Be a writer. It matters.

Today I met with a teacher who said these words to me: I don’t like writing. I really don’t like writing. Give me math all day long every day and I’m happy, but don’t make me write. I appreciated her candidness. I love it when teachers are honest with me and I’m always humbled that [...]

SOLSC

Letting Them Teach Me

I’m sorry, I just realized I missed a blog post last Wednesday. Yes, I know it’s been nearly a week, but the truth is I just realized it. Oops. So on to the post… I am so excited to be in a third grade writing workshop. A colleague has agreed to let me experiment a [...]

Giveaway Winners for Leslie Patricelli Books

Thanks to everybody who entered Be Quiet, Mike and Leslie Patricellie Board Book Three-Pack Giveaways.  Candlewick Press will be sending the following books to the following people who left comments on the Boss Baby Post.  (If you missed the interview with Leslie Patricelli, then click here to read it.) Be Quiet, Mike! goes to Kristy [...]

GUEST BLOG POST: Weaving the “Slice of Life” Routine into Writing Workshop

Tara Smith teaches writing workshop, Language Arts and Social Studies to sixth graders at a middle school in suburban New Jersey.  Before she was a teacher, she was an editor first at the Cloverdale Press and then at Macmillan.  She blogs at “A Teaching Life” (at  http://tmsteach.blogspot.com/) and continues to slice away at Two Writing [...]

Interactive Charts

Taking Kristi Mraz‘s chart-making course at the July Writing Institute was so helpful to me.  Kristi really got me thinking about having a take away item (made with a post-it note) that you can hand to kids if they need a reminder to do something.  In addition, she encouraged the use of illustrations on charts.  [...]

Chartchums

Kristi Mraz, one of my instructors from this past summer’s Writing Institute at Teachers College, and Marjorie Martinelli just started a blog called Chartchums: Creative Classroom Charts.  I’ve reviewed the first few posts on the blog and I’m certain it is going to be an incredible resource for workshop teachers who want to ensure that [...]

SOLSC

What do you think?

I often write to figure out things. This is typically scrawled in a notebook that no one but me sees. I follow winding trails of thoughts, capture snippets, and try to come to deeper understandings. I tell you this as part of a disclaimer. Usually I go to those notebooks before blogging about something that [...]

Getting the Room Ready

I miss having a classroom of my own at this time of the year.  There’s something about putting up fadeless paper and borders, getting supplies ready, preparing the meeting area, and labeling books with students’ names that I truly miss.  Even though I’m fortunate to be working with a group of K-5 teachers this-coming week, [...]

GUEST BLOG POST: Starting The Year As Writers

Linda Baie just moved from the classroom after 20 years of teaching gifted students in an independent progressive school in Denver, Colorado.  She is starting her second year as the school’s literacy coach, helping teachers in varied positions at the school with their goals in literacy.  Always passionate about empowering students as writers and readers, [...]

An Interview with Leslie Patricelli + Giveaways

About a month or two after my daughter was born, I posted several status updates on my Facebook page complaining about the quality of the board books we had.  They were too short, with few if any words, and didn’t hold my attention.  I know board books serve a legitimate purpose in a baby’s literacy [...]

Loving the Tough Ones

Today I was reminded of the importance of education. At the start of a new school year there is always a lot of talk about the dynamics of a classroom. How many kids in your class? How many girls? How many boys? Any siblings of previous students? And then there are more sobering stats. Like [...]

SOLSC

Be You

Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else. ~ Judy Garland Today is my first day of the new school year. I like this first day. I like starting the school year by being in the same room as all of the educators in my district. I like that [...]

GUEST BLOG POST: Self-Advocacy Begins with Reflection

Angela Stockman is the founder of the WNY Young Writers’ Studio, a community where teachers and young people come together to discover what good writing is, how to create it, and how to inspire others to do the same. Studio is a place where all teachers write and all young writers teach. Middle and high [...]

More Read Alouds

I fell in love with Oliver Jeffers’ work when I came across THE INCREDIBLE BOOK EATING BOY. So it is no surprise that I was drawn to the whimsical illustrations in UP AND DOWN. When I read the book the story did not disappoint. It is a story of adventure and friendship and in the end [...]

Friendship Books

As I’m getting ready to say hello to a new school year, I’ve been thinking about books I would love to share with students early in the year. The rest of the week I’ll be sharing some new titles I’ve come across recently. Tonight I’d like to share two books about friendship with sweet twists. [...]

Slice of Life Tuesday

Empowering Independence

One of the things I think most about this time of year is how can I empower students to be (more) independent in writing workshop.  What do I mean be independent? This is a crucial vision for us to develop as we head into a new school year. For a moment let’s suspend reality. Let’s [...]

GUEST BLOG POST: Growing as Writers through an Author Study

Stella Villalba teaches English as a Second Language at Beechwood Elementary in Columbus, Ohio. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, she started her career in education teaching ESL in Asuncion, Paraguay. Stella also publishes articles on the topic of teaching ELLs at Choice Literacy and is a teacher consultant for the Columbus Area Writing Project. Stella [...]

Are plan boxes worth it?

This past Tuesday I spoke at the 8th Annual Pennsylvania Writing Institute, which is held at Millersville University.  Since school begins at the end of August here (in Pennsylvania), I spent a great deal of time talking about routines so my audience could spend some time reflecting on their existing classroom routines and consider implementing [...]

How do you make writers feel welcomed?

This time of year thoughts about creating a safe and inviting classroom fill our minds. This is one of  my favorite things to think about. Today I shifted the question slightly and began thinking about writers specifically. How can we make writers feel welcomed? Here are some ideas I’m tossing around. More importantly, I can’t [...]

SOLSC

WFMAD (Write Fifteen Minutes a Day Challenge)

Last year I joined the WFMAD challenge hosted by Laurie Halse Anderson. You know Laurie Halse Anderson, right? No matter what level of students you work with she writes books that you would be interested in reading (if you haven’t already). Young Adult: Speak. Wintergirls. Twisted. Prom. Catalyst. Historical Thrillers: Chains. Forge. Fiction for Young [...]