Content Category: Choice Literacy
Results
Fluency in Focus: Conferring with Jake
Gail Boushey confers with Jake, a seven-year-old who is setting a reading goal of developing fluency. After the conference, she debriefs with Joan Moser.
Literacy Coaching and Student Work with Diane Sweeney (PODCAST)
Diane Sweeney is the author of Student-Centered Coaching: A Guide for K-8 Coaches and Principals. In this podcast with Heather Rader, she talks about the dangers of focusing too much on...
Listen In: Knowing When You’re Done
The plan was for Hailey to decide the content of this writing conference. By the spring, she'd engaged in so many conferences that she knew how to have grand conversations...
Guiding Reading Partners: Work on Accuracy
In this reading conference from a 2nd grade classroom, Linda Karamatic pairs two children who have similar needs in reading.
Middle School Book Clubs: Response Options
Perhaps the most important part of my role as teacher during book clubs is to know what my students are thinking. This is the whole point, to know that they...
Every. Single. Day.
"Welcome, Eric!" Katie tells the brand-new student to her 6th-grade classroom, mid-way through the school year. Eric smiles hesitantly -- but gamely as Katie addresses the rest of the class....
“And Then and Then and Then”: Moving Students from Retelling to Thoughtful Response
Katie Doherty confers with sixth grader Kristina during reading workshop. Kristina is new to the classroom, and Katie demonstrates how to gently move a student from retelling to more thoughtful...
Middle School Book Clubs in Action
Katie Doherty talks about the links between strategy lessons and book club work in her 6th grade classroom. Katie also sits in on a book club discussion.
Telling Our Stories
We all know that teaching requires constant renewal of the mind, heart, and spirit. How do we find time to truly renew ourselves, to refuel our spirits that get used...
The Power of Powerpoints for English Language Learners
I'm in love with lesson planning. I'm equally enamored with creating and organizing, so filling a binder with unit plans, multi-colored tabs, and pretty post-it notes is basically a dream...
Vocabulary, Comprehension, and the Common Core: A Conversation with Doug Fisher (PODCAST)
Douglas Fisher has spent decades researching the place of vocabulary instruction in literacy programs at all grade levels. He is the author or coauthor of many books and articles for...
Listen In: XBox Game Writing
Cody begins the conference with, "I have a piece that I just finished," and he's off and reading. Can this be the same student I conferred with who had no...
Frogs as Learning Ambassadors Part 1: Literary Nonfiction in 4th Grade
There is a story behind the following video clips captured in my classroom. The research and writing lessons filmed that day were built upon experiences that launched the school year...
Making Assumptions
It had been a rough morning. I'd spent the last two-and-a-half hours in jaw-tightening silence, watching a novice teacher making misstep after misstep in his classroom. In my capacity as...
Capturing Student Learning with Evernote
Sometimes it amazes me to think I have been teaching for over 20 years. I would have thought that at this point I'd have this profession down to a science....
Narrative Nonfiction in 5th Grade Part 2
In this lesson from a 5th grade classroom, Aimee Buckner guides students in a note-taking process to help understand the qualities of nonfiction narrative writing. In this second part of...
Words and Images: Mentor Texts for Second Grade Boys
In this conference with two of her second-grade students, Linda Karamatic shares mentor texts and tips to help them with their writing. Both boys are writing stories with strong visual...
The Sponge Summary Lesson Part 5
This is a companion video series to Heather Rader's article "A Sponge is a Summary." In this sequence of videos, Heather teaches a 4th grade class, using the analogy of...
Professional Development Openers and Icebreakers (ROUND-UP)
Experts on presentations once said that you had 30 seconds to capture the attention of your audience. Other experts now say you have the attention of the audience in the...
You’ve Got to Be Joking
Kai's class was "obnoxious" (in his words). I'm accustomed to working with high-energy kids in need of redirection, but some days even I had to admit they knocked the wind...
Literacy Team Meeting: Focus on Word Work Part 2
In the second part of the literacy team meeting, teachers on the team move from the focus on sharing, to the important phase of where to go next as a...
