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
Living Words: Integrating Word Study, Technology, and Content Literacy (Part 1)
Living Words is a quick routine from Andrea Smith that helps students see the power of rich vocabulary for describing the natural world around them.
Countdown: Keeping Children at the Center of My Plans for the New Year
Cathy Mere reminds us that the excitement of facing new students is always tempered and enriched by the lessons from last year’s students we carry with us.
Overcoming Slumps: Principles for Student Writers
Clare Landrigan finds she is struggling as a writer and runner. Getting out of both ruts helps her develop three simple principles for working with students in slumps.
Writing Like a Scientist: Launching a Scientist’s Notebook
Andrea Smith explains how she launches a unit on science writing with logs, writing samples from scientists, and mentor texts.
A Coach’s Perspective: No More Flying Pig Prompts
Heather Rader has advice for literacy coaches dealing with teachers who rely too much on writing prompts.
The Over-Prompting of Young Writers
Heather Rader shares strategies teachers at any grade level can use to become more thoughtful and flexible in their use of prompts.
Creating a Model Writing School
Julie Johnson shares the professional development plan and experiences that led to her school's evolution into a model writing school.
Creating a Model Writing School . . . Next Steps
Julie Johnson documents the continuing evolution of her learning community as a model writing school.
Making Book Logs Purposeful for Students
Is the use of reading logs getting a little stale in your classroom? Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan have suggestions for assessing and refreshing the activity.
Letters in the Middle School Classroom
First-year teacher Erin Ocon finds an old-fashioned way to build rapport with some of her struggling middle school students – she writes letters to them. This brief article would be a good reading for a middle school team meeting or new teacher group.
Rethinking a Study of Nonfiction Writing
Franki Sibberson reflects on her nonfiction writing unit, and realizes she emphasizes research skills at the expense of the craft of nonfiction writing.
Preschool Letter Detectives
Andie Cunningham works with three-, and four-year-olds as they become "letter detectives." This activity is a wonderful bridge between children's natural curiosity and the alphabet, suitable for preschoolers or kindergartners.
Inspiration from Author Visits: Tips and Web Resources
Jennifer Jones reflects on the power of a local author visit in her school, and also provides some quick tips and weblinks for planning a visit.
Rethinking Reading at Home
What’s the value of reading at home? Mandy Robek ponders the home/school connection. Download a copy of a rubric to assess the home reading log.
Easing into Assessments During the First Six Weeks of School
Franki Sibberson and Karen Szymusiak have suggestions for integrating observations and assessments of students naturally into reader's workshops during the first six weeks of school.
Conferring with Children: Principles and Procedures
“The Sisters” (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser) share their principles and procedures for conferring in the classroom.
Literacy Builds Community: The Jackdaw Project
"School is not summer camp" – this quote reminds Mandy Robek that there are many challenges to building a strong classroom community in the midst of demands for achievement and accountability early in the year. Her "literacy jackdaw" project is a terrific vehicle for classmates to learn about each other, and hone their listening, speaking, and writing skills in the process.
Animals as Ambassadors: Using Class Pets to Reach an English Language Learner
When a student is struggling, language barriers can make it even harder for teachers to connect. Andrea Smith finds webbing during conferring is an excellent strategy for assisting a young English language learner in her writer's workshop.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Literary Nonfiction: Models for Writing
Literary nonfiction is emerging as a popular genre. In this booklist, Franki Sibberson shares mentor texts for writing literary nonfiction.
Reflecting on the First Six Weeks of Word Study
Franki Sibberson explains how she rethought word study during the first six weeks of school, giving manypractical examples of activities and routines with her intermediate students.
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.
Fifth-Grade Word Study Homework
Karen Terlecky’s fifth-grade students share what they learned from their word study homework.
Old Elm Speaks Conclusion: Connecting Poetry, Observation, and Reading
In this second installment of a three-part video series, Aimee Buckner shows how observation skills, poetry, and reading instruction come together with the mentor text Old Elm Speaks by Kristin O'Connell George. In this final excerpt, students share what they wrote after browsing the book and completing some observations.
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