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Eight Tips for Building Relationships: A Tale of Two Literacy Coaches
I stopped by Monroe School to see the literacy coach, Kate, before the school day began. I was in her office for about five minutes when second-grade teacher Leah burst...
Better Discussions in Study Groups
To be able to ask a question clearly is two-thirds of the way to getting it answered. John Ruskin Our study groups just finished reading and discussing When Writing Workshop...
Teaching Economics with Children’s Literature
When I began teaching, I taught my first seven years at an alternative public school. A focus for our school was to use children's literature across the curriculum to help...
Time Quote Collection
To do two things at once is to do neither. Publius Syrus There is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most...
Reflecting on Student Work in Staff Meetings (TEMPLATE)
Over the last four years our teaching staff has included reflecting on student work as a part of our staff meetings. To be honest, we struggled for probably three of...
Overcoming Tears and Fears: Developing Criteria for Flexible Groups
It was a rainy Friday morning and time to clean up and share after what I thought felt like a productive writing workshop. My students slowly began to tuck away...
Wide Open Spaces: Learning from “Not-Just-Right” Books
Every mother can relate to this maternal wisdom: The car is a perfect place for insightful conversations with your child. When my seven year old waits to share exciting news,...
Moving from Data to Practice
Data is now being used by many different constituencies and for many different reasons. Districts are reporting data to state or federal agencies to meet grant requirements; school committees who...
The Draw-a-Reader Test: Informal Assessment Supporting Teacher Inquiry
My department was trying to fill a position in science education and we were interviewing a candidate who had worked extensively with inner-city youth to support their interest in and...
Tips for Saving Time from Literacy Leaders
From many tasks accomplished, we asked our Choice Literacy contributors to share just one -- the way they were able to save time this year. What follows is a compilation...
Easing into Assessments During the First Six Weeks of School
As Lucy Calkins reminds us in The Art of Teaching Reading, "Once you really pull in close to consider children's understandings (and misunderstandings), it quickly becomes clear that 'simply' giving children...
“I Used to . . . Now I”
Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action. Peter F. Drucker I've been thinking about Peter Drucker's advice as I work...
Books that Invite Student Participation
When I taught first grade years ago, my students had a rousing good time with text that invited them to join in. Even before they were actually reading the text,...
Characters We Love (BOOKLIST)
When I think about matching students to books, I want my students to find books for a variety of reasons. I know that finding favorite series and characters are key...
Multicultural Books for Beginning Readers
"Why isn't there an African American Henry and Mudge?" asked a teacher in the audience of a session on multicultural children's literature. I reminded her of a previous slide stating...
Music for Literacy Leaders
It's remarkable what music can do to lift the mood in a professional development workshop, get kids happily moving between activities in a classroom, or spark reflection among colleagues. Once...
Starting the School Year: A Checklist for Literacy Coaches
It occurred to me at the beginning of last year that there are certain tasks I do each fall to organize myself for the work of the upcoming year. Over...
Letting Students Define and Design My 6th Grade Classroom Library
I started out last fall with all my classroom library books organized alphabetically by author. I figured since the libraries do it that way, it would be great practice for...
Making Time for Nonfiction Read Alouds
As an elementary teacher, it is so easy to find great fiction texts to read aloud to students. There are many books to choose from, and I can readily envision...
Literary Nonfiction: Models for Writing
I have never felt as comfortable with nonfiction writing in my elementary classroom as other genres. The products never have much variety. Somehow, students' nonfiction writing always ends up sounding...
Whatever Happened to Mrs. Wishy Washy?
I noticed a basket in an isolated corner of the primary wing in a school. I wondered what was inside of it. When I got close enough to get a...
