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Anchoring Language
By learning you will teach, by teaching you will learn. Latin Proverb This spring I walked back into my classroom after being out the day before at a professional...
The Weird Wonders of Genius Hour
My version of backward design is not for the faint of heart. When I planned to give my students an hour a week that we would call Genius Hour, the...
Time for English Language Learners
I am conferring with Bryant, an English language learner, about his reading. “Bryant, how do you think your retelling went the first time you tried?" Bryant is silent. I know...
Repertoire: A Coach’s Perspective
In my writer’s notebook, I keep a list of words I love. One of my favorites is repertoire. I love spelling it. I love the way it sounds. And I...
Keeping Note Taking Fresh for Students
In grades three and up, our teachers and students use notebooks to record their thinking. They use these notes to track characters, ask questions, make inferences, track a theme, and...
Creating Flash Continuums
It is part of my work to guide teams of teachers to create standards-based learning continuums. A continuum is a way to generate a common understanding of a selected standard...
Listening and Storytelling
Every spring I spend a few months working with a group of new teachers. And every spring, the image of a bridge returns to me. This mental picture of a...
Questioning Questions: Rethinking Prompts for Reading Conferences
Reading conferences are an important part of the teacher’s work during independent reading. The conversations we have with students during this time are meant to provide us with valuable information...
Provoking Young Readers
Since attending a Teachers College workshop a few years ago, Shanna Schwartz's suggestion to be provocative with young opinion writers has stuck with me. When one of our second-grade teachers...
Book Clubs Then and Now: Change Is the Constant
I am a book club junkie. I believe that the desire to get together and talk about books is a natural offshoot of being a reader. I belong to two...
Feed Forward
Feedback is a word that teachers commonly use. I thought I had a clear understanding of the term. We provide our students with feedback on their reading habits, writing, and...
Sorting with “Kinds of”: Technique Minilessons
When my oldest daughter, Hannah, was in kindergarten, she attempted to put together creative outfits. Although always unique, they often failed to be pleasing to the eye. By contrast, Stephanie,...
What I Know for Sure: Reflection and Core Beliefs
Last summer, I read this tiny book by Oprah Winfrey called What I Know for Sure. As she writes in the first chapter, she reflects on all the lessons she...
Shifting to Student-Centered Coaching
During my first two years in my position as writing coordinator, a large percentage of my work involved developing curriculum and assessments. My coaching work was mainly for new teachers...
Digital Literacy Workshop
Pencil vs. typing. Writer’s notebook vs. Word document. Paper book vs. Kindle. Realizing it is not about the pencil, app, or an Internet address is the first step in transitioning...
Worth the Investment
Building classroom community and supporting students as they work out their conflicts with each other is hard work. With today’s pressures in education, opting for quick, teacher-directed consequences and rewards...
Words with Friends
Walking quietly among my preschoolers, I pause to listen to their words flowing around me. I hear children using words they have learned to negotiate play (“Tony, now it is...
Planning for a Year of Professional Development
As a literacy leader, I set up opportunities for staff to interact and learn together. As I look ahead to the upcoming year and professional development for the district, I...
Brain and Movement Breaks for Teachers
Have you ever been facilitating a professional development session and looked out in the crowd to find signs of inattention? Teachers checking their cell phones. Table members engaging in side...
Setting Goals During Mini-Celebrations
Last week, I spent some time working in one of our second-grade classrooms. As part of a unit on writing about reading, they are developing opinions around the books that...
Connecting Literacy and Math (PODCAST)
Kassia Omohundro Wedekind is the author of Math Exchanges: Guiding Young Mathematicians in Small Group Meetings. In this podcast with Franki Sibberson, she talks about the connections between reading, writing...
