Choice in Deadlines

Some were asking me to “say more” about giving students choice regarding deadlines. Here are a couple ideas in order to empower students to have more choice in finding what works best for them as writers. First and foremost, I have to say I believe in deadlines. Writers have deadlines. If Stacey and I didn’t [...]

Bringing Our Strange Selves to the Page

Day One of the TCRWP Writing Institute.  I listened to Lucy Calkins’s Keynote Address entitled “Great Expectations.”  I attended my first morning session, “We Do Not Teach Alone: Using Reading/Writing Connections to Lift the Level of Non Fiction Writing,” with Cory Gillette.  I wrote a lot in James Howe’s afternoon session “Writing from the Heart.”  [...]

Share your writing with our online community today.

Thinking About Choice

One of the sessions I attended at the conference last week was June Yazel’s “The Power of Choice.” It has been rattling around in my mind since. June believes choice is the defining factor of writing workshop. I believe this too. Sometimes it seems as though we strip choice away from writing workshop. I’ll be [...]

Poetry & Structure: Falling in Love… and Holding it Together — A Guest Blog Post by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater is a writing teacher and children’s poet in Holland, NY.  You can read her daily children’s poem and find writing ideas, book recommendations, and tips for students at her blog, The Poem Farm. Children’s poems such as these have embroidered my life with a layer of beauty and meaning.  They have also [...]

An Interview with the Author of The Cupcake Queen

Heather Hepler, author of The Cupcake Queen, was kind enough to answer a few questions for me about her new young adult novel, which I enjoyed reading not only for its storyline, but for the incredible writing craft it contains.  This is the kind of book that should be placed in students’ (ages 10-15) hands [...]

Mentors

One of the common threads running through the All-Write Conference was having mentors. I’m wondering who are your favorite mentors to use in your classroom and to use for your own writing. For me, I enjoy using Jacqueline Woodson and Jane Yolen in classrooms as well as for my own writing. In addition I hope [...]

Writing Institute

I’m getting ready for the Teachers College Writing Institute, which begins next week.  Anyone else going to be there?  If so, please drop me a line.  It would be great to meet up before one of the keynotes. I’ll look forward to sharing what I learn, in this forum, during the month of July.

Join us for our weekly Slice of Life Story Challenge!

Reflections

I just got back from a dinner with J. Patrick Lewis. After dinner Pat spoke and inspired me to teach and write and live more intentionally, more light-hearted. This comes on the heels of a day with Katie Wood Ray, Sharon Taberski, Franki Sibberson, and Sarah Weeks. Am I a lucky girl or what? Although [...]

Poetry Friday Roundup

I created a Jog, on Jog the Web, to round-up everyone’s Poetry Friday Submissions.  Click here, or on the image below, to head over to the Jog I created.  Then, use the left nav to travel from site to site. Thanks to everyone who participated in another wonderful week of poetry!

Good Teacher: A Guest Blog Post by Elizabeth Eastmond

Elizabeth Eastmond teaches English at a local community college near her home in Southern California.  You can find her writings at peninkpaper.blogspot.com or occasionalpiece.blogspot.com. I remember that day pretty clearly. The brilliant and dazzling lesson plan fell on its face. The students were more bored than I was. The silence that met a non-starter discussion [...]

Poetry Friday: Please join us!

I am hosting Poetry Friday this week! Please leave a comment with a link to and a brief description of your post. I will put up another post later this weekend, using Jog the Web,  which includes all of your links since I have family visiting today. Speaking of family, Father’s Day is two days [...]

Do we really need SMART Boards to teach writing well?

Last Friday, there was an article in The Washington Post entitled “Some educators question if whiteboards, other high tech tools raise achievement.”  This article reflects an on-going conversation Ruth and I have been having about how much technology is really needed to teach writing well.  (Annie, a third grade teacher who is the author of [...]

Poetry Friday will be HERE tomorrow!

We’re hosting Poetry Friday tomorrow.  Please visit tomorrow by submitting a favorite poem or an original poem.  The round-up will take place over the weekend.

Individualize Writing Process + Standardized Tests

Sometimes when I write in this forum it is about topics I have thought through and know exactly where I stand and what I think. Other times I write here in order to figure out what I think. These are the thoughts which make me most nervous to post. However, if I never post my [...]

The Life Lessons We Teach

On Sunday, June 13th my husband and I attended a retirement celebration at Norwalk High School for Jeff Smith, who is retiring after 34 years as a music educator.   My husband played saxaphone with the Norwalk Marching Bears throughout high school.  He spent countless hours practicing for local football games and for special events, such [...]

SOLSC

Finding Time to Write

Of all the things I’ve done to become a more proficient teacher of writing, the act of putting words on a page has had the biggest influence on my practice. As I’ve engaged in being a writer, I’ve learned the nuances of the craft. Being a teacher who writes influences my instruction more than anything else. However, [...]

Words that are Speaking to Me

It’s over now. I’m at the end of the summer following my senior year; I have my diploma in a lockbox and the advantage of hindsight. But I want to tell it [the story] without that advantage — tell it as it unfolded — Mr. Simet says any story is only true in the moment. [...]

Make a Simple Summer Journal by Mary Alice Gruppi

Mary Alice Gruppi is a middle school language arts teacher who morphed into an elementary administrator. Currently she is the principal of a K-5 school. She blogs at There’s a Pal in Principal. In addition to today’s post, Mary Alice created a slide show with more samples of these journals. Make sure to click the [...]

Comprehensive Character Description

In order to create the world of a story for a reader, it’s necessary to engage in character development.  Writers must make characters come alive in their minds if they’re going to create a movie in their readers minds.  However, for many students, developing realistic characters becomes challenging.  Many students have trouble weaving meaningful character [...]

Summer Reading

What are your reading plans this summer? I thought I’d take a minute to share some professional books about Writing Workshop. I’ve divided my “recommendations” into two categories. New-to-Writing Workshop-Philosophy Primary: About the Authors by Katie Wood Ray and Lisa Cleveland Intermediate: The No-Nonsense Guide to Writing Workshop by Davis and Hill Middle School: In [...]

Stave-off summer reading loss

The folks at Penguin Books recently alerted me to a fantastic new program you should tell your students about if school is still in session.  We Give Books is a website that provides access to books for anyone who has a computer.  If the library is inconvenient to get to and money isn’t there for [...]

A New SOLSC Button

We refurbished our blog (e.g., check out our more user-friendly blog roll) last week.  Therefore, we figured we’d update the Slice of Life Story Challenge Button as well.  Hope you like it!