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
An Organizing Tool for Writing
Ruth Ayres gives fourth grader Allie an organization tool for brainstorming memoir possibilities early in the year.
Candy Memoirs
Gretchen Schroeder ditches the long discussion of rules and procedures with her high school students, and instead gives writing workshop a sweet start.
Launching Writing Workshop: Mentor Texts
Mandy Robek shares her favorite texts for building understanding early in the year of writing workshop with young writers. These books are ideal for launching discussions about how writers find ideas.
Conferring About Illustration in Kindergarten
Ruth Ayres confers with five-year-old Abby about her apple illustration early in the school year.
Kindergarten Moments Count: Morning Message
Keri Archer writes about the importance of morning message for kindergartners.
Final Literacy Contracts: Student-Generated Themes
Megan Ginther and Holly Mueller close out the year with their final literacy contracts. It’s time for students to take ownership of their learning, so they select the themes.
Endings Minilesson with Second Graders
Cathy Laker uses her own writing as a mentor text with her second-grade students to demonstrate options for endings.
Capturing the Elementary Years with Photo Essays
Justin Stygles helps his sixth graders prepare to move to middle school with a photo essay assignment in the last weeks of school.
Conveying Messages with Cover Art
Ruth Ayres confers with fourth grader Braden about the importance of inviting cover art for the book he's written about a vacation.
Nonfiction Graffiti Walls
Katie Doherty uses nonfiction graffiti walls as a tool for building response skills and community with her sixth-grade students.
Writing Interviews: Part 3
Ruth Shagoury’s end-of-year writing interviews finish with questions about change and the teacher’s influence on writing.
Writing Interviews: Part 2
Ruth Shagoury’s end of year writing interviews with sixth graders continue with questions about writing strengths and weaknesses.
Writing Interviews: Part 1
Ruth Shagoury interviews sixth graders about their writing at the end of the year. This is the first video in a three-part series.
End-of-Year Literacy Interviews
Ruth Shagoury explains why year-end interviews are so valuable, and includes questions to use in your interviews.
Getting Started with Blogging in Fifth Grade
Katherine Sokolowski presents some strategies from her fifth-grade classroom for launching student blogs.
Manipulating Time: Fourth-Grade Writing Minilesson
Tony Keefer uses his writing as a mentor text in this fourth-grade minilesson on manipulating time in personal narratives.
Visiting the Doctor: Conferring with Alexis
Ruth Ayres confers with first grader Alexis about her visit to the doctor for a shot. The conference focuses on illustrations and labeling.
Brave Noah
Ruth Ayres tells the story of Noah, a brave first grader with a hard home life who has few happily ever afters as a writer.
Expanding the Literacy Classroom with Flipped Minilessons
Katharine Hale tries some flipped minilessons in her fifth-grade classroom and explains how technology is providing new opportunities for student learning.
Poemfields
Shirl McPhillips captures beautifully the “hard knuckle” of the end of winter and the slow turn to spring in a new poem and reflection.
Simplifying Word Study
Max Brand has suggestions for simplifying word study.
March Literacy Contracts: Nonfiction Curiosities
This month’s literacy contract for middle school students focuses on nonfiction texts and growing independence in the classroom.
Drama and Two-Page Spreads: Conferring with Max
Ruth Ayres confers with second grader Max about the drama of losing his dog, and the value of using two-page spreads to tell a story.
The Pause That Refreshes: Write When the Conversation Gets Hot
When’s the best time for some spontaneous opinion writing? Suzy Kaback argues it’s when class conversations get hot.
So You Think You Can Combine Sentences? You Can!
Heather Rader concludes her series on sentence combining with a four-step process to help teachers explore the sentence combining craft on their own.
Writing Fiction: More Than Just a Walk in the Park
Is there room for fiction writing in middle schools in the age of the Common Core? Katie Baydo-Reed shares eight compelling reasons why fiction writing is still essential in her eighth-grade classroom.
Sentence Combining in Workshops
Heather Rader has strategies for using sentence combining in literacy workshops.
A Tool Worth Exploring: Sentence Combining
Heather Rader begins a new series on sentence combining, an alternative to traditional drill and kill grammar instruction.
Deeper Writing: The Story Behind the Selfie
Gretchen Taylor taps into a cultural phenomenon with her seventh-grade writers to help them deepen their writing and reflection.
“Article of the Week” Activity in Fourth Grade
Tony Keefer finds that the article-of-the-week activity (adapted from Kelly Gallagher's work) is a good way to integrate short shared texts into his fourth-grade literacy workshop.
Browse Content By
Type
Category
- Assessment Tools
- Big Fresh Archives
- Booklists
- Choice Numeracy
- Classroom Design
- Common Core
- Community Building
- Conferring
- Content Literacy
- Digital Literacy
- English Language Learners
- Equity
- Family Relations
- Free Samples
- Guiding Groups
- Leadership
- Literacy Coaches
- Mentor Texts
- Minilessons
- New Teacher Mentors
- Podcasts
- Poetry
- Quote Collections
- Reading Strategies
- Self Care
- Struggling and Striving Learners
- Talking and Listening
- Teacher Study Groups
- Teaching Reading
- Teaching Writing
- Word Study and Vocabulary
Author
- Melissa Quimby
- Nawal Qarooni
- Gwen Blumberg
- Julie Cox
- The Lead Learners
- Hannah Tills
- Josie Stewart
- Ruth Metcalfe
- Mallory Messenger
- Becca Burk
- Jodie Bailey
- Vivian Chen
- Mary Brower
- Stephanie Affinito
- Ruth Ayres
- Leigh Anne Eck
- Heather Fisher
- Shari Frost
- Julie Johnson
- Suzy Kaback
- Gigi McAllister
- Shirl McPhillips
- Melanie Meehan
- Cathy Mere
- Debbie Miller
- Tara Barnett and Kate Mills
- Tammy Mulligan
- Dana Murphy
- Bitsy Parks
- David Pittman
- Brenda Power
- Heather Rader
- Matt Renwick
- Mandy Robek
- Christy Rush-Levine
- Gretchen Schroeder
- Jen Schwanke
- Brian Sepe
- Katherine Sokolowski
- Stella Villalba
- Jennifer Vincent
Grade Level
Choice Literacy Membership
Articles
Get full access to all Choice Literacy article content
Videos
Get full access to all Choice Literacy video content
Courses
Access Choice Literacy course curriculum and training
