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Stop Paying in Quarters: Changing Thinking and Practice
In my drive to La Porte, Indiana, for a writing retreat, I was prepared for the interstate tolls. Sitting on the seat next to me was a small pile of...
Advice for a New Coach
We have a new instructional coach in our office this year. Four of us share the space, and three of us have been working in classrooms for a few years....
Professional Development with 10 for 10
Each year we join an event that celebrates books. The Picture Book 10 for 10 event is hosted twice a year by Choice Literacy contributors Cathy Mere and Mandy Robek....
Celebrate the Process
It’s time to celebrate. Excitement is buzzing through the air. First-grade writers are standing proudly by their informational chapter books, pointing out important information for their audience. Parents and other...
The Failures of a Doughnut
A good doughnut can do a lot of things. Good things. It can improve a lousy mood, take care of a craving, or jump-start a great day. What can’t doughnuts...
Parent Bulletin Board
At a recent meeting with one of the principals I work with, she described how she wants to use some of the bulletin board space in her front hallway to...
Creating a Culture of Book Love
Readers are made, not born. Few students spring out of the ground fully formed as readers. They need help, and we cannot assume that they will get it from home,...
Using Paired Texts with Beginning Readers
“Have you seen my cat?” read Chloe, a kindergartner, purposefully pointing to each word as she read it. “Wow!” said Bridget, Chloe’s surprised teacher. “How did you know what that...
Recess of the Mind
At the beginning of each school year, I ask parents to complete a learning survey about their incoming fifth grader. One of the questions I ask is "What academic area...
No More Strong Girls?
“Why does every heroine have to be a Katniss?" asked Laini Taylor, author of Strange the Dreamer. “Aren’t there other ways for girls to be worthy role models without shooting...
Branding Blogs (Part 3)
I entered many a school year optimistically, with renewed hopes that this would be the year student blogging would be productive and present long-term opportunities for students to have an...
Branding Blogs (Part 2)
In the first installment of this series, I wrote about my students using blogs as open-ended writing platforms and how I learned about more focused, “branded” blogs. In this installment,...
Parent in a Foreign Land
For students who are new to the English language, nothing comes easily: they have to work hard to figure out a new language, new customs, new foods, new friendships, and...
Environment and English Language Learners
A child walks into my class and says in Spanish, “Ms. Villalba, can I just come into your room and put my head down? I’m tired." Meet William, a fifth-grade...
Teaching Students at Their Own Level
My husband and I both play tennis. He is better than I am. In fact, the first time we ever played, we played a set, and I did not win...
Making Standards Work for You
Like anything adopted wholesale in education, I approach the Common Core State Standards with trepidation. Yes, the expectations for what is to be learned at the end of each grade...
Learning Targets
For me, one of the most frustrating things about teaching is when I give a great lesson, or one that I think is great, and then none of the work...
Assessing Our Impact
Our students have heaps of data about their learning progress: screener scores, benchmarks, quizzes and tests, teachers’ anecdotal records, grades, and portfolio assessments. These results offer a bevy of information...
Creating a Strategy Tool Kit
During the years I have spent as a writing coordinator and coach of writing teachers, I have developed several instructional tools and strategies that work across grades and genres. I...
PD Playlist
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. —Plato This summer we attended literacy conferences in Boston and Michigan....
The Craft of Blogging
Blogging is one of my favorite hobbies. Mary Lee Hahn and I have blogged at A Year of Reading for more than a decade. If you read the blog, you...
