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Hanging Out, Messing Around, Geeking Out (or, how to give students the resources, space, and time for self-directed literacy learning)
[R]ather than assuming that education is primarily about preparing for jobs and careers, what would it mean to think of education as a process of guiding kids' participation in public...
The Choice Literacy Book Club Discusses Enduring Freedom
Enjoy listening as the Choice Literacy Book Club discusses Enduring Freedom by Jawad Arash and Trent Reedy. This year the Choice Literacy Book Club was formed. You will find a book talk...
Expanding Book Choices for Secondary Readers
I once met a 16-year-old star quarterback who loved Nicholas Sparks books. In the early days of the school year, as I was getting to know students as readers, I...
A Case for Graphic Novels as “Real” Reading
At the beginning of the school year, I send home a classroom library permission slip to open dialogue between school and home before putting books in students’ hands. I ask...
How the Influences of Reggio Emilia’s Teaching Approach Still Affect My Practice
I started my teaching career more than two decades ago at the American School in Paraguay, where I taught preschool in a bilingual setting. Our pedagogy was based on the...
Building Connections Beyond the Classroom Walls Podcast
The focus of this week's podcast is building connections beyond the classroom walls. Cathy Mere and Ruth Ayres join the conversation. Click here for ALL links discussed. Each week Choice...
When the Best Coaching Is Offering Advice
A dialogue is a meeting of the minds, two or more people sharing ideas with each other. It is not a dialogue if I withhold my ideas, and it is...
Creating a Community of Care: Beyond the Classroom Walls
Dear Ms. Villalba, My class is having a lunch picnic next Thursday. Can you come and join us? Love, M Every time I get a note like this, my heart...
The Classroom Library: Building Bridges
Brandon was twice as tall as he was when he first stepped into my classroom all those years ago. It was a nice surprise to see him. Every once in...
Fueling Creativity Podcast
The focus of this week's podcast is fueling creativity. Heather Fisher and Ruth Ayres join the conversation. Click here for ALL links discussed. Each week Choice Literacy shares the Big...
Secondary Readers Podcast
The focus of this week's podcast is secondary readers. Leigh Anne Eck and Ruth Ayres join the conversation. Click here for ALL links discussed. Each week Choice Literacy shares the...
Assessing Readers Podcast
The focus of this week's podcast is assessing readers. Cathy Mere and Ruth Ayres join the conversation. Click here for ALL links discussed. Each week Choice Literacy shares the Big...
How to Use Students’ Reading Logs as a Formative Literacy Assessment
During an instructional walk in a third-grade classroom, all the students were reading independently. The teacher, conferring with one of her students, got up and started to come my way...
Reading Quiz
As a first-year teacher sifting through the file cabinets full of materials left from the previous teacher, I found a lot of reading quizzes and tests. I’m sure you know...
The Choice Literacy Book Club Discusses So You Want to Be an Owl
Enjoy listening as the Choice Literacy Book Club discusses So You Want to Be an Owl by Jane Porter and Maddie Frost. This year the Choice Literacy Book Club was formed....
Bite-Sized PD
As an instructional coach, I sometimes worry how I’m going to continue to meaningfully share the aspects of new resources to support our frameworks. Recently we've been learning to add...
Books to Fuel Creativity and Imagination
It is only heavy because you are deciding over and over again to carry it. Embrace change, loosen up your sense of identity, let yourself walk a new path. You...
Five Phrases That Should Be at the Top of Every Writer’s First Draft
See it. Feel it. Hear it. Taste it. Smell it. This is it. This is what Patti McNair, memoirist and writing teacher, recommends to her students to place at the...
See Your Students
Nerd Camp 2019 featured a widely acclaimed author, Jason Reynolds. He delighted the participants with a story about his childhood. He told us about an event called a “Go-Go” that...
Three Books that Changed How I Teach and Think About Reading
My school is going through a renovation. Although most of my supplies were boxed up and moved to storage in the building, one set of items I brought home from...
Learning to Notice and Analyze Complexities
If I had to choose one word to encapsulate the Advanced Placement Literature course, it would be complexity. This word shows up in almost every prompt: Analyze the complexity of...
