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Choice Literacy Articles & Videos
The Choice Literacy library contains over 3,000 articles and 900 videos from 150+ contributors. Classic Classroom and Literacy Leadership subscribers have access to the entire library. Content is updated continuously, with 5 – 6 new features published each week.
Latest Content
August 7, 2020 Slow Down to Be Kind
We look at building kindness and community in this week’s newsletter.
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.
Routines for Building Gratitude
Bitsy Parks finds even the dreariest days in her first-grade classroom are infinitely more enjoyable because she’s built in routines for expressing gratitude.
Management and Middle School Workshops
Christy Rush-Levine lowers the tension level in her class over management issues by moving from irritation to curiosity, using her “inner chimpanzee” voice.
July 31, 2020 The Importance of Routines
We look at routines and structures for learning in this week’s newsletter.
Lessons and Minilessons: What’s the Difference?
What’s the difference between a lesson and a minilesson? Christy Rush-Levine finds that flexibility is just as important as length in making minilessons work well.
Planning Writing in Kindergarten
Hayley Whitaker leads a minilesson in kindergarten on how to plan a narrative writing draft.
Varying Workshop Structures to Meet Student Needs
Tara Barnett and Kate Mills give guidance and support for varying the structures and routines in literacy workshops.
July 24, 2020 Christmas in July
We look at ways to learn student names and honor their history early in the year in this week’s newsletter.
First Grade Minilesson: Connections
Melissa Atwood leads her first-grade class with a minilesson early in the school year on making connections to text.
Picture Books for Persona Poems
Gretchen Schroeder uses picture books to help her high school students understand and write persona poems.
Call Me by My Name
Suzy Kaback reminds us that the language we use to talk about challenging students shapes our perceptions of them. That’s why she has moved to calling students “small teachers.”
July 17, 2020 Walking Tours
We look at ways to teach realistic and historical fiction in this week’s newsletter.
Sparking Ideas for Realistic Fiction
Tara Barnett and Kate Mills explain how they use examples from YA authors of how to mine everyday life for powerful ideas. They then help students move from ideas to blurbs as they start their realistic fiction drafts.
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.
Building Interest Through Artifacts
Mark Levine has many students who haven’t traveled much more than 100 miles from home. He makes history come to life for them by bringing artifacts into his middle school classroom.
Historical Fiction Background Folders
Tara Smith finds that students in book clubs reading historical fiction are often confused because they lack background knowledge. Her solution is to create background folders that include key documents to support the history in the texts.
July 10, 2020 When Your Glasses Fall Into the Lake
We look at ways to reinforce learning after minilessons in this week’s newsletter.
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.
Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Accountability for Young Writers
Stella Villalba teaches young writers about writer’s craft. So how come evidence of learning from the minilessons isn’t showing up when she confers with her students? She decides to develop a plan to help students link craft lessons with their writing.
Balancing Conferences and Small Groups
Balancing small groups and conferences is essential for transferring learning from lessons and units, and it’s one of the trickiest tasks for teachers. Dana Murphy explains how she works toward balance in her classroom, weighing everything from the timeline of the unit to the intensity of the minilesson.
June 5, 2020 My Son
We help teachers move from teaching retelling to theme in this week’s newsletter.
Literary Analysis in Eighth Grade: Conferring
Christy Rush-Levine helps Alyssa draft her literary analysis essay.
Navigating the Interpretation Process
Tammy Mulligan shares how she introduces students to the process of interpreting literature at different grade and developmental levels.
Student Ownership of Literary Analysis
Christy Rush-Levine shares the strategies she uses to help her middle school students take ownership of their literary analysis essays.
May 29, 2020 Missing Hallways
We consider ways to boost summer learning in this week’s newsletter.
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.
Getting Students in the Learning Zone
The zone of proximal development (or ZPD) is the sweet spot for learning—just enough challenge with just enough support to take on the challenge. Melanie Meehan shares how teachers can create scaffolds in their classrooms that help students find their own ZPDs.
Pausing for Renewal Throughout the Day
Stella Villalba shares three strategies teachers and literacy coaches can use to pause, re-center, and renew themselves throughout busy stressful days in schools.
May 22, 2020 Write Now
We look at writer’s craft in this week’s newsletter.
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