Ruth Ayres confers with third grader Jade about the value of collecting ideas in her writer’s notebook, and shares some strategies for organizing the information.
Ruth Ayres confers with third grader Jade about the value of collecting ideas in her writer’s notebook, and shares some strategies for organizing the information.
Ruth Ayres is the editor in chief of the Choice Literacy site and director of The Lead Learners in northern Indiana. She spends her days helping school leaders build skills and confidence as change agents, and encouraging instructional influencers to reflect and refine the art of coaching. Ruth’s background includes work as a middle and high school language arts and science teacher and as a K-12 instructional coach, and writing books, articles, and lots of blog posts. She has written Enticing Hard-to-Reach Writers (Stenhouse, 2017) and many other books. Ruth and her husband, Andy, have four children. When not writing professionally, Ruth collects stories of adoption, faith, and whimsy. You can follow her at Ruth Ayres Writes or on LinkedIn.
Second grade? Third grade? Aimee Buckner breaks down what behaviors to look for if you’re trying to determine when students are ready to move from draft pages or booklets to writers’ notebooks.
Aimee Buckner chats with colleagues about notebooks, and finds herself rethinking what she puts in her notebook (as well as what she requires of students).
Tara Smith finds her sixth graders have years of experience with writer's notebooks by the time they reach her classroom. How to inspire enthusiasm for a familiar tool? Mix old favorite tasks and lessons with fresh texts and tech-savvy options.
Sean Moore shares the importance of using a writer’s notebook to discover topics in this minilesson with his second-grade students from early in the year.
Ruth Ayres confers with kindergartner Dalton early in the year, focusing on his illustrations to build storytelling skills.
Ruth Ayres confers with Ezra about revision — using a mentor text to help him move from reporting to crafting in his writing.