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Morning Message 4: Application and Differentiation
The scene playing out around the morning message as students trickle in is a familiar one. “Try it, Kento! See this? Say /g/, /l/… like that. You try it.” Naomi...
Morning Message 3: Word Study and Conventions
One day last week as we gathered to read the morning message, hands waved and eager voices jumped right in. “I see the!” “Me too—and in!” “What does that big...
Quiet Coaching
For the last couple of months, I have been meeting periodically with a friend. He is going through a job change: transitioning to a career in land management. When he...
Morning Message 2: Routine and Community
Stop by my room any morning and you’ll see the same thing. Students trickle in from the bus and the car line, some stopping at the cafeteria for breakfast, others...
Step Into Poetry: Building a Poetry-Conscious Classroom
Poetry has been a part of my life since I was a little girl listening to my mother and father recite poetry. I loved the sound of the words and...
Ways to Celebrate National Poetry Month
Poetry is something that has grown on me over the years. In high school, I didn’t get much exposure to it beyond a poem or two that I might have...
Misreading Body Language
While facilitating a conversation with school administrators about next steps with their district’s professional learning plan, I kept catching one of the school leaders smiling as we talked. This smile...
Make and Take…With a Twist: Incorporating Research and Play with Preparing Materials
“Check this out!” my son excitedly shared with me after school one day. “My friend taught me how to shoot a basketball today during recess.” He proceeded to jump off...
Weaving Words Throughout the School Year
Some words feel wonderful in your mouth: benevolent, pashmina, Constantinople. They roll right off one’s tongue and into one’s imagination. Words hold meaning and are the building blocks of all...
Empowering Students Through Thinking Routines
A quote I return to time and time again comes from Dr. Seuss’ Hooray for Diffendoofer Day. In a motivational speech to her students as they prepare to take an...
Morning Message Series: When and How
There is magic in the old and magic in the new. The trick is to successfully combine the two. —Adrienne Posey “There is magic in the old…” That’s why I...
Developing Reader Identities: It Is More Than Magic
It was the last Monday of kindergarten…You can imagine the level of exhaustion I was feeling as I did lunch count and attendance for the 171st time that year. (And...
Using Drama Games to Approach Difficult Conversations
Let’s be frank: Talking about race and racism in the classroom can be scary. As a white teacher, I have at times felt that I wasn’t qualified enough to teach...
Big, Loud, and Slow: Six Strategies for Better Public Speaking
The first thing I noticed when I woke up on March 1, 2023, was that I wasn't able to articulate what I wanted to say. It was like the left...
Connecting the Dots
Standing in the entrance of the baseball dugout, I watched the young T-ball players chasing each other around in circles while simultaneously jumping on and off the team bench. Volunteering...
You’re Not There—Yet!
We have to cultivate a culture in which brave work, tough conversations, and whole hearts are the expectation. —Brene Brown You’re not there… yet! We throw this term around with...
When They’re Hard to Teach
Nathan sits down at the table and begins to read from his collection of familiar texts. He’s strategic. He grabs the easiest books he can from his pile. As we...
Visual Data for Literacy
It was two weeks before our winter data review, and my grade-level PLCs were beginning to prepare for these meetings with a new set of data. Given that our teaching...
When Reading Practices Drift
I spend much of my summer at my sister’s pool. It is my way of rejuvenating and making time to focus on myself after a long school year. One of...
Kintsugi
On the first day of a summer graduate class on equity and engagement, the professor handed each of us a beautiful china bowl. Then she shocked us all by telling...
Reclaiming Our Time
I recently worked with some incredibly thoughtful fifth-grade teachers who were studying their reading instruction. They knew they wanted students to have more time to read, and, more specifically, read...
