Latest Content
May’s Menu

Maria Caplin gives her students a range of options for closing out a year of literacy learning in style.

Strategies for Elaboration in Opinion Writing

Melanie Meehan works with fifth graders who are struggling to elaborate on themes in their opinion writing.

Weaving in Poetry

Gigi McAllister shares suggestions for infusing poetry throughout classrooms and the literacy curriculum all year long.

The Case for the Sonnet

Gretchen Schroeder makes a case for teaching the sonnet to teenagers in the age of texts and Twitter.

Message from Old Crow

The end of winter is upon us! Shirl McPhillips celebrates with a poem about an old crow and reflections on revising poems over time.

Character Traits Through Word Sorts

Melanie Swider finds word sorts are a great way to help intermediate students master new vocabulary for describing character traits.

Building Word Learning Routines

Cathy Mere shares tried-and-true strategies for word learning with struggling young learners.

Vocabulary Instruction: Where to Start?

Gretchen Schroeder looks for new ways to help high school students learn words.

Holding a Dictionary

Jennifer Schwanke finds dictionaries (the real, not virtual, variety) are still a potent tool for teaching new vocabulary to children.

Learning Vocabulary in Context with English Language Learners

Stella Villalba explores why it is so important to teach vocabulary to English language learners in context.

Tests of Time

This vivid new poem from Shirley McPhillips, explores the disconnect between exams and life.

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.

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


Membership Options

Loading...