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The Quiet Power of Language and Learning with Art
Last year a group of K-12 teachers and I met weekly to delve into how language informs teaching and learning in our classrooms. In our weekly gatherings, the teachers brought...
Rethinking Nonfiction Topic-Based Text Sets
When I think about text sets, I consider the ways we collect books as teachers to help build background knowledge and understanding around a topic. With text complexity being highlighted...
Making Time for Classroom Visits
“Walk the walk and talk the talk” is a phrase that I have heard again and again as an elementary school principal. At first it may sound kind of cliché,...
Middle School Design: Reading Gutters
Elementary school classrooms are so different from middle school classrooms -- especially the libraries. Elementary teachers have baskets of books with a variety of labels or categories. The covers face...
Tell Me More
I’ll tell anyone who listens that the women who care for my own children are brilliant. Every afternoon, when I slip my shoes off, wash my hands, and step carefully...
No Time for Collaboration
A literacy interventionist, Marnie, double-checked her notes. She had it right. Andy, a fifth grader, was indeed reading Poppy (Avi, 2005). Andy kept calling the main character Bobby instead of...
Rethinking Nonfiction Series Books
Series books have always been an anchor for my readers in grades 3-6. When it comes to fiction, once my students are hooked on a series, they are often set...
Reluctant Teachers and Nonfiction
At a recent workshop, Franki Sibberson asked us to recall our experiences with nonfiction texts as children. I shuddered. My memories of childhood nonfiction are not good ones. I remember...
Rethinking Nonfiction Author Baskets
Last year, my class put together a Symbaloo page highlighting all of our favorite authors. It was a fun project as we reflected on authors we loved. We wanted to...
Explanatory Grammar Moves: Right-Branching Sentences
There is a secret that writers know about grammar: it’s the power of the right-branching sentence. It’s easy to navigate for novice and expert writers alike, and on top of...
Building Foundations
“Hurry up! Faster! You’re almost out of time!” These are the words heard in a recent professional development with K-8 teachers from across my school district. Teachers are building with...
Strength in Assessment: A Professional Development Protocol
Recently I worked with a group of literacy leaders representing a number of different schools and experiences from all across the Portland, Oregon metro area. I knew they held a...
Spelling Cycles: An Alternative to Weekly Spelling Lists
About two years ago I decided to become environmentally conscious. Cutting back on the amount of energy I used led me to commute to school by bicycle. At first I...
Writing Conferences: The Power of Listening
Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. When we listen to people there is an alternating current, and this recharges us so we never get tired of...
Letting Children Lead While Conferring
I love Tuesdays, the day I get to return to work with a special group of third-grade students. I enter the room and see almost all students writing in notebooks...
Mock Newbery Club
Last year I created my first ever Mock Newbery club. I rushed to come up with something in January, and students met with me over lunch one day to talk...
Exploring Winter with Short Texts
December is a short month with lots of interruptions like choir practices and holiday parties, which lead to antsy students. Because of the time limitations, we will focus on shorter...
Curating a Nonfiction Classroom Library
We should be curators of our libraries, not just collectors. Offering students an engaging, diverse classroom library requires more than buying books and putting them on bookshelves . . ....
Better Reading Conferences
Reading conferences. The idea of holding one used to send me into a downward spiral of anxiety. I knew I needed to include them as part of my reading workshop,...
The View from a Principal’s Window
This is the view from my office at 4:00 every day -- a cluster of mothers, acquiescing to their children’s begging, lingers after school while the youngsters stomp and shout...
From Bootcamp to School: Building Enthusiasm for New Initiatives
Leadership is ultimately about the ability to influence others. Richard Dufour and Robert Marzano I joined a new gym. Part of my new exercise regimen is to attend a...
