Sometimes, I am overwhelmed with the amount of new learning about writing that I wish to incorporate. I’ve come to realize I’m not alone. I’m not the only person with more resources and ideas than they know what to do with, and I‘m not the only one who risks inertia because I don’t know where to start. If that’s also you, or someone you know and love, I’ll be sharing my process for how I work my way to more clarity and focus.
Tag: writing workshop
Word Games in the Workshop
Creative play with words can spur ideas writers didn't know they had tucked away!
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Interrogating Our Feedback: Resetting Our Workshop Practices
As I get ready to head back into my classroom, I am thinking about my feedback and the intention vs. outcome.
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Opening the Door to Reflection: Resetting Our Workshop Practices Blog Series
At Two Writing Teachers, we know how important it is to learn in a safe space, so this week, we invite you into ours. We will share some of the growth experienced in our own teaching and what that was like for our students and for us. You might recognize yourself in some of our journeys, or you may see into an experience quite different from your own.
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Writing About Reading: Gorgeous Notebook Pages and Summer Stacks
The end of the school year is here and all I can think about is curling up on a picnic blanket under the trees while my kids play around me so I can read. Nothing feels better than losing myself in a text, when I’m reminded how much I love stories, connect with characters, and… Continue reading Writing About Reading: Gorgeous Notebook Pages and Summer Stacks
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Wrapping Up Writing Workshop: Finding Joy to Carry Along
Here we are, many of us ready to wrap up the school year... We CAN re-align our moral compass with student instruction. We CAN commit ourselves to being sincerely, wholeheartedly, a community of learners. This summer, I’ll be gearing up for what, I’m hoping, will be a year of excitement and discovery. I also hope that somewhere, you, too can find a kernel of hope, joy, or idealism to carry with you into the summer.
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Poetry Month: That’s the (Line) Breaks
Poetry, she thought, with a sigh,is little more than proseedited forbrevityand line breaks. Right now, I’m doing a poetry unit with my fourth graders. Most of them dread poetry writing. While it’s no surprise, this news saddens me. As someone who prefers to express herself through poetry, I hold the belief that people are much… Continue reading Poetry Month: That’s the (Line) Breaks
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It’s Time for Play and Fun!: Storytelling in Writing Workshop
It’s March. If your schools are anything like mine, you are slogging through the remnants of a long winter, all while gearing up for a season of standardized testing. Kids of all ages still need play and fun. I don’t know about you, but my kids always seem to do a bit better when some of each is incorporated into my lessons. I’ll share some ways to bring joy into writing workshop.
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Nurturing Your Writing Soul: Rethinking Self-care
Everywhere I look, the world wants me to engage in self-care. Instagram posts, TV commercials, Twitter threads, email newsletters…all of them chock-full of reminders that even as the world falls to pieces around us, It's important to fill our buckets, put on our own air masks first, give ourselves grace. But how about creative self-care? What can we do to make our writing selves feel stronger, happier, more resilient?
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Writing as Social-Emotional Development: Maximizing Writing Time
Let’s turn our attention to the classroom, to the kids in our care. Like many of us, they need a space to release burdens, to feel the same connection and validation that has kept us afloat. This, my friends, is where we begin. THIS is where we claim our power as writers, as teachers of writing. No matter the age of our students, no matter their readiness level, no matter the constrictions of a mandated writing system, there are ways to create and protect a nurturing, supportive community of young writers.
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Flailing and Feedback In Writing Process As Critical: KidLit Authors Share Why
Slowing down the brainstorming part of the writing process and recognizing the emotionality of feedback has big rewards for two published authors, in addition to our young classroom writers.
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Getting Craft-y: Using Art to Teach Writing
"If kids see writing as just another avenue of self expression, if they realize that craft and skill are necessary for all areas of self-expression, then perhaps they might use these understandings as a foundation for their writing."
