Teaching Writing
Everyone who writes for Choice Literacy loves teaching writing, because we all write ourselves. We know it is "hard fun," as Donald Murray famously said—exasperating and exhilarating at the same time. The writing workshops you will read about here and see in our videos are busy, noisy, vibrant places. And most days, we wouldn't want to be anywhere else than in the midst of 'em! Here is where you'll find our latest discoveries, insights, and occasional boneheaded mistakes in teaching writing.
Latest Content
Getting to Know Writers: The Writing Process Survey
Dana Murphy continues her series on getting to know writers early in the year. In this installment, she explains how to use a simple six-question survey to help teachers and students explore differences in writing routines and habits.
Getting to Know Writers: Introduction
Dana Murphy writes about the litmus tests we give writing teachers to analyze whether or not they are teaching the "right" way, when we might better serve students by focusing on the six truths of writing.
Last Chance Workshop
Christy Rush-Levine breaks her routine of responding to student writing, and instead calls on students to guide and support peers. She shares some surprising results.
Conferring with Ben: Brainstorming Writing Topics and Genres
Katherine Sokolowski helps fifth grader Ben brainstorm ideas for writing, and in the process encourages him to try a new genre.
“Reinventing Language Every Time You Write” with Ralph Fletcher (PODCAST)
Ralph Fletcher recognizes that many teachers love language and explains how to bring that love of words to young writers.
Writing Models with Kelly Gallagher (PODCAST)
In this podcast, Kelly Gallagher reminds us of the power of the person right next to writers when they are learning the craft.
Tweeting a Favorite Author
Katherine Sokolowski helps one of her fifth-grade students compose a tweet to a favorite author.
Writing for Reflection at the End of the Year
Katherine Sokolowski reflects on ways to extend the learning from an end-of-year activity all the way to the fall.
An Individualized Conventions Checklist
Melanie Meehan finds that a flexible conventions checklist that students develop according to their own needs is the best way to ensure conventions are taught in the context of authentic student work.
Alternatives to Daily Editing as a “Bell-Ringer” Activity
The “daily edit” is a common routine in many classrooms. Shari Frost explains why this may not be an effective way to teach conventions, and offers some alternatives.
Developing Individualized Convention Checklists with Students
Melanie Meehan works with third graders to develop personalized conventions checklists.
The Beauty of Imitation
Jennifer Schwanke explains how concerns about plagiarism can get in the way of recognizing the value of mimicking the styles of other writers to find our own.
Supporting Talk Around Writer’s Craft
Tara Barnett and Kate Mills help young writers move away from seeing editing as “adding more details,” and toward developing more specific language for the revision process.
Strategies for Elaboration in Opinion Writing
Melanie Meehan works with fifth graders who are struggling to elaborate on themes in their opinion writing.
Modeling Nonfiction Writing for English Language Learners: Part 3
Stella Villaba models nonfiction writing for her first- and second-grade English language learners, and in the process integrates vocabulary instruction into her lesson. This is the final video in a three-part series.
Modeling Nonfiction Writing for English Language Learners
Stella Villalba models nonfiction writing for her first- and second-grade English language learners, and in the process integrates vocabulary instruction into her lesson. This is the first video in a three-part series.
From Compliments to Challenges: The Conferring Card
Melanie Meehan uses a conferring card in her writing conference with Cara to ensure she has a record of the strengths and revision possibilities they discussed.
Setting the Stage for Meaningful Peer Feedback
Tara Barnett and Kate Mills develop a scaffold with an index card to help student partners move from agreeable talk to suggestions for revising writing.
Slow Down
Gretchen Schroeder has three strategies for slowing down with her high school students and savoring literacy learning.
Planning and the Tuesday Effect
Mary Lee Hahn realizes how much a workshop approach has changed her planning process and comfort level with the unexpected.
Getting Creative with Writing Celebrations
Celebrations are the pause that refreshes between writing units for many teachers. Melanie Meehan shares suggestions for creative celebrations.
Wonder and React
How do you scaffold students for independent work? Melanie Meehan finds Wonder and React is a great strategy to use with fifth graders during an information writing unit.
Maintaining Momentum As a Writer
Jennifer Richard Jacobson chats with a group of fifth graders about how to generate ideas for writing independently each day.
Time for What Matters
Gretchen Schroeder has only 42 minutes with her high school students each day. She explains how she establishes priorities.
Building Stamina in Middle School Writers
Carly Ullmer finds herself wasting a lot of time because of interruptions during student conferences, so she makes building stamina in her middle school students a priority.
The Intersection of Social Studies and Language Arts
Melanie Meehan writes about how teachers in her state are dealing with the time-crunch issue in social studies instruction by naturally integrating more social studies into the language arts program.
Risk and All
Tom Romano meets with Kacie, a student writing about an experience that shames her. He ponders the importance of facing the darkest parts of our experiences when we write. This is an exclusive excerpt from Tom's new book, Write What Matters.
Exploring the Writing Process
Dana Murphy considers the differences between authentic writing processes and what we teach in schools.
Debating How to Begin Stories
Melanie Meehan shares a minilesson using student writing as a model for experimenting with leads.
Conferring Over “Finished” Writing
Ruth Ayres challenges Grant to add paragraphs to his “finished” piece.
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