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
Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan on Getting the Most Out of Grade-Level Team Meetings (PODCAST)
In this podcast, Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan, the founders of Teachers for Teachers, talk with Franki Sibberson about how to link grade level team meetings with student achievement, and build stronger teaching communities at the same time.
Ready for Guided Reading? A Second Look
Shari Frost updates her original essay on guided reading with her latest thinking and criteria for placing students in guided reading groups.
High School Students Take on a Reader’s Bill of Rights
Ellie Gilbert revisits the “rights of readers” with her high school students,revising the list based on their habits and preferences. The discussion leads to some surprising additions to the list of rights. This would be a fun activity to close out the school year, or to begin a summer program with children of almost any age.
Caught in the Middle: Tween Books to Excite Readers
What does research tell us about tween readers and capturing their interest in books? Teri Lesesne’s tween booklist integrates the research with recent publications sure to interest young readers.
A Class with More Boys Than Girls
Heather Rader coaches a teacher who considers her boy/girl ratio and how it may be affecting students' understanding of directions and time on task.
Math Journals
Julie Johnson rekindles her love affair with math when she incorporates journals and sees her students become more adept at organizing and explaining their thinking.
Writers, Choice and Independence (Part II)
In this second installment of a two-part series, Aimee Buckner writes about the value of open choice writing units.
What’s Good for the Goslings is Good for the Geese: Parallels Between Scaffolding Student Learning and Scaffolding Staff Development
Terry Thompson considers the concept of “scaffolding” for both student learning and professional development.
New Books to Celebrate Poetry
Franki Sibberson shares some of her favorite new poetry collections in an annotated booklist.
Classroom Gifts from Carlos: Helping Young Students Learn Academic Language and Routines
It can be especially difficult for young children from impoverished homes to understand academic language and the demands of school. Andie Cunningham observes the sophisticated ways a preschool teacher helps her students adapt with invitational language.
Grammar Insecurity: Coaching Editing
By the intermediate grades, many students are fluent writers, but they still need a tremendous amount of help with conventions. Heather Rader writes about how teachers' insecurities about their own skills can get in the way of instruction. She also provides some practical tips for assessing and teaching grammar based on emerging student needs.
Using Jackdaws to Build Community in Kindergarten
Mandy Robek gives us the how-to as she revises a community-building project to make it a better fit for Kindergarten students.
Refining the Weekly Class Newsletter
Andrea Smith uses the school-to-home communication tool to give her writers an authentic process and audience.
Off the Dance Floor and Onto the Balcony: Getting the Big Picture in Schools
In the day-to-day triage of our schools and the sense of urgency that pushes us to always be accountable for every minute of the day, it is understandable that we tend to forget to pause to think about our larger goals. No one wants to “waste time.” This activity helps everyone keep the big picture in mind.
Language in the Classroom: Using a Recorder as a Teaching Resource
Ruth Shagoury provides tips and strategies for analyzing language in the classroom.
Coaching for the Test
Two teachers are disappointed in student assessment results, but they have very different approaches to tackling the problem. Heather Rader shares her role as a mentor in assisting her colleagues.
Ways to Collaborate With Your School Librarian
Teachers and school librarians would often love to collaborate more, but time is limited. After working for years as both a classroom teacher and school librarian, Franki Sibberson writes from experience as she shares practical suggestions for collaborating with school librarians.
Planning Small Groups to Teach Phonetic Skills
The gap between a child learning a phonetic rule and actually being able to apply it is one that often vexes teachers. Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan find systematic planning and routines for focused small-group work help many of their colleagues succeed in their phonics instruction.
On Compassion
You’re a sucky teacher!” How would you respond if a student hurled those words at you? Katie Baydo-Reed shares a deeply honest and personal account of the year early in her career when she developed a corrosive relationship with her students, and what she learned from the experience about compassion.
Photovoice: Exploring Content Literacy with Images
As Suzy Kaback explores the question “How does your expertise function?” she explains the power of Photovoice and details its use in K-12 classrooms.
Updating Reading Interviews: Technology and Changing Habits
Reading Interviews are a staple in many literacy programs – a terrific tool for learning more about the history and habits of students. Franki Sibberson explains how she has updated her reading interview to include questions about digital resources and tools.
5 Easy Steps to Becoming Active in the Blog Community
If you are beginning to involve yourself more in online networks, you might enjoy these suggestions from Mary Lee Hahn and Franki Sibberson.
The Amazing School Librarian: An Interview with John Schumacher (PODCAST)
Franki Sibberson interviews extraordinary school librarian and blogger John Schumacher in an inspiring podcast that will get you thinking in new ways about school librarians and their role in your learning community.
Lady With the Yellow Umbrella
In this poem, Shirl McPhillips writes about "learning better how to live" while finding peace and purpose in the midst of adversity.
Books Struggling Readers Can and Will Want to Read: Building the Classroom Library
Sammy is an avid reader in the classroom, but his teacher Cathy Mere notices he “accidentally” is always leaving the backpack with his intervention books behind. The challenge for classroom teachers is stocking books with titles that will interest Sammy, but still provide enough challenge and support to move him forward as a reader.
Common Core Conversations: The Half ‘n’ Half Shift for Nonfiction Reading and Writing
Colleagues and coaches, Amanda Adrian and Heather Rader, explore the upcoming shifts in English Language Arts and anticipate what it will mean for leaders, teachers and most importantly, students.
Not That Into Me
If you're a literacy coach, those teachers who don't want to work with you can make you feel like the wallflower at the prom or the last kid picked for the basketball team. Heather Rader has positive, proactive suggestions for making the best of an awkward situation.
Tuesday Trades: A New Literacy Ritual in My Classroom
Tuesday Trades are a terrific way to increase peer book recommendations. Andrea Smith created this new weekly activity with her intermediate students, building on existing workshop routines.
Books, Books, Books
Parents of young children may be drawn to text tied to movies or other pop culture filler books. Trish Prentice shares a letter she sends home to families to encourage even the youngest learners to find books and authors with a little more staying power.
Great Lead Investigators
Katie Doherty turns her middle school students into lead investigators – an activity that is a terrific combination of mentor texts, group work, and connections to student writing.
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