Storytelling

One of the ways Martha Horn suggests launching workshop is to spend a significant amount of time steeping the workshop in storytelling. In fact, she suggests every child tell a story aloud to the entire class. She shares this approach along with Mary Ellen Giacobbe in their book Talking, Drawing, Writing (Stenhouse, 2007). She also [...]

Words that are Speaking to Me

What we call little things are merely the causes of great things; they are the beginning, the embryo, and it is the point of departure which, generally speaking, decides the whole future of an existence. One single black speck may be the beginning of a gangrene, of a storm, of a revolution. – Amiel, Henri [...]

Just Listen. Just Listen. Just Listen.

These two words cycle through my mind every, oh I don’t know, maybe, every five seconds during writing workshop (and other times of the day, but I’ll keep focused on being a teacher of writers). Just listen. Just listen. Just listen. It’s a mantra that I’m trying to program into myself. I’ve been saying these [...]

Technology Articles from The NY Times

There are two articles that have been published in The New York Times in the past week that are worth reading if you teach or have young children. (1)  A Silicon Valley School That Doesn’t Compute By MATT RICHTEL Published: October 22, 2011 The Waldorf School’s computer-free environment has become a draw for parents at [...]

Differentiation – Pilates & Writing Series: Part 2 of 5

If you do a Google image search for a “Teaser Pilates,” hundreds of photos will come back to you.  Many of the photos are of a person sitting on a Pilates mat with their arms and legs reaching diagonally into the air.  Some of the photos are of a person sitting on a piece of [...]

Twitter Tips

A few days ago Linda Baie asked me to share some ideas for using Twitter. I remember thinking the same thing. Remember the reason I started tweeting in the first place? I wanted to learn a new genre. What I didn’t know I would find was incredible professional development and relationships with a variety of [...]

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Tech Workshop — Cool Things Before the Presentation

My friend June Yazel and I are putting together a workshop called: Tackling Technology in a Writer’s World. We are planning two different versions, one for elementary teachers and another for content area secondary teachers. Although similar, the secondary version will focus more on research and informational writing while the elementary version will focus more [...]

From the Book Stack

Dear America The Second Diary of Abigail Jane Stewart: Cannons at Dawn by Kristiana Gregory (Scholastic, 2011) is in Hannah’s book stack. It takes place during the Revolutionary War, which is one of Hannah’s favorite time periods. “This is the best book I’ve ever read,” Hannah said one night (after bedtime) when she came trotting [...]

New Thinking About Mentor Texts + a Giveaway

I was recently offered a position as an adjunct professor starting in 2012.  I will be teaching a graduate course about using children’s literature to teach writing.  As I prepare to teach this course, one of the things I have to think about are the professional texts I will require my students to read, as [...]

Modifications – Pilates & Writing Series: Part 1 of 5

I began working with one-on-one with a Pilates instructor in August 2008, just 15 months after I had an artificial cervical disk replacement in my neck.  In an effort to regain the strength I lost as a result of the surgery I was told to try Pilates (since physical therapy alone wasn’t cutting it).  At [...]

From the Book Stack

One of the features I’ve been wanting to add is something called From the Book Stack, highlighting the stacks of books around my house. One of the reasons I’ve wanted to do this is because we have a lot of different kinds of readers around our house, so I thought it would be a great [...]

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It Feels Good…

It was one of those days where writing workshop just felt good. Here’s a little recap of the highlights. First thing this morning, I implemented the things I’m learning from Martha Horn from listening to her speak and from reading her book, Talking, Drawing, Writing, which she wrote with Mary Ellen Giacobbe. Writing workshop was [...]

I Will Come Back For You Giveaway Winner

Many thanks to Schwartz & Wade Books for hosting a giveaway of Marisabina Russo’s new book I Will Come Back for You: A Family in Hiding During World War II.  If you missed the original post, then click here to read more about how you can use this book as a mentor text in your [...]

Nananana!

Imagine me gloating because I spent the day learning about our youngest writers with Martha Horn. Check out the day on my Twitter feed.

750 Words

Bonnie wrote about 750 Words in one of her Slice of Life Story Challenge posts over the summer.  I immediately signed up and got excited about writing (essentially) three pages every day.  I did well, but then I had to go out of town for a speaking engagement.  The hotel had internet, but my computer [...]

Drafting

If you are a regular reader, you know a lot of my thinking lately has been about writing process, and specifically nudging third grade writers into more traditional drafts. Today’s post is a collection of my thoughts about drafting. I hope it is applicable to a range of writers — not a specific grade level. [...]

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Writing Process in Action

A few posts ago I shared my evolving thoughts about the writing process. Last week I was able to put my thinking to the test. In third grade, kids were getting ready to move from notebooks to drafts. It was a little bit of a painful process because I was breaking the news to them [...]

An Edge of the Seat Mentor Text + a Book Giveaway

As an observant Jew, I will observe Yom Kippur, which begins today at sundown.  The Days of Awe, which is a ten day period that begins with Rosh Hashanah and ends with Yom Kippur, is a time for introspection, where Jews think about the year that has passed, make amends for sins they’ve committed, and [...]

Lessons from Apple’s Visionary

There are three tech tools I acquired when I was in the classroom that changed the way I taught.  The first is a document camera, which allowed me to write “live” in front of my students.  The second item is an LCD projector because longtime readers of this blog might remember that a 26” television [...]

Another Good Quote

I have a great post to share with you, but it’s late. (Tonight was high school boys’ soccer sectional for our hometown team. We are big soccer fans, so the post is going to have to wait.) Instead I’d like to share a favorite slide from a presentation about reflective practice that I’m giving tomorrow.

Choice Words Giveaway Recipient

Many thanks to Stenhouse Publishers for donating a copy of Choice Words to one of the people who read and commented on the post that included an interview with Peter H. Johnston.

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