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Here is where you’ll find all the latest print features from our contributors. If you’d like to browse specifically by grade level, topic, or contributor, you can use the links in the right sidebar.
Latest Content
Poetry Friday in the Computer Lab
Mary Lee Hahn provides a wealth of web resources and practical suggestions for using technology for poetry instruction.
Owning Our Teaching: A Podcast with Vicki Vinton
Vicki Vinton chats with Franki Sibberson about teacher agency, student independence, and the Common Core in this podcast.
Poetry All Year Long
Ann Williams shares how she builds a love of poetry in her fourth-grade classroom all year long.
Evaluating the Literacy Classroom
Jennifer Schwanke remembers the awkward and stressful experience of being evaluated as a young teacher. In her work now as a principal, she’s developed her own criteria for evaluating teachers.
Common Core Booklist: Writing Personal Narratives
Personal narratives are an important part of the Common Core in 4th grade. Franki Sibberson shares a booklist of some of her favorite mentor texts for teaching narratives in the intermediate grades.
Teaching Revision Through Talk, Routines, and Drawing
Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan have some practical advice for using drawing, talk, and routines as ways into understanding writing revision for learners in the primary grades.
Writer’s Launch
How do preschool teachers help their young students seem themselves as writers? Leslie Woodhouse explains how she works with students early in the year, and provides many samples of starting points for three- and four-year-olds.
Informational Snapshot Writing
Heather Rader finds web video is a powerful tool for scaffolding young writers as they produce informational texts.
Staying Child-Centered When You Work with Adults
Andie Cunningham shares challenges and practical strategies for how literacy leaders can stay child-centered.
Teacher Vulnerability
Julie Johnson writes about renewal and staying centered during tough teaching times.
Nourishment: Making Time and Space for Little Joys
We can’t forget the importance of being kind to ourselves. Ruth Ayres explains how small pleasures add up to big delights.
Peer Conferring: The Modeling Phase
Amanda Adrian provides a framework, sample model lesson, and peer conferring guide for students to use as they learn how to respond to their classmates.
Conferring for Conventions (Conventions Series Part 5)
Heather Rader gives examples of convention conferences in this final installment of the conventions series.
Creating Anchor Charts with Multiple Classes
It’s a dilemma many middle school teachers face. How do you construct anchor charts with multiple groups of students, when only one chart will be hung in the room? Katherine Sokolowski explains how she ensures all classes have input and a “clean slate” in constructing charts.
Aligning the Common Core and Conventions Instruction (Conventions Series Part 4)
Heather Rader works with a team of intermediate teachers as they connect their plans for conventions instruction and the Common Core.
Reading as Reward
Principal Jennifer Schwanke finds herself on a mad dash to buy a baked potato for a struggling reader, and this is the moment that crystallizes for her everything that is wrong with most reading rewards (especially those involving food).
Formative Assessment: Wall Displays and Conversations in First Grade
Formative assessments are always a priority in classrooms. Cathy Mere explains how she uses a classroom wall display and conversations to highlight strong writing and help her first graders learn to assess improvements in their work.
The Apple Doesn’t Fall from the Tree: Nurturing Critical Thinking and Choice with Middle School Writers
Katie Baydo-Reed has to try, try, and try again to get high quality writing and thinking from her eighth graders, but the effort builds independence and reflection.
What Anchor Charts Are Essential?
Katherine Sokolowski considers what anchor charts are essential in her fifth-grade classroom, and where they work best for posting.
Ten Things Every Writer Needs to Know: A Podcast with Jeff Anderson
Jeff Anderson shares some insights from his latest book in this new podcast hosted by Franki Sibberson.
Make a Really BIG List
Big lists can be intimidating, especially when our to-do lists are long and never quite finished. Ruth Ayres explains the power of big lists in other contexts, especially writing, and how they might actually provide comfort and security when tackling big projects and ideas.
Ten Classic Ideas That Still Work
Teachers are always on the hunt for something new, even as we cherish what works well year after year. Franki Sibberson lists the activities that have stood the test of time in her classroom.
Between Inquiry and Instruction (Conventions Series Part 3)
Heather Rader works with a team of intermediate teachers as they pore over student work together and analyze which conventions should be taught.
What Matters? Teaching Conventions Series
Heather Rader works with a team of intermediate teachers to ferret out what does and doesn’t work, based on research and experience.
Good News: Your Teacher is Calling
Heather Rader and Jennifer Taft share strategies for positive communication with parents.
Book Memories
Jennifer Schwanke finds connections between her childhood, teaching, and school leadership in this heartwarming essay.
Opening Doors to Parents in Middle School
Gretchen Taylor finds middle school parents enjoy hearing about their child’s day — it’s just a matter of getting creative in dealing with the large number of families.
Concise, Conversational, and Consistent: Explaining the Work of Literacy Coaches
Heather Rader shares the language she uses to describe literacy coaching to others.
Finding a Fit (The Power of Conventions Series)
Heather Rader works with a teaching team as they integrate conventions instruction into their writing workshop.
From Reading to Writing Informational Texts
Aimee Buckner makes some surprising discoveries about what types of texts support writers working in nonfiction genres.
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