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
Online Writing Notebooks
I have been using writer’s notebooks in some form in my classroom for nearly 15 years. During this time, the notebooks have evolved in my quest to make them as...
COVID Silver Linings: Positive Changes in Teaching Practices
Whether you're teaching remotely or in a socially distanced classroom (or some combination of the two), no doubt you have made substantial changes to your teaching practice this school year....
Importance of Talk in Writing Workshop
Alex and Brian were sitting near each other as they worked on creating emojis to use in a blog post when I walked by. Alex found it easy to get...
Celebrating with Fan Fiction
When I first thought about introducing students to the idea of fan fiction, I wasn’t sure how it would go. I was afraid of copying. I was afraid of shallow...
What Are You Celebrating Today?
A Shift in Celebration Writers asked that the lights remain off as they worked in the presence of our twinkly string lights. Instrumental music danced through the air as pencils...
Tips for Creating Shared-Writing Texts Online
Let’s face it: When we work with emergent readers online, it is hard to get enough texts into their hands. Yes, we can use online texts from Rivet.com or other...
Class Books Build Readers, Writers, and Community
During morning arrival a student came up to me and shared that her family had gotten a new cat over the weekend. I responded with the excitement that a new...
Writing Joy: A Publishing Celebration
End-of-unit celebrations are a norm in a writing workshop, but as the year progresses, I find that I can make the publishing process the celebration! In my class I begin...
Four Notebook Pages to Scaffold Persuasive Writing
“I’ve got that issue, too!” Max exclaimed, and jotted dogs in the skate park on the next line on a page in his writing notebook. “Those dogs are running all...
Developing a Scholarly Voice
Many students use a casual voice in formal writing. Christy Rush-Levine shares how to help student writers understand and develop a scholarly tone. Planning Resources Click here to download the...
Field Notes: 6 Ways to Respond Remotely to Build a Community of Writers
I’m joining Jen Vincent’s seventh-grade language arts class in a school outside of Chicago. Her students meet remotely, and I accepted Jen’s invitation to observe her writing workshop. Rarely will...
Choice Boards for Writing Workshop
One of the things we love the most about writing workshop is that it builds independence in students. When implemented as intended, writing workshop invites student writers to make choices...
Writing Work Plans
As writers, we’ve all experienced that moment when intentions for writing don’t produce any actual writing. If we feel the pressure of where to start, what to focus on, or...
Troubleshooting Difficulties When Writing a Big Idea in Memoir
Looking at a piece of student writing and trying to decide what to teach can feel overwhelming. However, within a genre, predictable difficulties appear. When we teach our sixth-grade memoir...
Making Something Together: Shared Writing Online
Teaching emergent readers online brings a few new challenges. In the middle of listening to a student reading a book, I hear, “Wait, I’ll be right back.” Before I can...
It’s Not Wrong. It’s Almost Right.
As I was reflecting this summer about returning to the classroom, my mind wandered to spelling. I shunned the 20-word pretest on Monday with results mirrored on Friday’s “real” test,...
Using Humor to Teach Language Standards
Upon first exposure, language standards don’t seem to offer many opportunities for play and laughter. Punctuation and conventions? Not terribly funny. Parts of speech? Important but pretty serious. But maybe...
Preparing for Book Club Discussions
“When do we start book clubs?” “Who’s in my book club?” Book clubs are a much anticipated and loved part of our literacy curriculum. Most of our kids love the...
See Your Students
I saw the widely acclaimed author Jason Reynolds at Nerd Camp in Michigan. He delighted the participants with a story about his childhood. He told us about an event called...
Varying Workshop Structures to Meet Student Needs
I just feel like I have so many students who need help. I end up sitting with just a few students and never see the rest. There’s never time for...
Sparking Ideas for Realistic Fiction
When we ask our young writers to come up with ideas for realistic fiction, we start by immersing them in stories about how real authors come up with their ideas....
