The Final SOLSC of the Month

Join us for the final Slice of Life Story Challenge by sharing a slice of your day with us by leaving a comment with a link to your post.

Memoir Monday.

Link your Memoir Monday posts here.

Ruth’s Memoir Monday: Footprints in the Sand.

A week ago, I participated in a scrapbook challenge to document a part of my wedding that has yet to be recorded.  I lifted a line from a song sung during the ceremony and then reflected on it in the journaling below the photo. 
The song (07/99)
The photo (self-portrait, CA) (04/05)
The journaling (06/09):  Remember these words from [...]

Updating Our Website

Have you been to the Two Writing Teachers Website yet?  If so, you’ll have noticed that it’s a place where we have some resources for quite a few units of study.  However, during the school year, things got hectic, and neither of us managed to update the companion to our blog very much!  Therefore, I [...]

Reflections on the 2008 – 2009 School Year

On Monday, June 29th, we will begin our summer posting schedule. Therefore, I wanted to take some time to reflect, publicly, on my school year, which ended yesterday at 11:00 a.m.

Challenges

I’m delighted to have hosted the Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOLSC) this past March. It was fantastic to “meet” so many new [...]

Grace

“How you climb up the mountain is just as important as how… More you get down the mountain. And so it is with life, which for many of us becomes one big gigantic test followed by one big gigantic lesson. In the end, it all comes down to one word: grace. It’s how you accept [...]

A Writing Send-Off

Everyone received one last notebook!
Originally uploaded by teachergal

I began cleaning out my classroom supply cabinet yesterday. I found 16 leftover notebooks that were donated to my classroom from DonorsChoose. Since items donated need to remain in the school if the teacher leaves, I had to either leave the notebooks for the next teacher [...]

What are your questions about assessment?

Mark Overmeyer’s new book is available early for your reading pleasure!  Just click here to go to the Stenhouse link for full access to the book, as well as a cool writing challenge (complete with a prize).
However, the really rockin’ part of it all is that Mark is “on tour.”  He’s making appearances around the [...]

Poetry for the Summer Birthday Kiddos

Yesterday afternoon, I was fishing around for permanent markers in my classroom supply closet when I noticed the birthday pencils.  I ordered a gross of pencils from a teacher supply company five years ago and there are still quite a few left?  Why? Well, until 2007, I only gave birthday poem cards to kids whose [...]

Embrace the Energy of the Essentials.

I’d like to send a big thank you to all those who attended my session today at the All-Write Summer Institute.  I’d love to hear the essential area that you are planning to focus on in the 2009 – 2010 school year — just leave a comment to this post.  For more information on the topic of today’s [...]

The Truth Matters!

My students published their research-based essays on the Holocaust this morning, which was not a small feat! I was so incredibly proud of their diligence and desire to produce a quality piece of writing during the final month of the school year.  After their celebration, they went to recess and lunch.  When they returned, I [...]

Slice of Life.

Looking forward to reading your slices from today.  Looking for inspiration for today’s slice?  Why not pay attention to the places that are important to your everyday life.  Please link your posts in the comment section of this post.

Ruth’s Slice of Life: Indiana.

When I was in Stacey’s classroom, they opened their day with the poem “This is Indiana” by Rebecca Kai Dotlich.  This bit of the poem inspires my slice of life today:

This is Indiana,
veined with fields and farms.
Scored with rivers and lakes,
paved with bridges and barns.
Embroidered with churches
on rich, fertile land –
in a homeland of Hoosiers

This [...]

The Final Publishing Celebration of the School Year

Cookies?
Check!
Chips?
Check!
Juice Boxes
Check!
Comment Sheet!
Check!
I’ve often been asked “What do the other students and guests do at your celebrations?”  Well, I hold them accountable for commenting on my students’ work.  Tomorrow I’m having my former fourth graders come to our research-based essay Publishing Celebration.  Here’s a look at the comment sheet they’ll be filling out after they [...]

Memoir Monday

This week I’m thinking about the importance of place.  So for my Memoir Monday, I captured some memories from one of my very favorite places of my past.  If you are looking for some inspiration to guide your writing today, perhaps you could also collect some snippets from an important place of your past.  I’m [...]

Ruth’s Memoir Monday: Geneva Center

One of my favorite places in this world is Geneva Center.  Here are pieces from my memory that will someday lead to more writing.

The smell of the campfire that glows on the faces of campers.

The sound of good stories, bible passages, and singing voices.

Laughter. More laughter. The kind of laughter that can only happen in [...]

It’s Hard to Believe the School Year Is Winding-Down!

I made my final News & Announcements Charts of the school year this morning.  It’s hard to believe that I won’t be making these next year (since I’ll be consulting).  I calculated how many of these I’ve made in the past three years, which is how long I’ve been doing Morning Meeting, part of Responsive [...]

Rubric Creation for “This I Believe” Essays

I was at the computer this morning when my students created a pretty basic rubric for their final unit of study’s essays. The following is what they created. They’ll use it to self-assess their essays and I’ll use it to give them their final grade of the school year.

End of Year Letters BACK TO My Students

My Hope and Dream Letter
Originally uploaded by teachergal

I can hardly believe there’s only five school days left even though I’ve been going through my students’ end of the year reflection letters, and responding to each of them in writing, this past week. It takes awhile to do it well. Therefore, this is the [...]

Submission

After three – four weeks of crafting, drafting, revising, and editing my “This I Believe” Essay, I finally submitted it for publication tonight! 
It felt great to finally submit the essay, which is something I hope my students will do once they publish theirs in Writing Workshop next week.

Timelining Helps Kids Write Factual and Moving Concluding Paragraphs

I attended Beth Moore’s Session on Social Studies in the Writing Classroom at the March 2009 Saturday Reunion. It was an exceedingly useful session with tips I’ve been using in the past month ever since my class began writing their research-based essays. I realized, even though my kids could mathematically figure out how [...]

SOLSC

Sorry this post is up late! We’re still hosting the Slice of Life Story Challenge today (and every Tuesday). Share a slice of your day with us by leaving a comment with a link to your post.

Special Moments

Link your memory-related post to this one by leaving a comment on this post.

Please share your memories with us today.

Summer is Here — Kind of!

For me, summer started a week ago.  For Stacey, summer starts in nine more school days.  Here’s what you can expect on Two Writing Teachers throughout the summer months (beginning June 29).
Mondays — Memoir Monday (Won’t you join us?)
Tuesdays — Slice of Life Story Challenge (Share your summer mishaps, laughs, and eccentric moments!)
Wednesdays — A [...]

Stacey’s Classroom.

Today I had the honor to go to school with Stacey!  There’s only one word to describe being in her classroom — WOW!  She is an amazing teacher, which we know, but to see it in person was incredible.  I could make a list of all the remarkable things I noticed, but the post would [...]