Choice Lit Topic: Struggling and Striving Learners
It’s hard work, it matters . . . and nothing brings more joy than reaching a child who is struggling. The problem is each of these students presents a unique array of challenges and needs that don’t allow for a uniform approach. Here are the stories from our contributors of their breakthrough moments, one child at a time.
Results
Slow Down to Meet the Needs of All Learners
I've been reading Street Data by Shane Safir and Jamila Dugan, as well as listening to the accompanying podcast. This book and podcast are about gathering and using the kind...
Helping Writers Self-Correct
Let’s face it: We’ve all been there. Finally, we find a quiet evening to sit down with a stack of writing from our students. We make a nice cup of...
Do the Hard Thing
As I prepared to give my graduate students the closing remarks for our first semester together, I found myself in a moment of reflection. When I was sitting in their...
Still Thinking: An Opportunity to Pause and Think Deeply
Critical thinking skills are essential across all subjects and content areas. As we learn additional information, our brains find a way to create a new schema or adapt prior knowledge....
Spoiler Alert: You Can Start Big to Go Small (Macbeth in One Class Period)
As the students walked into the classroom, I greeted them by handing each student a script: a 10-minute version of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The students settled into their seats, and I...
Student Voices First
We have all been learning a lot about identities, meaningful representation, and creating classrooms of inclusion. I love this work, and it has opened up a world of ideas and...
Routines That Normalize Mistakes
Lawrence slunk down in his seat, staring at his notebook. The rim of his eyes welled with just the faintest pooling of tears, and his knuckles gave away the telltale...
Renewing Energy in the Classroom
Have you ever thought about a word that you know well, yet you'd struggle to articulate an actual definition of it if asked? I recently had this experience with the...
Engaging Kids in Reading Intervention
I had a lot of fears moving from the classroom into the role of reading interventionist. I didn’t sleep very well after accepting the position as interventionist because my fears...
Questions to Ask When Reading the Morning Message
It is morning meeting, and I watch several children avoid looking at the morning message plastered on the screen. Their lack of engagement quickly reminds me of how Covid disrupted...
Reading Specialists Can Change the Narrative
When I started working with Trevor in reading support during his first year, he was significantly behind his peers. Though most of his classmates were on the path to learning...
What Matters More
We have a Little Free Library in our front yard that I received as a gift from my husband many years ago. We love it and our neighbors love it....
Learning Joy
I was scurrying around to a few students whom I had a hunch would benefit from a few books I'd selected—high interest but also decodable—from my “little” library. I slid...
Planning for Virtual Literacy Intervention
If there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that nothing is for sure. At least, not during a pandemic. Early on, I found myself scrambling to help teachers shift...
The Reluctant Marathoner: Reflecting on Student Engagement
Four years ago, I did something that I never in a million years thought I would do: I ran a marathon. I have been a runner for years and had...
The Answer Is Always “Yes”
When I first started implementing a writing workshop as a young teacher, I remember being paralyzed by the thought of my writers being in different stages of the writing process...
Hanging Out, Messing Around, Geeking Out (or, how to give students the resources, space, and time for self-directed literacy learning)
[R]ather than assuming that education is primarily about preparing for jobs and careers, what would it mean to think of education as a process of guiding kids' participation in public...
What’s the Most Beautiful Thing You Know About . . . ?
We've been meeting each week this spring with a group of teachers pre-K through grade 12, all of us exploring literacy teaching in our classrooms around our teacher research questions....
Tracking Thinking: Fifth-Grade Small Group
Julianne Houser meets with a small group of fifth graders to help them build skills for tracking thinking.
Book Selection for Early and Emergent Readers
Walking into Anna’s classroom for reading intervention always made me smile. It wasn’t uncommon to see her with a basket of small books, talking with a friend over a favorite...
Self-Esteem and Literacy: Understanding Jeff
“I don’t feel like reading today.” “I am gonna fail this test today.” “Just let me finish this video game and then I will do some work.” “What will my...
