’s Notebook

I created another video about one more spelling strategy a colleague told me about to help some of my struggling spellers with the words they frequently misspell in their writing. (I'm only going to employ this strategy in my kids' Idea Notebooks after I've secured their permission to write in their notebooks since I always… Continue reading Fixing-Up Spelling in a Writer’s Notebook

spelling · word study

Spelling Help

Need to assist a student who has trouble spelling while writing? Watch this video for a practical tool/tip entitled "My Fast Word Fixer."

adolescent literacy · assessment · authentic assessment · reading workshop · technology

My Life as a Reader.

The first unit of study is coming to a close.  The summative assessment is two part.  First, students are to create a multimedia presentation (text + image + audio) of their past, present, and future reading lives.  (Part two is an on-demand writing, where they summarize their learning about reading + a reflection of this… Continue reading My Life as a Reader.