Content Category: Choice Literacy
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The Big Fresh June 1, 2013 Trade Secrets
If we knew each other's secrets, what comforts we should find. John Churton Collins...
13 Ways to Raise Students Who Hate Research
Certainly there are just too many words of positive advice for how to raise empowered students. Sure, of course, some people want kids who are inquisitive and energized to learn....
Launching a Fiction Writing Unit with Fifth Graders
Towards the end of the school year my students start to get a little bit antsy. I try to find units to teach in reading and writing that give them...
What Can Charlie Do?: The Value of Response Journals in Preschool Classrooms
In the fall, Charlie’s drawing was of a single typical tadpole-like person. He formed a shaky version of C, the first letter in his name. His verbal story was: “C....
Summer Reading Round-Up (Part 2)
It’s time! Time to add more titles to your personal and professional “TBR” (to be read) stack. Choice Literacy contributors have suggestions for you to pick from and pack in...
The Big Fresh May 25, 2013 Kick It In
Once you've committed yourself to something, pace yourself to the finish line. ...
Summer Reading Round-Up (Part 1)
When we talk with educators about their summers we hear anticipation of June-July-August joys: time to sleep in, time for vacationing, and time for eating lunch and using the restroom...
Independent Reading By the Numbers Is NOT Text Complexity
If we’re not talking to kids about what they’re reading, then it doesn’t matter what kind of book they choose. It’s the thinking and talking that help students unravel a...
Football Field Writing
Several years ago, I stumbled across high school teacher Jim Burke’s blog and a post titled Teaching at the 18-Yard Line. Jim describes an exercise in visualization about the future...
Death in Books: Finding Our Way After Loss
My father died last fall. While his death was sudden, I continue to feel glad he is no longer suffering. Alzheimer’s was his unfortunate companion for years. He rarely knew...
First Grade Conference: Beginnings and Endings in Nonfiction
Katie DiCesare confers with first grader Ava about crafting beginnings and endings in nonfiction writing.
Teaching Syllable Breaks in Kindergarten
In kindergarten, table groups are a natural and informal way to help groups of students learn new skills through eavesdropping. In this short video from Mandy Robek's kindergarten class, Mandy...
The Big Fresh May 18, 2013 When a Phone Is Not a Phone
There was a time when nails were high-tech. There was a time when people had to be told how to use a telephone. Technology is just a tool. People use...
Grouping Struggling Students for Word Study: A Case Study
Word study is the favored, go-to instructional strategy for all struggling learners. Teachers run to it so often that most struggling learners have been thoroughly steeped in phonics by the...
Nonfiction Reading Group in First Grade
Katie DiCesare brings together a group of her first-grade students who are reading nonfiction, helping them to expand the ways they share what they are learning with classmates.
Assessment to Grouping: Fifth-Grade Group on Character Traits
Karen Terlecky meets with fifth graders who both share the same need identified on a recent formative assessment, inferring character traits.
Madness, the Spring Slump, and High School Readers
I have worked hard over the past ten years to create a culture of reading in my 11th and 12th grade English classes. From book passes to book talks to...
The Big Fresh May 11, 2013 Correcting Too Soon
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. Lao Tzu Have you ever had the experience of navigating a website in front...
Using Shared Writing to Build Argument Skills
Belinda was feeling rather discouraged. She had just finished reading drafts of her students’ argumentative writing. After several minilessons and conferences, most of her fourth graders were still not supporting...
The Big Fresh May 4, 2013 Grandmother Clause
If you can't explain your ideas to your grandmother in terms that she understands, you don't know your subject well enough. Matthew Frederick My mom purchased an iPad a...
Rehearsing Informational Writing: Conferring with Jocelyn
Stella Villalba confers with first grader Jocelyn about the information text she is writing about bunnies. Jocelyn is an English language learner, and this conference demonstrates the value of oral...
