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Poetry All Year Long
“Poetry Bands, take your places. It’s time to begin,” I announce to my eager and anxious poets. It is a warm and sunny Thursday morning in early June. Fourth graders...
Evaluating the Literacy Classroom
In my career as an educator, the way teachers are evaluated has changed dramatically. I have a clear memory of my first evaluation. My stomach was clenched in first-year teacher...
Common Core Booklist: Writing Personal Narratives
One emphasis of the The Common Core State Standards in Writing is narrative writing for fourth graders. When looking closely at the standards, students are expected to develop an experience...
Teaching Revision Through Talk, Routines, and Drawing
The Common Core Standards for writing require that students learn the concept of revision from a very young age. When we are working with K-2 students we want them to...
Writer’s Launch
Every year I revisit the same question: Why do children so often begin a home visit or enter my classroom with a need to confess to me all of the...
Informational Snapshot Writing
I never pictured myself as a kindergarten teacher, but what does a first-year teacher do when she receives a call to interview for a kindergarten position? Ta-da! Instant kindergarten teacher....
Staying Child-Centered When You Work with Adults
A hesitation can be a teachable moment. Occasionally my daughter asks me if I miss teaching kindergarten students. My answer is always the same: I pause, gaze off in the...
Teacher Vulnerability
Dear Mrs. Johnson, This has been just a wonderful year of school for Molly. You have reignited her love of learning and I can’t thank you enough for that. This...
Nourishment: Making Time and Space for Little Joys
As I write this, it is early Saturday morning. I’m wrapped in a quilt pieced with pirates and bright fabric that my mom made just for me. Sweet coffee is...
Peer Conferring: The Modeling Phase
Lucy Calkins makes no bones about it: “Research is really clear that even just five minutes of conversation about books ramps up comprehension.” It’s those three words ramps up comprehension...
Conferring for Conventions (Conventions Series Part 5)
Take your age and subtract five. That’s approximately the number of years you’ve been working with conventions in your writing. For me that number is 35. For 35 years I’ve...
Creating Anchor Charts with Multiple Classes
Three years ago my building was moving to a semi-departmentalization concept. Now I would be teaching my own homeroom reading and writing, but I would also teach two additional classes...
Aligning the Common Core and Conventions Instruction (Conventions Series Part 4)
Our group of three intermediate teachers was making clear progress in our plans for convention instruction. Meg, a first-year teacher, was growing in her confidence to notice what was “working...
Reading as Reward
Many years ago, a wise friend advised me, “You should always reward children with what you want them to value.” When we reward a child with candy or toys, it...
Formative Assessment: Wall Displays and Conversations in First Grade
In Peter Johnston’s book, Opening Minds, he tells us, “Formative assessment isn't only the teacher's responsibility. In the end, the community members need to be able to recognize how to...
The Apple Doesn’t Fall from the Tree: Nurturing Critical Thinking and Choice with Middle School Writers
For our first anniversary, my husband gave me a Granny Smith apple tree. He thought he had come up with a unique, thoughtful, appropriate gift with my apple pie baking...
What Anchor Charts Are Essential?
I can recall a time in my teaching that I didn’t use anchor charts. I didn’t see the value of them. How times have changed. Glancing around my room at...
Ten Things Every Writer Needs to Know: A Podcast with Jeff Anderson
In this podcast, Jeff Anderson chats with Franki Sibberson about his latest book, Ten Things Every Writer Needs to Know. A full transcript is available below the player. ...
Make a Really BIG List
When I look through my writer’s notebooks, I notice lists. Some are jotted in the margins; others are written on sticky notes and placed in the notebook. Some are lists...
Ten Classic Ideas That Still Work
I am not one to use the same activities and materials over and over just because they've worked in the past. I don't keep a file cabinet of things I...
Between Inquiry and Instruction (Conventions Series Part 3)
I've been working with a team of intermediate teachers to develop a plan for teaching conventions. It's a small but diverse group, and we've already worked together to find time...
