Choice Lit Topic: Community Building
It’s one of the big paradoxes of literacy instruction – students best learn how to read and write independently when they have a strong community of support in classrooms. How teachers build those thoughtful, kind, and challenging classroom communities is explained in these resources.
Results
Teacher Resume
In a TED talk, Rita Pierson, a 40 year classroom veteran, spoke to the importance of building relationships with students. She described a colleague who once stated that she was...
Conferring with Ben
Franki Sibberson confers with Ben, a fourth-grade writer trying to figure out the best audience for his writing when technology presents many options.
The Cure for Senioritis? Poetry!
Teaching seniors at the end of the year is always a challenge. The other day, I actually heard one student say to another, “Why would I bother learning anything now?”...
Staying Connected with Students All Summer Long
To say the last days of school are my favorite days would be a bit of a stretch. It's not the crazy end of year events, the incredible buzz of...
Conferring with Pierce
Franki Sibberson confers with Pierce, and in this three minute conference tackles audience, integrating visuals with blog posts, and teaching new skills to others.
Football Field Writing
Several years ago, I stumbled across high school teacher Jim Burke’s blog and a post titled Teaching at the 18-Yard Line. Jim describes an exercise in visualization about the future...
Madness, the Spring Slump, and High School Readers
I have worked hard over the past ten years to create a culture of reading in my 11th and 12th grade English classes. From book passes to book talks to...
The Lunch Lady and Gender in Reading
Franki Sibberson's students read a blog post together, and then talk about books for boys and girls. You can click here to read the original blog post from Jarrett J....
Slice of Life: Challenging Student Writers
In November of 2011 I began my blog. It was something I had thought about for quite some time, but I was nervous to take the leap. Yet once I...
Every Picture Tells a Story
My house is decorated with a hodgepodge of artifacts, memorabilia, and photos that transport friends and family to different times and places. Gazing at photos and reliving these experiences is...
Tips for Effective Family Communication from “The Mouse”
As a mother of a now five-and-a-half-year old, I’ve had many firsts with my son, Jordan. The calendar of his first year chronicles his first bath, his first word, his...
Family Literacy Night
The pursuit of home-school connections never ends for educators. As a principal, I make mention of literacy in virtually every monthly newsletter I send home. In fact, this is a...
Hindsight: What I Wish I’d Known Before My School Burned Down
As trite as it sounds, you never think it is going to happen to you, until it does and then hindsight is just that -- a lot of "wish I...
March Book Madness
During the month of March, like many people in the United States, I am consumed by college basketball. In my opinion the NCAA Basketball Championship is the greatest thing in...
Science Challenge
Franki Sibberson's fourth-grade students share results from the weekly science challenge.
Getting More from Wonderopolis
Franki Sibberson uses Wonderopolis with her 4th grade students, helping them learn to research and dig more deeply at the site.
Supporting the Transition to Middle School: An Elementary Teacher’s Perspective
As the month of May rolls around and our state testing is completed, my focus shifts to our district’s required database for my fifth graders as they transition to three...
What Information Is Good Information? Smooth and Effective Transitions to Middle School
With each passing year, I accumulate larger piles of data about my incoming middle schoolers: spelling inventory scores, Developmental Reading Assessment scores, state test scores, and district diagnostic scores. Yet...
Kindergarten Moments Count: Question of the Day
One of the struggles I feel as I try to make every moment count in my kindergarten classroom is the pull between incorporating the scripted reading program and using best...
The Truth About Building a Writing Community in Middle School
I teach four sections of English Language Arts to seventh and eighth graders. Early in the school year, I set out to create a community of writers. I wanted my...
Building a Reading Community with Edmodo
Several years back I had the joy of hearing Donalyn Miller speak. At some point during the session she talked about teaching students how to be independent readers. She said,...
