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
Quick Reading Reflection in First Grade
Bitsy Parks has her first graders complete a quick reading reflection before a share session early in the school year.
Growing Writing Stamina
We can remember early in our careers feeling a little panicked those first few days or weeks of writing workshop. Because, you know (we’ll whisper this part to you) our...
Visual Essays
We had just read a series of short stories in class, and I had intended for my high school students to write an essay comparing and contrasting how a certain...
Getting Started with Voice Recorded Responses
Reading and writing float on a sea of talk. —James Britton “How is your class?” is a common question we teachers ask each other throughout the school year. It...
Supporting Brave Writers
Say what you wanna say, and let the words fall out. —Sara Bareilles, "Brave" Usually, when we look at the on-demand writing prompts that we give our fourth graders as...
Story Maps for Reflection in the Midst of Drafting
“I’m done!” I heard from several students in unison on day two of writing workshop. I thought to myself, How are they finished? They’ve only just begun. I get it,...
Teaching Students How to Give Revision Suggestions
I discovered the video Austin’s Butterfly a few years ago through a Twitter post. This amazing video shows the power of a learning community and how learners can grow with...
Why I Don’t Like Erasers
I recently visited a second-grade classroom as a teacher was administering a preassessment. As I walked around the room, I jotted notes about some of the behaviors I was seeing...
Student (and Teacher) Risk-Taking
In my school district there is a focus on risk-taking for teachers. What does that mean? Essentially, not to be afraid to try something new and perhaps even totally different...
Introverts and Reading Share Sessions
In this brief video from a reading share session in first grade, Katie DiCesare has three students describe strategies they used during reading workshop.
Branding Blogs (Part 3)
I entered many a school year optimistically, with renewed hopes that this would be the year student blogging would be productive and present long-term opportunities for students to have an...
Branding Blogs (Part 2)
In the first installment of this series, I wrote about my students using blogs as open-ended writing platforms and how I learned about more focused, “branded” blogs. In this installment,...
Best First Drafts
Ruth Ayres confers with fourth grader Nicole and reinforces advice from her mom about striving for accurate conventions in first drafts.
The Craft of Blogging
Blogging is one of my favorite hobbies. Mary Lee Hahn and I have blogged at A Year of Reading for more than a decade. If you read the blog, you...
The Importance of Audience
“I don’t really use Twitter, because I don’t know who my audience is.” A group of teachers was sitting around the table finishing breakfast when the conversation arose around the...
Top 10 Conferring Tips
“Everyone has a Top 10 list,” Sam said at dinner. “Mine would be Top 10 Things to Recycle on a Train Layout.” Sam went on to explain that you think...
Bad Days in Workshops
This spring I had an observation scheduled by my assistant principal, Gabe Hoover, as part of our teacher evaluation process. I had asked him to come in during writing workshop...
Teaching Revision Strategies: Introduction and Modeling
Heather Rader introduces a strategy for peer conferring over revision in fifth grade in this first installment of a two-part video series.
An Unconventional Scavenger Hunt: Finding Errors
I have always been flummoxed when I see simple, silly errors in grammar and spelling that is presented to the public—particularly when done by professionals. From advertising to journalistic print,...
Teaching Revision Strategies: Partner Work
Partners confer over revision in fifth grade in this second installment of a three-part video series.
The Pocahontas Ewww: Writing and Inquiry for Context
As I started my lesson, Briana called out, “Is it true that Pocahontas was a little girl when she got married? That’s just wrong.” This is a typical response from...
