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Observations and Test Preparation
Christopher Carlson takes on the role of observer and researcher to analyze his students' needs when it comes to test-taking skills, and enlists students in the process of reflecting on his data to implement new test-taking strategies.
Student Self-Assessment Strategies
Melanie Meehan works with fifth graders to help them create their own set of indicators of success in a writing unit.
Read Alouds and Standards
Maria Caplin explains how read alouds do double duty in her fifth-grade classroom, as they help build a love for story and help students master key literacy and content area standards.
Setting the Stage for Meaningful Peer Feedback
Tara Barnett and Kate Mills develop a scaffold with an index card to help student partners move from agreeable talk to suggestions for revising writing.
What’s a Great Workshop Day?
Mary Lee Hahn considers how the success of any day has to integrate observations from conferring, lessons, and share sessions.
Shared Reading in the Digital Age
Shari Frost finds that shared reading routines are easier to implement now because of tech tools.
SITO: Self-Imposed Time-Out
Christy Rush-Levine takes an oddly shaped unused nook in her classroom and turns it into a charming space where students can choose to take a quiet break with a “Self-Imposed Time-Out” (SITO).
Slow Down
Gretchen Schroeder has three strategies for slowing down with her high school students and savoring literacy learning.
Planning and the Tuesday Effect
Mary Lee Hahn realizes how much a workshop approach has changed her planning process and comfort level with the unexpected.
Getting Creative with Writing Celebrations
Celebrations are the pause that refreshes between writing units for many teachers. Melanie Meehan shares suggestions for creative celebrations.
The Compliment Conference
Katrina Edwards confers with Camilla, a struggling reader. She is a child who has no confidence in herself. The Compliment Conference is a way to acknowledge and build upon Camilla’s strengths, and boost her self-esteem at the same time.
Wonder and React
How do you scaffold students for independent work? Melanie Meehan finds Wonder and React is a great strategy to use with fifth graders during an information writing unit.
Growing Toward Independence
Cathy Mere shares what to look for and what to try next with young learners who are easily distracted and struggling to concentrate during independent reading.
Time for What Matters
Gretchen Schroeder has only 42 minutes with her high school students each day. She explains how she establishes priorities.
Building Stamina in Middle School Writers
Carly Ullmer finds herself wasting a lot of time because of interruptions during student conferences, so she makes building stamina in her middle school students a priority.
Extended Inquiry with Article of the Week
Gretchen Schroeder finds the article of the week activity is an excellent vehicle for learning about content literacy gaps in student background knowledge and how to fill them.
“Giving Ourselves Hard Problems”: Rethinking Math Workshop
Mary Lee Hahn rethinks her math workshop structure to more closely align with the choice and problem solving in her reading and writing workshops.
The Intersection of Social Studies and Language Arts
Melanie Meehan writes about how teachers in her state are dealing with the time-crunch issue in social studies instruction by naturally integrating more social studies into the language arts program.
Risk and All
Tom Romano meets with Kacie, a student writing about an experience that shames her. He ponders the importance of facing the darkest parts of our experiences when we write. This is an exclusive excerpt from Tom's new book, Write What Matters.
Exploring the Writing Process
Dana Murphy considers the differences between authentic writing processes and what we teach in schools.
Debating How to Begin Stories
Melanie Meehan shares a minilesson using student writing as a model for experimenting with leads.
Modifications for English Language Learners
Stella Villalba shares some modifications that can help English language learners demonstrate skills and knowledge.
Knowing Ami: Silent Communication with an English Language Learner
Katie DiCesare finds patience and observation are the keys to helping a first-grade English language learner who is in the silent period.
Teaching Inference Through Picture Books
Katherine Sokolowski explains why picture books are useful for teaching inference to intermediate students, and shares some of her favorites.
Getting Mentor Texts in Students’ Hands
Jillian Heise discovers that her students need more access to the mentor texts she reads aloud, so she develops strategies to get them to students.
Mentor Texts and Memoir Writing
Gretchen Schroeder finds one mentor text has many uses as her high school students explore memoir writing.
What I Learned About Teaching Writing from My Trainer
Jodi Mahoney applies principles from one process to another in comparing writing and working out with a trainer.
Jumping into Just-Right Apps
We spend a lot of time in elementary classrooms matching students to “just-right” books. Katrina Edwards uses similar principles to help her first-grade students pick just-right apps. The essay includes a downloadable chart of appropriate literacy apps for young learners.
Tech Anchor Charts
A daunting task for teachers is to help students learn to use new tech tools, as well as understand community standards for each one. Katherine Sokolowski finds tech anchor charts are a great way to provide ongoing support to students as they navigate new software and apps.
Student Writing, Filters, and Social Media
Ruth Ayres explains why filtering is one of the most important concepts writers need to understand in this social media age, and she shares a simple lesson and chart for teaching students how filtering works.
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