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
Rumor Has It
This April, let's talk about people; let's start some rumors. Let's talk about characters and authors we know to people who have no clue who they are. Let's step out...
Can I Quote You on That?: Capturing Classroom Conversation
Sometimes inspiration for my teaching life comes from seemingly disparate experiences in my personal life. I spent a recent Saturday afternoon surrounded by a gaggle of giddy women who had...
Stopping and Jotting
Let's face it -- we teachers are control freaks. It's in our blood, and what in many ways makes us great at what we do. Yet sometimes that need to...
Teacher Language and Listening with Ellin Keene (PODCAST)
Ellin Keene is the author or coauthor of many books for literacy educators, including the classic Mosaic of Thought. She has spent much time in the past four years developing...
Oral Language and Understanding with Ellin Keene (PODCAST)
Ellin Keene is the author or coauthor of many books for literacy educators, including the classic Mosaic of Thought. She has spent much time in the past four years developing...
Evocative Coaching in Action (PODCAST)
In this podcast, Bob Tschannen-Moran uses the strategy of imaginative listening to process an unsettling interaction Heather Rader had with a colleague. Heather: Well, your model, your four-step dance,...
A Seating Arrangement that Empowers: The Conversation Circle
How many of you have tried to lead a writing or reading share time with elementary students who'd rather chat with a friend about recess, or hide under the easel...
Fact of the Day
Children, crows, and chipmunks are collectors. Chipmunks are driven by instinct to find and store food for the cold winter months. Crows hoard stolen items thieved from humans like pirates...
Keeping It Real for Students: Never Underestimate the Power of Reflection
Katie is a veteran teacher who willingly shares what she is learning all the time. Her stance has evolved over time from the traditional preparation she received in her preservice...
When You Hate the Book
My family took a vacation to Tuscany this past spring. A dear friend bought my husband and me a copy of The Agony and the Ecstasy, by Irving Stone. My...
Learning from Master Teachers: It’s the Process, Not the Content (Part I)
I was lucky enough to visit the Manhattan New School when Shelley Harwayne was principal, and I saw Sharon Taberski, Joanne Hindley, and Judy Davis in action. I have also...
Communicating with the Y Chromosome
A colleague was relaying a disagreement with her husband. "All he did was tell me point by point what he said and what I said and what we could do...
Current and Cocoa: Mixing Social Studies and Literacy
While student teaching, I was invited to a teacher's classroom on a Thursday for "Current and Cocoa." Next to a hot pot was a big bucket of dry cocoa mix,...
A More Literate Show and Tell
Last week Tammy joined a kindergarten teacher, Vicki Haley, for her writer's workshop. As we all know, the reality of kindergarten is that even with the best-laid plans we can...
What’s Good for the Goslings is Good for the Geese: Parallels Between Scaffolding Student Learning and Scaffolding Staff Development
"So, what are you working on now?" This is a question I seem to get a lot and despite years of practice, it's always a tricky one. You see, I...
Language in the Classroom: Using a Recorder as a Teaching Resource
Recording language gives teachers a chance to re-hear the conversations in their classrooms. Recording devices have always been a staple tool for teachers, and with 21st-century technologies, the possibilities for...
From Hearing to Listening
Being an active listener is hard for some of us. It would be great if we were all genetically programmed to not plan what we are going to say as...
Readers’ Theater Revisited
Years ago, my students and I spent about a month in the spring writing plays in small groups, creating costumes, practicing parts and performing for parents. I felt the need...
Classroom Gifts from Carlos: Helping Young Students Learn Academic Language and Routines
Many students in Melissa's Head Start classroom discover academic language for the first time here. One of these students is Carlos. Quick to smile and make a joke, Carlos enjoys...
Language Patterns: Reflecting with Transcripts and Wordle
When a colleague shared the word cloud generator at www.wordle.net with me, I was intrigued. I pasted quotes, poems, lyrics and bios into the generator, and found an entirely new way of...
Uncovering Reading Behaviors
It's "Reading Opportunity" time in Katie Doherty's sixth-grade classroom. As resident researcher, I'm still getting to know the kids, the routines, and the special culture of the school and classroom....
