Videos
Here is where you’ll find all the latest videos from our contributors. These videos are all captured in classrooms with crews using multiple cameras during regularly scheduled reading and writing workshops.
Latest Content
Reading Minilesson: Theme
Dana Murphy leads a reading minilesson on theme in fifth grade, explaining how students might think more deeply about themes through characters’ problems.
Planning Writing in Kindergarten
Hayley Whitaker leads a minilesson in kindergarten on how to plan a narrative writing draft.
First Grade Minilesson: Connections
Melissa Atwood leads her first-grade class with a minilesson early in the school year on making connections to text.
Conferring over Motivation and Genre
Christy Rush-Levine confers with Griffin over his reading responses. They consider the differences between dystopian literature and realistic fiction, as well as what motivates characters.
First-Grade Conference: Repeated Phrases in Writing
Bitsy Parks confers with Michael about his gingerbread man writing. She encourages him to use a repeated phrase in the writing, echoing a whole-class lesson on repeated phrases.
Literary Analysis in Eighth Grade: Conferring
Christy Rush-Levine helps Alyssa draft her literary analysis essay.
Fifth-Grade Reading Conference: Previewing
Dana Murphy confers with Krisha over her reading, talking about the value of using a book’s back cover for previewing.
First-Grade Writing Share: Highlighting Craft
Bitsy Parks leads a writing share early in the year, presenting three student examples of writing and highlighting different aspects of writer’s craft linked to minilessons.
Reading Conference: Connections to Home
In this conference in Christy Rush-Levine’s eighth-grade classroom, Jaden is reading a book that mixes math with basketball, an activity he enjoys at home.
Second-Grade Conference: Illustrations and Frames
Ruth Ayres confers with second grader Reagan about writing she is revising for publication about a class trip to the zoo that included her grandmother. Ruth introduces her to the concept of frames in illustrations, using an example from a picture book.
Owl Design Strategy Group Meeting
Andrea Smith meets with a group of fourth-grade girls who are completing designs as part of the owl habitat project.
First Grade ELL Conference: Writing and Pop Culture
Stella Villalba confers with first grade English language learner Eric about his writing on angry birds, with Esmeralda also sharing advice.
Picture Walk Group in Kindergarten
Hayley Whitaker meets with a group of kindergartners and takes them through a picture walk.
Fifth-Grade Group: Understanding Characters
Dana Murphy meets with a group of fifth graders to explore character development in their reading.
First-Grade Guided Group: Reading Practice and Recap
Melissa Atwood leads a first-grade guided reading group. This is the second video in a two-part series.
Minilesson: Revising Writing
Dana Murphy leads a minilesson in fifth grade on revising narrative writing.
First Graded Guided Group: Chunking Words
Melissa Atwood leads a first-grade guided reading group. The focus at the start of the lesson is on chunking words. This is the first video in a two-part series.
Fifth-Grade Vocabulary Group
Dana Murphy meets with a group of fifth graders to work on strategies for understanding unknown words.
Writing Partner Feedback in Fifth Grade
Fifth-grade writers in Franki Sibberson’s classroom encourage each other and suggest revisions to their opinion-writing drafts in partner teams.
Characters, Choices, and Graphic Novels: Eighth-Grade Reading Conference
Christy Rush-Levine confers with Nia over the graphic novel she is reading. They discuss the choices characters make.
30-Second Pair-Share
Sean Moore leads his second graders in a quick pair-share to help everyone reflect on what they learned during independent reading.
Building Conversation Skills in Book Clubs
Fifth graders use a visual tool to help them build on each other’s ideas in book clubs. They are applying a strategy demonstrated in an earlier minilesson taught by Dana Murphy.
Minilesson: Building Conversations in Book Clubs
Dana Murphy leads a minilesson on book club conversations, using a fishbowl strategy and building blocks to support more sophisticated conversations.
Comparing Authors Minilesson
Jen Court uses text sets from three authors to help second graders ferret out different elements of the authors’ styles.
Writing Endings Minilesson in Fifth Grade
A classic anchor text for many teachers is Charlotte’s Web. In this week’s video, Dana Murphy seamlessly integrates a brief excerpt from it into a writing minilesson on endings in her fifth-grade classroom.
Reinforcing Workshop Norms
In this quick video, Dana Murphy shows how she leads her fifth graders with a kinesthetic reminder of workshop norms before beginning independent work.
Fifth-Grade Small Group: Paragraphs
Dana Murphy meets with a group of fifth graders to help students develop paragraphing skills, using a peer’s mentor text.
Conferring to Connect: First-Grade Reading
Bitsy Parks confers with first grader Ella about the Brown and Pearl book series, and then listens to Ella read. She closes the conference by encouraging Ella to make more personal connections to books.
Writing Share Circle in Fifth Grade
Here are some excerpts from a writing share circle in Dana Murphy’s fifth-grade classroom. Each student shares a one- to two-sentence excerpt from the writing they completed during the day’s workshop.
Creating a Realistic Fiction Stack
Katherine Sokolowski confers with a fifth grader who is looking for book recommendations. She creates a stack of realistic fiction books based on the student’s interests.
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