Choice Lit Topic: Talking and Listening
Listening and speaking—it’s the art at the heart of literacy workshops. But there is also a science to how these skills are taught and learned. These resources will show you how to build communication skills in your classroom and school communities.
Results
Classroom Talk: Three Kinds
I was in the middle of a mini presentation to a small group of teachers. I was sharing how I use my classroom library throughout the day, throughout my classroom...
Student Feedback Shaping Classroom Environments
When teachers receive feedback about their impact, then the students are the biggest beneficiaries. —John Hattie Throughout my years of teaching, I have collected many ideas and tips for instructional...
Navigating Complex Conversations with Young Children
As Fred Rogers said, “Look for the helpers.” When we train our own brains to notice the helping, we invite children to do the same. As humans, it can be...
Protecting Choice and Inquiry with Outdoor Learning Walks
As curriculum shifts in our buildings to feeling more structured, we’ve been reflecting a lot on what we want to hold tight to, what we believe kids need regardless of...
Hidden Lessons: Why Do Relationships Matter? (Part 3)
By the time they reach high school, many students have learned how to survive change, but not always how to make sense of it. They’ve lost friendships, switched schools, experienced...
Building Trust in Our Classrooms
The beginning of the school year brings many demands: reading and writing assessments, seating charts, and binder setup, to name a few. It can be easy to hit the ground...
Hidden Lessons: How Do We Cope with Challenges and Change? (Part 2)
In the first installment of this series, I talked about the growing importance of mental health awareness and social-emotional skills in schools. In my own state of Ohio, we now...
What Would You Do?
Tammy Mulligan uses role-play to help her class process different ways to respond to challenging behavior situations. In this video clip, Tammy shares the rationale behind this practice and gives...
Community Circle
Stay Steady: Classroom Community/Community Circle Jenny quickly spoke out. “What will we do at lunch, because there are only eight spots at each table and we eight fill those spots?”...
Helping Kids Lead Every Day: How to Deepen Small-Group Discussions
Now that students knew how to get their materials, decide what to read, and how to read, it was time to lift the level of their thinking in their student-led...
Giving Kids Time and Space to Show Their Brilliance
We were at a local playground in the Buckeye State last summer, and someone had left a piece of chalk lying on the blacktop. My newly turned three-year-old son took...
Quick Take: Everyone Owns the Learning
Tammy Mulligan wants the kids to own the learning in the classroom. Here is one way she helps reinforce the message that everyone has something to offer the learning community.
Sketchnoting in the Library
Drawing is putting a line [a]round an idea. ~ Henri Matisse “Can we sketchnote?” Ella asks as I am about to start a read aloud during library class. “Of course”...
Fostering Classroom Dialogue
Sometimes you get a class that just clicks when it comes to discussions. That was my third-period AP Literature class last year. A combination of factors, such as class size,...
QuickTake: Using Picture Books to Start Conversations
Gigi McAllister reminds us of the special way picture books can open the doors of conversation.
Zooming In and Stepping Back
Whether you call it close reading, passage analysis, or something else, zooming in on a scene in a larger work is a staple of instruction in many language arts classes,...
Leading with Empathy in the Classroom
They were right where I’d expected to see them. For several workshop periods, they’d set themselves up on the rug. At a glance, they were set up for success. They...
Literary Salons: Book Clubs, Elevated
I usually do a round of book clubs with my students, but this year so many of them were in a good groove with their independent reading that I was...
How to Promote Civil Discourse in Your Classroom
It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences. —Audre Lorde, quoted in Civil Discourse: Classroom Conversations for Stronger Communities...
Putting Political Talk into Perspective
I recently had an online interaction with an acquaintance that turned ugly. On the Fourth of July, I shared a post on social media with a quote from Frederick Douglass’s...
Patterns of Prompting
pattern - noun. a repeated decorative design Designing our classroom spaces is important. We want to create spaces that feel warm, welcoming, and appealing to the eye. Designing the way...
