Library
Choice Literacy Articles & Videos
The Choice Literacy library contains over 3,000 articles and 900 videos from 150+ contributors. Classic Classroom and Literacy Leadership subscribers have access to the entire library. Content is updated continuously, with five to six new features published each week.
Latest Content
Short Units, Big Messages
Those "in-between" writers in grades 3 and 4 present special challenges to teachers. Some are fluent and versatile, writing page after page of drafts. Other students struggle to craft even a sentence. Franki Sibberson explains how short texts and brief genre units can help intermediate writers with a wide range of abilities.
Root Metaphors for Teaching: Learning from Our Passions
Ruth Shagoury finds her passion for bread baking leads to rethinking how she differentiates instruction for students. Her colleagues then come up with their own metaphors in the study group activity.
Tight Spaces Part I: Maximizing Room for Literacy Learning (PHOTO ESSAY)
The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser) have some ingenious tips for freeing up traffic paths and clustering literacy work areas.
Wall Displays (PHOTO ESSAY)
The Sisters (Joan Moser and Gail Boushey) contribute a photo essay on design tips for wall displays.
Forming Teams to Help Struggling Readers:A Pilot Project (TEMPLATES)
Andrea Smith shares observation strategies used within a teaching team. The article includes templates developed by the group.
The Rolling Pin: Looking into Things
Celebrating simple, ordinary things – it’s what poetry and learning are all about.
I Believe . . . Some Thoughts on Marathons and Sustained Professional Development in Schools
Jennifer Allen runs her first marathon, and finds the good, bad, ugly, and ultimately inspiring experience is a great metaphor for professional development design that endures.
Connecting Language and Hope: A Study Group Activity
The teaching profession needs an abundance of hope. In this creative study group activity, Andie Cunningham helps young teachers connect language and hope through art.
To Fart or Not to Fart? Reflections on Boy Writers
"To Fart or Not to Fart?" was the question at the first meeting of Jennifer Allen's boys' literacy study group for teachers, and what followed was a rollicking discussion of writing, taste, and books that hook boys.
Staying True to Our Beliefs When Working With Struggling Readers and Writers in Grades 3-6
Franki Sibberson writes about the challenges of holding true to our beliefs in working with struggling readers, and shares the questions she asks herself as a way of self-monitoring her teaching with strugglers.
Assessing Spelling in Writing Workshop Part 3: Embedding Instruction
In the last installment of this three-part series, Katie DiCesare shows how she translates the findings from individual students into instructional plans when she uses a spelling assessment in her 1st grade classroom.
Tight Spaces Part II: Design Photo Essay Series
The Sisters' design tips on tight classroom spaces cover walls and creative storage in this photo essay.
Enhance Your Classroom Poetry Collection
Franki Sibberson shares poetry collections that can do double and triple duty across the curriculum, and are favorites of her grades 3-4 students.
How I Flunked Literacy Leadership 101
Jennifer Jones finds she is still learning on the job as a literacy coach, especially when it comes to building relationships through collaborative teaching. Here she shares a breakdown in communication with a colleague, and how she is working to rebuild the relationship.
Change Quote Collection
If you're looking for some provocative quotes on change, you might enjoy this quote collection from the Choice Literacy Archives.
State Assessment Tests: Warm-Ups for Wandering Minds
Student distraction is a critical issue during assessments. Jennifer Jones provides a series of quick activities to help students focus before state examinations.
Team Sharing of Writing Curriculum Innovations (TEMPLATE)
Ruth Shagoury finds some of the best learning in her study groups comes when participants share the new things they are trying in their classrooms. She develops a nifty one-page notetaking form to help everyone keep track of ideas they want to test out with students.
Helping Classroom Volunteers Become Better Listeners
Helping volunteers understand the importance of listening to young learners is one of Andie Cunningham’s goals. Here she gives tips for preparing volunteers to confer with children.
An Assessment Notebook That Works for Me
After lots of trial and error, Franki Sibberson finally has a format for her assessment notebook that works well.
Cartwheels, Backward Rolls, and Literacy Coaching
Jennifer Allen observes the scaffolds her daughter's gymnastics teacher uses and gradually abandons over time. These observations make her think about how she is gradually releasing new teachers from different kinds of support as they enter their second, third, and fourth years of teaching.
Picture Books About Books: Young Learners and Reading Identity
Katie DiCesare gathers picture books to talk with her first graders about everything from reading identity to the proper care of books in the classroom library.
Helping Aaron Find His Voice as a Writer…and Mine as a Teacher
Erin Ocon tries a new strategy for dealing with a resistant student in her middle school classroom.
Fitness Boot Camp Helps Me Understand Struggling Readers
Franki Sibberson finishes 29th out of 30 participants in her fitness bootcamp mile run. In the process, she learns many lessons about herself and the needs of struggling learners in her classroom.
Discussion Quote Collection
These quotes give you something to talk about if you’re pondering speaking and listening.
Recipe for a Literary Tea
Ruth Shagoury has a recipe for you – a soothing “literary tea” with connections to favorite authors. You can start from her recipe to concoct your own author-themed tea, and we also include links to resources on the web for purchasing the loose tea ingredients.
Rethinking Writing Centers – Winter Follow-Up
Shari Frost questioned the amount of writing going on in many elementary writing centers. She decided to work with a team of literacy coaches and teachers to explore ways to increase writing in classrooms – through better use of centers, or alternative programs. In this follow-up article, Shari presents two different solutions that are working well – one involves introducing writing tools in a more systematic way in centers, and the other is an implementation of a different program entirely for independent work.
Fostering More Curricular Collaboration in Teams: The Meeting Notes Form (TEMPLATE)
Katie Doherty faces daunting challenges as a grade-level team leader in her middle school. A simple notetaking form works wonders in elevating the conversations and collaboration.
Sales Clerks and Literacy Leaders
Franki Sibberson reflects on what makes a perfect salesperson . . .and literacy coach.
Assessing Spelling in Writing Workshops Part 1: Thinking Through the Assessment
Katie DiCesare takes on the challenge of developing a one-page assessment tool to analyze the spelling needs and abilities of each of her 1st graders. This is the first in a series, as Katie takes us through the use of the tool in her workshop.
Nonfiction Books for Independent Reading: Moving Beyond Content Connections (BOOKLIST)
Franki Sibberson explains how she boosted the amount of nonfiction texts her grades 4 and 5 students were choosing for independent reading by focusing more on interest than on content connections.
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