Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.
—Anton Chekhov
Work the Words
I used to think writing well was a talent—and some people had it, and others did not. You either were lucky and could make words dance or you weren’t. There wasn’t anything you could do to change your talent; it was just the way the stars were aligned when you were born.
Everything changed on a Saturday in September of the year I had my first teaching job. I went to a workshop with Katie Wood Ray. I didn’t know who Katie was; I was there because my mentor teacher registered me and said she’d take me out for lunch. She also said I would get a free book.
The book was purple, which made me love it right off the bat. I rubbed my palm over the cover of Wondrous Words by Katie Wood Ray. Then Katie took the stage, and I loved her right off the bat, not just because she was the author of the book I held, but because she told a story about learning to embrace her naturally curly hair.
I was convinced we were soul sisters.
Throughout the day, Katie made a case for teaching writers how to craft their writing. Then she handed out copies of Scarecrow by Cynthia Rylant to everyone in the room. There were hundreds of us. “Turn to the first page and follow along,” Katie said. Then she recited Scarecrow from memory.
I was moved by the beauty of the words.
Katie asked us to share with someone near us the striking parts of the text. She didn’t define striking, but I knew what she meant. I marked nearly every page with writing I found interesting.
“Now,” Katie said, gathering our attention, “shift your conversation to how Cynthia Rylant created striking language.”
I looked at the text again and in that moment everything shifted. I saw the way she used alliteration and series of three. I noticed the way she used character description and manipulated the mood.
“Craft is working the language,” Katie announced to the room. I realized that just like my middle school students learned to work dance moves, they could learn to work craft moves. It is not happenstance or talent, but an intentional and strategic decision to make the words work to create a meaningful message.
This week we focus on craft moves—plus more, as always.
Shine on,
Ruth Ayres
Editor in Chief
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Christy Rush-Levine finds her middle school students need more support and scaffolds to understand authors’ craft in graphic novels.
Mary Helen Gensch explains how to find craft lessons in beloved children’s books. She uses a mentor text with an engaging main character to describe the process.
Penny Kittle shares a lesson plan that uses very short mentor texts to foster students’ love of writing and confidence in their work.
Are you looking to engage with a community of instructional influencers? Join me on LinkedIn to continue conversations from the Big Fresh and connect with other educators who are just as smart and funny as you are.
Writer’s notebooks are important tools for writers. This field experience showcases how elementary teachers use notebooks with young students.
New members-only content is added each week to the Choice Literacy website. If you’re not yet a member, click here to explore membership options.
Stella Villalba noticed her students were so busy writing quickly, they were not paying attention to crafting language. A student, Gabriela, turns to a book and asks for help to make her writing sound like the book. Stella uses this moment to slow down the class and create space to be inspired to write in beautiful ways.
Julie Cox deconstructs craft moves—literally and figuratively—with her high school writers. If you are looking to move conversations about craft beyond “The author used a lot of good details,” then you’ll want to try Julie’s suggestions.
In this video, Bitsy Parks leads a writing share early in the year, presenting three student examples of writing and highlighting different aspects of writer’s craft linked to minilessons.
Craft Moves for Elementary Students is a field experience course that invites us to consider a handful of craft moves to teach young writers in minilessons, conferences, and share sessions.
New members-only content is added each week to the Choice Literacy website. If you’re not yet a member, click here to explore membership options.
As a traveling coach, Mary Brower was overwhelmed by the number of things she was carrying. One day when the load felt too big, she heard joy spilling out of a classroom. Stopping to look into the classroom led to a powerful connection with a teacher…and a realization about what a coach really needs to carry.
In this PD2Go, Ruth Ayres confers with second grader Max about the story of his lost dog, and uses a mentor text to demonstrate the power of two-page spreads.
Brian Sepe offers a protocol and downloadable tool for teachers and coaches to research student writers. It is good for the soul to bear witness to the good that students bring to the classroom.
Quote It:
The joy of leadership is seeing others achieve more than they thought they were capable of.
—Simon Sinek
That’s all for this week!
