Articles
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
Two Teachers and One Kindergartner
Principal Jennifer Schwanke looks at the challenging issue of retention and the power of teamwork.
Fun in January: A Mock Caldecott Unit
Katherine Sokolowski discovers a seven-day Mock Caldecott unit is a fun way to build a reading community by predicting the winners, and Skyping with another class to share results.
New Year Goals (Part 2)
Choice Literacy contributors share their New Year goals. This is the second installment in a two-part series.
New Year Goals
At the start of the new year, Choice Literacy contributors reflect on their most important goals for January. This is the first installment in a two-part series.
The Writing Process . . . and Processes
Ruth Ayres considers elements of the writing process that are common to all, and which ones vary according to the needs, interests, and quirks of writers.
I Love a Good Argument
As Heather Rader works with teachers and teams on opinion/argumentative writing, she’s considering the anatomy of an argument and engaging ways to teach it.
Word Count
Ruth Ayres finds that keeping a word count is a potent way to increase writing quality over time.
Just Write More
Aimee Buckner has tips for ways to focus lessons that will help students produce more writing.
Happy Holidays from Choice Literacy and Pete the Cat
Wishing you and yours a totally groovy Pete the Cat holiday season.
I Have Two Pictures of Cindy. . .
Melissa Kolb writes about the importance of time and patience in meeting our goals with young learners — in this instance, a child who struggles to speak in her preschool classroom.
Choice and Reading Response
As more intermediate classrooms become departmentalized, grades 4-6 teachers find they are dealing with 80 or more reading response logs instead of 25-30 each week. Katherine Sokolowski tackles the issue of providing personal response to readers and still having time for everything else.
Teaching the Rule of Three to Writers
Aimee Buckner finds that teaching the rule of three to young writers adds variety to student texts.
Eliminating the Conga Line: Teaching Young Children About Strategic Thinking
Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan manage to synthesize workspace cleanup, student independence, and a concrete analogy for strategy work in classrooms.
Hearing Carlos: Helping Young English Language Learners Develop Speaking and Listening Skills
Stella Villalba incorporates more speaking and listening activities into her primary classroom for English language learners.
Writers Inspiring Writers
Melissa Styger invites colleagues and family members into the classroom to share their writing process with students.
Rethinking Mrs. T Letters
Karen Terlecky reconsiders one of her favorite writing assignments.
Interactive Writing and Formative Assessment in Kindergarten
Not content to use assessments designed for older students, Mandy Robek combines interactive writing and formative assessments in her kindergarten classroom.
Teachers’ Night Out: Reclaiming Our Fearlessness
It’s hard to keep your teaching mojo high when standards are grinding you down. Gretchen Taylor is inspired by watching an aerial performer to consider harnesses and fearlessness in a new way.
Peer Conferring: The “Try It On” Phase
Amanda Adrian continues her series on how teachers can scaffold and model peer conferring. In this installment, Amanda uses the fishbowl technique with students.
Literacy in Content Areas: A Podcast with Penny Kittle
Penny Kittle talks with Franki Sibberson about how to help students grow as readers and writers throughout the curriculum.
Poems Facing Art: Ekphrasis
Shirl McPhillips considers ekphrasis (poetry inspired by art) in her own poetry and reflection.
Value-Added: Moving Assessments from “Inflicted” to “Student-Owned”
Gretchen Taylor looks closely at the superficial reading responses of one student, and then uses a mid-year assessment to challenge all of her middle school readers to think, talk, and write more deeply about their reading.
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.
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