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
November Contract: Family and Memoir
The November installment of Megan Ginther and Holly Mueller’s yearlong literacy contract series has a theme of family and memoir.
Shared Blogging in the Primary Classroom
Shared reading and shared writing are essential instructional techniques in the primary grades. How about shared blogging for teaching children basic blogging skills? Cathy Mere describes how it works.
Kindle Highlights: Conferring with Nicole
If you’ve ever used a Kindle reader, you might be fascinated by the highlighted notes of other readers. Franki Sibberson uses those notes in a conference with Nicole.
Dandelions, Chinese, and Patience with Our Youngest Learners
Kelly Petrin meditates on the importance of trust and patience when looking for ways to connect with preschoolers.
Illustrations in Kindergarten: Conferring with Dalton
Ruth Ayres confers with kindergartner Dalton early in the year, focusing on his illustrations to build storytelling skills.
Finding a Writing Buddy
Beth Lawson helps her fourth graders sort through what makes peer collaboration work during writing buddy time.
Choice, Content, and Format: Understanding How Boys Write
Katherine Sokolowski is dismayed when many of the boys in her fifth-grade class admit they don’t like to write. She explains how she changed her writing program to meet their needs.
Exploring Explanatory Moves Writers Use
Jeff Anderson explores the difference between informational and explanatory writing, and what that might mean for teaching craft moves to students.
Group Conference in First Grade
Katie DiCesare meets with first graders Anna and Brendan to help them learn from each other and prepare to share their rereading strategies with the whole class.
Mentor Texts for “Versus” Stories
Shark vs. Train! Fork vs. Spoon! Versus stories are incredibly popular in writing workshops these days. Cathy Mere found herself struggling to teach narrative conventions to students writing versus tales, so she created a booklist of mentor texts.
Teaching the Genes
Suzy Kaback rethinks the concept of "managed choice" in writing workshops.
Why Write?
Ruth Ayres answers the question of why writing matters for busy teachers who struggle to find time for their own writing notebooks.
October Literacy Contracts: Fear and Conflict
Megan Ginther and Holly Mueller continue their monthly series on using literacy contracts in middle school. The October literacy contracts have a theme of fear and conflict.
Whole-Class Research Planning
Andrea Smith leads her fourth graders through brainstorming for their owl research project.
“We Gather Together”: On Research and Weddings
Ruth Ayres and her colleagues use a marriage analogy to help middle school students and their families understand the research process. The article includes a nifty example of a pamphlet to share with parents.
Limiting and Extending Choice in Student Research Projects
When students are able to pick any research topic, they often will choose something they have already studied extensively. How can teachers allow students to pick topics for research they care passionately about and at the same time ensure there is the potential for rich inquiry? Maria Caplin describes the process she uses in her fifth-grade classroom to help students find and refine research topics for deeper learning.
Keeping Kids Safe on the Internet
Julie Johnson provides helpful tips and a letter for parents to help keep students safe on the Internet.
Finding the “Ex” Factor in Explanatory Writing
Jeff Anderson launches a new series on explanatory writing, a topic of high interest to teachers now because of the Common Core.
Kidwatching and Connections in the Early Days
Cathy Mere finds the early days of school are all about kidwatching and connecting with her first-grade students during reading and writing workshops. She shares some terrific guiding questions that might also help new teachers hone their observation skills.
Writing Leads Minilesson
A writing lead is a door — readers will either want to walk through it or shut it and move on to something else. That's the analogy Karen Terlecky uses in this video of a fifth-grade writing workshop minilesson.
Mentor Texts for Writing Endings
One goal of many primary teachers is to help students finish their drafts with an ending other than “The End” (or “they lived happily ever after”). Katie DiCesare shows her first graders many alternative examples, and she begins early in the year.
Literacy Contracts: Introduction
Megan Ginther and Holly Mueller present Reading Contracts, a system for middle and high school teachers that involves students contracting to complete specific texts and tasks each month.
Using Technology to Connect Young Readers and Writers
Julie Johnson reflects on how technology is changing her own reading community, and builds on this knowledge to connect readers and writers in her classroom with others through the Internet.
Fourth Grade Writing Workshop Minilesson on Focusing
Franki Sibberson shares some tips and strategies with her fourth graders from the web for focusing and organizing their writing.
Building from Strengths: Conferring with Mia
Sean Moore confers with second grader Mia, gently encouraging her to work from her strengths by writing about what she knows well.
Notebooks, Goals, and Writing About Characters in First Grade
Katie DiCesare confers with a group of first graders about their writing notebooks, goals, and drafts about the characters they are studying during reading workshop.
In Defense of Dictation
Leslie Woodhouse finds dictation is a critical tool for understanding young writers and their sense of story.
Rethinking the Assessment Binder
Franki Sibberson’s dilemma? How to file every evaluation so it is organized and accessible (since she never knows when someone might ask for it), while still finding a way to keep the assessments she needs every day at her fingertips.
Daily Routines: Finding Time for What Matters
Ann Marie Corgill provides some guiding questions to help teachers figure out priorities in their schedules for daily routines.
Whole Group Writing Share
Franki Sibberson’s fourth graders use the whole-class writing share time to discuss writing series they are working on (including blog interviews and book reviews), with an eye toward collaborating with classmates.
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