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Choice Boards for Writing Workshop
One of the things we love the most about writing workshop is that it builds independence in students. When implemented as intended, writing workshop invites student writers to make choices...
Fresh Starts Podcast
The focus of this week's Big Fresh is fresh starts and setting goals. Stephanie Affinito joins the podcast to talk about coaching visions and menus. Get the Big Fresh delivered...
Digital Reading Podcast
The focus of this week's Big Fresh is digital reading. Get the Big Fresh delivered straight to your inbox (it's free)! Click here for ALL links discussed. Each week Choice...
Writing Work Plans
As writers, we’ve all experienced that moment when intentions for writing don’t produce any actual writing. If we feel the pressure of where to start, what to focus on, or...
Assessing Writers Podcast
The focus of this week's podcast is assessing writers. Enjoy snippets of articles and make sure to check out the links to free articles and helpful links from around...
Cheering On Teachers Through Seasons of Change
Kindness is choosing to acknowledge and celebrate the beauty in others, regardless of whether or not they can find it in themselves. —RAKtivist “I feel like a new teacher!”a veteran...
From a Coaching Vision to a Coaching Menu
I first heard the whispering of literacy coaching back in my very first year of teaching. The gifted and talented teacher worked with a few of my students each week,...
Extending Invitations in Workshop: Ways to Empower Student Choice
“All right, readers, it’s almost time to find your reading spot. Today you might try this work in your reader's notebook. Perhaps you’ll set up a page to study one...
Hidden Gems: Five Ways to Keep Your Positive Vibes
Use your smile to change the world. Don’t let the world change your smile.—Unknown How do you keep yourself so positive in your coaching role? This question has been posed...
Measure for Measure
Measure in love. —Jonathan Larson (from the musical Rent) I remember the first time we took Liam to the pediatrician. After the waiting and the weighing and measuring and prodding...
Leaders Need Coaches Too
I received a Linkedin message from an educational consultant, wondering if I was looking for a leadership coach. “No, I'm already working with someone right now, but thank you.” He...
Digital Reading Strategies
I’ve tiptoed around using digital texts in my classroom, yet I read information digitally all the time—blogs, websites, and tweets. I tend to read more books on my e-reader than...
Online Routines to Create Energetic Reading Communities
A weekly biography exploration, celebrated as Meet Someone New Monday, is filled with reading experiences that my fourth graders and I cherish. Meet Someone New Monday means sharing success stories...
Troubleshooting Difficulties When Writing a Big Idea in Memoir
Looking at a piece of student writing and trying to decide what to teach can feel overwhelming. However, within a genre, predictable difficulties appear. When we teach our sixth-grade memoir...
Rotation of the Classroom Library
Twice a year I change out the clothes in my closet—once at the beginning of fall and the other at the beginning of spring. I rotate seasonal clothes and add...
Assessing Students Online: Small and Powerful Moves
Assessing students as we teach online is tricky, as the hours of kid watching are now unavailable. How do you know where to begin? How do you know which skills...
Honoring Student Identity Podcast
The focus of this week's Big Fresh is honoring student identity. Cathy Mere joins the podcast for a conversation about uplifting student voices and using mentor texts to help kids...
Saying No
Before leaving work, I sat down to review the various meetings I'd attended and the tasks I'd done that day, jotting a few notes and follow-up emails I needed to...
Maintenance as Leadership
Every August, a calendar event reminds me to check for hornets' nests on the playground. I go outside and investigate each slide, swing set, and jungle gym, sometimes kicking equipment...
Belonging in a School Community
Frank Lloyd Wright built houses that grew out of the land where they were located. His homes were of the hill, not on it. He once wrote the following: I...
Honoring Student Identity
It is rare that I take time out from professional reading for books I don’t intend to put in the hands of my sixth graders. Most of the time, if...
