Choice Lit Topic: Teaching Writing
Everyone who writes for Choice Literacy loves teaching writing, because we all write ourselves. We know it is “hard fun,” as Donald Murray famously said—exasperating and exhilarating at the same time. The writing workshops you will read about here and see in our videos are busy, noisy, vibrant places. And most days, we wouldn’t want to be anywhere else than in the midst of ’em! Here is where you’ll find our latest discoveries, insights, and occasional boneheaded mistakes in teaching writing.
Results
Using Student Checklists in Literacy Intervention
I don’t know about you, but I am a list person. In fact, I adore lists in all their splendor: lists on sticky notes, on notebook paper, on whiteboards, and...
Giving Graphic Organizers a Go
When my literacy coach fanned out five graphic organizers for text structures (description, sequence, compare/contrast, problem/solution, and cause/effect) and suggested I ask each child to try roughing out a plan...
Gradual Release of Responsibility in Small Groups
At times in our teaching careers, we’ve stepped back and realized we've been teaching too much. It happens when we’ve gradually fallen into a cycle of teaching a new minilesson...
Push Pause: Dealing with Failure in the Midst
“Take out your previous argumentative essay.” “The one I passed back last week.” “With the rubric stapled to it.” “I wrote on the rubric with blue ink.” “It should be...
Writing Share Structures
Can I share today? I want to share. Me too, me too! The clamoring for attention was driving me crazy. Ten minutes into our workshop and students who had barely...
Lunchtime Storytelling
I was routinely late to my lunchroom duty. The sounds, the smells, the lingering playground arguments, and the too-hard-to-peel-open pudding cups repelled me. Back in September it was enjoyable. I...
Flexible Groups: Moving Beyond Levels to Assess Reading Needs
Gail Boushey and Joan Moser ("The Sisters") discuss how their thinking has evolved when it comes to flexible groups. The video excerpt shows Joan working with a group of kindergartners....
Launching and Sustaining Writers’ Notebooks
Ruth Ayres confers with third grader Jade about the value of collecting ideas in her writer’s notebook, and shares some strategies for organizing the information. Click here to download the...
Is Writing Essential?
Sam, my son, writes with me every Saturday morning. It’s a long-standing tradition. One day he asked, “May I use your phone? I want to figure out the word for...
Using Stories to Launch Writers’ Notebooks
Twenty-two fourth graders are gathered on our blue carpet framed by bookshelves. One of us is perched on our stool, Fireflies! by Julie Brinckloe in hand, scanning the faces in...
Conferring with Spencer: Writing Notebook Topics
Katherine Sokolowski helps fifth grader Spencer brainstorm topics for his writing notebook.
School-to-Home Journals
I love school-to-home journals. I’m talking about the type where a student writes a letter to someone at home once or twice a week, and that someone—a parent, usually, but...
Humor Writing with Teens
I love seeing funny people perform. I regularly watch Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, Inside Amy Schumer, and Saturday Night Live. Although it takes a talented performer to get...
Planning for a Narrative Writing Unit of Study
When we take a vacation to Disney World, our family has almost as much fun planning the trip as we do going on it. Once we decide how we’ll get...
Dabbling: Reviving a Focus on Play
It was April, and we were beginning our final unit of study in writing workshop—narrative nonfiction. Coincidentally, my own National Poetry Month poem-a-day project was narrative nonfiction—poems inspired by the...
My Five Objectives for the Start of the School Year
As a high school teacher with a short 42-minute period in which to teach all of the standards, I find it hard not to feel the pressure to get things...
Celebrating and Nudging: First-Grade Writing Conference
Bitsy Parks takes time to celebrate first grader Colson's finished writing, even as she nudges him to try a technique shared in the day's minilesson.
Joy
The minilesson ended, and 23 first-grade writers launched into their stories—a flurry of paper and possibilities—as one sat paralyzed on his carpet square. Shoulders hunched, face flushed, head resting heavily...
Digital Revision: Conferring with Aidan
Gigi McAllister helps fourth grader Aidan revise his writing on the computer to flesh out character development.
First Grade Guided Writing Group: Goldilocks and the Three Writers
Katie DiCesare leads a guided writing group in her first-grade classroom. Click here to download the workshop guide. COMMON CORE CONNECTIONS: L.1.4. Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and...
Creating an On-Demand Writing Checklist
At the start and end of each writing unit, we use on-demand writing to assess what our students already know about a particular genre. This practice is one that we’ve...
