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
Nonfiction Graffiti Walls
I love nonfiction. I love learning about new things and broadening my horizons. But when I was a sixth grader, I was singing a different tune. I all but ignored...
Writing Interviews: Part 3
Ruth Shagoury interviews sixth graders in Katie Doherty's class about their interests and progress as writers throughout the year. In this installment, students answer these questions: How have you changed...
Writing Interviews: Part 2
Ruth Shagoury interviews sixth graders in Katie Doherty's class about their interests and progress as writers throughout the year. In this installment, students answer these questions: What's something you do...
Writing Interviews: Part 1
Ruth Shagoury interviews sixth graders in Katie Doherty's class about their interests and progress as writers throughout the year. In this installment, students answer these questions: What writing from this...
End-of-Year Literacy Interviews
When we turn the corner into the warm days of spring and early summer, teachers’ thoughts turn to that final countdown. We wonder if we’ll have time for all that...
Getting Started with Blogging in Fifth Grade
We’ve all heard that kids today have no fear when it comes to technology. I have found that to be true for some children. However, many of my students seem...
Visiting the Doctor: Conferring with Alexis
Ruth Ayres confers with Alexis over her story on visiting the doctor for a shot. They talk about illustrations and labeling.
Manipulating Time: Fourth-Grade Writing Minilesson
Tony Keefer uses his writing as a mentor text in this fourth-grade minilesson on manipulating time in personal narratives.
Brave Noah
It was January when I began working in Noah’s first-grade classroom. His black hoodie was pulled over his head and down low. His eyelashes grazed it each time he blinked....
Expanding the Literacy Classroom with Flipped Minilessons
When I first heard about the “flipped” classroom learning model, I was absolutely against it. I could not wrap my mind around the idea that watching a video at home...
Poemfields
I have felt the hard knuckle of winter, have gorged myself with the intoxication of nothing to be done. Among the circling rituals of work and the pileup of...
Simplifying Word Study
Recently I was hiking. A bright yellow T-shirt with bold print caught my eye. “Life is simple,” read the slogan. Somewhere we all have encountered the message this hiker was...
March Literacy Contracts: Nonfiction Curiosities
Spring is arriving in March, and with it, a renewed sense of curiosity and enthusiasm. Spring gives us a bounce in our step, more energy, and a desire to learn...
Drama and Two-Page Spreads: Conferring with Max
Ruth Ayres confers with second grader Max about the story of his lost dog, and uses a mentor text to demonstrate the power of two-page spreads.
Stuck on a Thesis
In this conference with a 4th grader, Beth Lawson works with a student who has chosen a challenging essay topic and is struggling to develop his thesis.
The Pause That Refreshes: Write When the Conversation Gets Hot
This year I am participating in a book group for parents at my kids’ school. Instead of reading popular parent fare, How Children Succeed, or Mindset: The New Psychology of...
Writing Fiction: More Than Just a Walk in the Park
It’s the day before the last day of school and we have taken over the local park. Hundreds of middle school students are gallivanting around eating hot dogs and snow...
So You Think You Can Combine Sentences? You Can!
Teaching conventions unconventionally is a passion of mine. Just because I’m using the word unconventionally doesn’t mean that these approaches are new. In fact, the work of William Strong and...
Sentence Combining in Workshops
Combining sentences is a putting-together approach instead of the taking-apart approach that has dominated much of the worksheet or drill work of grammar instruction. Tried-and-true classroom practice as well as...
A Tool Worth Exploring: Sentence Combining
A high school teacher tells me, “The students aren’t coming from the middle school with the grammar skills we expect of them.” The middle school teachers ask me, “Are elementary...
Deeper Writing: The Story Behind the Selfie
My students tend to skim the surface with their writing, covering a lot of ground in not a lot of detail. Come to think of it, my young adolescents are...
