Trust

I’ve been thinking a lot about authenticity when it comes to Writing and Reading Workshops.  I’m beginning to think that a big part of authentic instruction lies in trusting students.  Today Mr. Miller showed me what it means to trust students.
We were conferring with a student and the longer we talked to him the more confused [...]

Hello Slicers!

 

Inviting Revision: Part II

I took the list of Ways to Revise and made it into a minichart for students to keep in their notebooks.   Here is a link to the document for anyone who is on this line of thinking in Writing Workshop: Ways to Revise [...]

Inviting Revision

Do you know about the “little books” for student writers by Ralph Fletcher?  I think they are lifesavers for Writing Workshop teachers, at least they were for me.  I loved them because by reading them to my students (for my focus lesson) I learned to “talk like a writer.”
Now I use them in my coaching [...]

Breathe.

Last week, someone asked me:  How do you balance it all?
This question always makes me smile sheepishly and give my standard response:  I don’t.
Yet her question has tumbled around in my mind for a week now.  So here I am, Sunday evening, nearing 10 pm, with a zillion items to do on my lengthy list.  As [...]

Would you like to be a better writer?

Ruth and I have completed about 25% our manuscript.  We’re in the midst of working on the section of Writing 180 that deals with conferring.  Even though we’re in the thick of writing, we’re both constantly trying to make our writing better by reading books about writing.  I’m unsure of which professional book Ruth’s reading [...]

Universal Themes & Portraying the Realities of Life

When I first read Norah Dooley’s Everybody Cooks Rice, I encountered something larger than a neighborhood making some sort of rice for dinner. Rather, I found people from different ethnicities who were working hard to put dinner on the table at the end of the day. Sounds like a typical American thing to [...]

Building a Community of Writers

This week my coaching has taken me into middle school classrooms.  In one class, the teacher has asked me to launch notebooks and move into a personal narrative study.  As we’ve gotten into notebooks this week and have shared bits of our lives, I’m struck by the way building a community, establishing procedures, creating opportunities [...]

It’s Time for the SOLSC!

Happy Tuesday!
Please join us today for the Slice of Life Story Challenge.  (If this is your first time participating, then click here to learn more about this Challenge.)

Monday Musings

This weekend I was rereading some past posts on Two Writing Teachers and came across a few “Monday Musings.”  I was inspired to write a post like this for today. 

My OLW (One Little Word) for 2009 is delight.  As I reflected on my learning with this word, I realized that it is a constant choice [...]

Cris Tovani

All-Write is hosting Cris Tovani in northern Indiana on October 15.  If you’re in the area and teach grades 4 – 12, you will not be sorry if you attend this conference.  
 Click here for the registration and more information. 
BTW:  If you do decide to attend, I’d love to know so we can meet. 

Weekend Reading.

Scholastic Instructor Magazine named the “Top Twenty Teacher Blogs.”  According to Instructor, they identified:
20 blogs that have taught us a few things, made us laugh, made us cry, and reminded us that we are not alone in this sometimes stress-inducing, always awe-inspiring profession.
There are categories from “Best For Hands-On Teaching Activities” to “Best Blog From Outside of the [...]

A Text with Many Uses

Eve Bunting has been one of my favorite children’s book authors ever since I read Fly Away, Home. I’ve used her books in my Reading Workshop, as demonstration texts and as social issue book club books. However, other than using Smokey Night during a personal narrative unit in 2006, I haven’t used Bunting’s [...]

A Sweet Conference

I was back in Mr. Miller’s third grade classroom today.  It is such an enjoyable place to be; his students have become writers.  Today K. asked me, “Will you have a conference with me?”
I tipped the conferring record toward him and said, “We’ve talked twice and look at all of these blank spaces.  There are a lot of [...]

In the News & On the Blogs

There have been a lot more education-related news stories appearing in the newspapers with the start of the school year.  To that end, here are some stories from newspapers, as well as some online sources, that I’ve read and found interesting during the past week.

A New Meaning for Cutting Classes by Javier C. Hernandez in [...]

Join Us for Today’s SOLSC

Last week I was chatting with a second grader about characters in stories.  I said, “As a reader, I know you’ve noticed that characters in stories usually change in some way.”
“No they don’t,” she replied matter-of-factly.
“I did say usually.  It doesn’t always happen, but usually, when writers write stories, they usually have the character [...]

Gimmicks Versus Authentic Experiences

Have you read the comments from this post?  They were a luxury for me this weekend and so very good for my soul.  A special public thank you to all those who left a comment.  You will never know how much it blessed me.
Lately I’ve been struggling with the vast amount of stuff– activities, skill [...]

It’s Saturday.

I think Saturday is reason enough to celebrate here at Two Writing Teachers.
On Wednesday, Ashley left this comment:
I have had a lot of false starts getting the writing workshop started. My students have never been in a workshop format so we are not doing well with independence.
Now Ashley’s frustrations are not the reason for the celebration, [...]

A Solemn Day

Created with clip art from Lettering Delights.

Endpapers

My mother-in-law, who is a K-5 Literacy Coach, visited last weekend. She perused several review copies of professional books that were stacked on my desk while we talked shop. There were some pages in one of the books, Children’s Literature in the Reading Program: An Invitation to Read, 3rd Ed. that piqued her [...]

Teaching the Writing Process

I’ve been working in a third grade classroom.  The class began the year with a focus on oral storytelling.  Recently they started their writers’ notebooks.  We’re now moving into their first writing project of the year.  Like most Writing Workshops, this unit focuses on the process writers use when working toward publication.
In order to help [...]

Believing In Them…

I’ve been going back-and-forth over e-mail with one of my former fourth graders for the past week.  She started sixth grade last week — middle school.  I can hardly believe she has a locker & a free period!  After all, it feels like just yesterday that she was sitting in the front row of [...]

Slicin’ on Tuesday

Happy Day-After-Labor Day.  For many people, today is the first day back to school, while for others’ it’s the first day back after a long weekend.  Regardless of your school status, please join us today for the Slice of Life Story Challenge.

Professional Book: Crafting Writers K – 6 by Elizabeth Hale

As I settled in my chair with a highlighter, pen, and sticky notes, I cracked open Crafting Writers K – 6 by Elizabeth Hale.  I started reading and was soon totally immersed in the book and the work Elizabeth was describing.  In her introduction she writes,
As students need less instruction on how to write [letter [...]

FYI

A few changes that you will see around Two Writing Teachers since summer is over, school has started, and we are in the thick of writing our book.

There will be at least one post each day, Monday through Friday.  Weekends are optional. 
We will no longer host Memoir Monday.  Please plan on joining us [...]