It’s the middle of January. Where I live, that means blustery weather, dreary forecasts, and ALL the snow gear. It’s also a good time to think ahead to spring, which promises warmer temperatures, more sunshine, and – of course! – all the stories our students will share in the 11th Annual Classroom SOLSC! In this post, I’ll answer some frequently-asked questions about the Classroom Slice of Life Story Challenge.
Tag: writer’s notebook
Conquering the Blank Page with Borrowed Lines
Borrowed lines from nonthreatening text is one way we can demystify writing for students and help them see the page, not as an empty vast space, but as an opportunity to produce beautiful writing.
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From the Outside In: Covering Writers’ Notebooks
How do we help students to see the power in the writer's notebook? It can start before the pen even hits the page. It can start from the outside in.
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Word Games in the Workshop
Creative play with words can spur ideas writers didn't know they had tucked away!
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Seen, Valued, Heard: Leveraging Shared Writing to Build Community
In my experience, many young writers struggle to use a writer’s notebook as a tool. They’re excited to have a notebook but unclear about what to “do” in there. Shared writing can be a powerful way to teach writers how to generate ideas for writing and to get themselves started, based on the books we are reading and discussing as a community.
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Wait Time
There have been many times I have had to hang on to patience, hold my breath, and wait. I have had students that do not hesitate to jump into writing and others, not so quick to jump. When our invitations to write are not always quickly accepted or at times declined, waiting for a student… Continue reading Wait Time
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(Writing) Life Imitates Art: Finding Inspiration in Ralph Fletcher’s Instagram
The creative lives we maintain outside of writing fill us up as humans with stories to tell. When we bring this life into the writing workshop, it builds community, and it lays the foundation for lifelong writers who have strategies for sustaining their own writing lives.
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Teaching Writing, Learning Writing
As I get ready for the March SOLSC, I'm thinking about ways to support writers when ideas, energy and inspiration waver.
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Notebooks: Starting with What Matters Most
Before summer began, we at Two Writing Teachers planned this blog series, and I blithely volunteered to write a post about the value of notebooks in writing workshop. Notebooks. What was I thinking?! So much has been written about them. I started rereading, and ran out of time...A single post, I realized, would barely scratch… Continue reading Notebooks: Starting with What Matters Most
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Summer Writing: A Confession and a Goal
All of us at Two Writing Teachers are thinking about and planning for summer writing. Summer writing inspiration for our students and summer writing goals for ourselves. Kathleen wrote this fabulous post about using QR codes to support students' summer notebook writing. Beth shared inspiration in her recent Summer Writing Bucket List post. And Melanie reflected on… Continue reading Summer Writing: A Confession and a Goal
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Building a culture of bravery in writing workshop
In these early days of writing workshop, we work on being brave...
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Creating Classroom Environments: Paper Choices
Kids do need room to grow. Not only do they outgrow clothes in the blink of an eye, they also grow as readers and writers. This is why we need classroom libraries stocked with a wide range of levels, and it's why we need writing centers stocked with paper choices.
TWO WRITING TEACHERS 