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The Importance of Audience
“I don’t really use Twitter, because I don’t know who my audience is.” A group of teachers was sitting around the table finishing breakfast when the conversation arose around the...
Branding Blogs (Part 1)
For many years I have used Kidblog, a student-friendly blogging platform, with my students. As we launched our first weeks of writing workshop, September and October always felt like fertile...
Top 10 Conferring Tips
“Everyone has a Top 10 list,” Sam said at dinner. “Mine would be Top 10 Things to Recycle on a Train Layout.” Sam went on to explain that you think...
Student-Led Conferences from Many Perspectives
In Ohio, teaching third grade has become particularly challenging, as it is sometimes difficult not to be consumed with test scores and test results. We have an Ohio law called...
Engagement in Writing Workshops
Last week, I participated in instructional rounds with three second-grade teachers, and the hosting teacher was interested to know how much on-task writing behavior was exhibited when she was conferring...
Random Poetry
“I can’t write poetry.” “I don’t get poetry.” “Poetry isn’t for me.” I hear students making these kinds of blanket statements about poetry all the time. Why are students (and...
The Stories We Tell Ourselves
In a quest to better myself as a literacy learner and leader, I recently enrolled in a doctoral-level literacy course at a local university. The instructor was kind enough to...
Not Just in April: Poetry All Year Long
One of the most important life lessons that writing and reading poetry can teach our students is to help them reach into their well of feelings—their emotional lives—like no other...
Poetry Through Song
As a student, I had no use for poetry. Beyond Shel Silverstein, which required no effort to understand, poetry felt elusive and fuzzy to me. When a teacher would announce...
The Importance of Their Words
Just yesterday, I sat down next to a second-grade boy during his writing workshop. He and his classmates were working their way through their opinion unit, and he was managing...
Share, Learn, Grow: The PD Bulletin Board
A friend of mine opened a restaurant several years ago, and I remember him telling us how hard it was to wait for people to discover it. He knew he...
Bad Days in Workshops
This spring I had an observation scheduled by my assistant principal, Gabe Hoover, as part of our teacher evaluation process. I had asked him to come in during writing workshop...
Getting Books into the Hands of Teachers
Schools are very busy places, and classroom teachers have exceptionally long “to-do” lists. With everything on their plates, they may not have enough time to search the book room or...
Playful Texts for Beginning Readers
Easy as ABC? Child’s play? Not for some kids. For kids who find learning to read difficult, it is critical that we give them the most engaging books that we...
An Identity of Success
In the first few days of school, I overheard teachers, fingers hovering over electronic tablets, warning students who weren’t standing quietly enough in line that they would be losing points...
Literacy Specialists and Case Studies
There are always a few students who puzzle even the most seasoned reading specialists. Even though these specialists carry a large bag of tricks, they don’t always know exactly what...
Loving Books or Reading?
Here are two questions: Do you love books? or Do you love reading? If you like reading, you probably like books. However, consider this: Can you like books and not...
Building Effective Literacy Teams
When our kids were little, I don’t know where I would have been without my husband. I can’t imagine having to make tough parenting decisions alone. We both brought different...
Bridging the Gap Between Intervention and the Classroom
It was November, and our first intervention cycle was ending. Teachers had just finished giving their second reading benchmark assessment, and a meeting to go over the data with each...
Toward More Meaningful Extension Activities
The Chanukah party was in full swing. Candles were burning. Dreidels were spinning. People were munching on latkes. Kids were ripping wrapping paper off of gifts. I stepped away from...
Teaching Punctuation with Poetry
During our Summer Writing Academy, 40 students who enjoy writing and four teachers who love teaching writing came together for five days of poetry. During those days no one talked...
