Content Category: Choice Literacy
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A Poetry Cafe Celebration
Every April National Poetry Month is celebrated here in the United States. I love that poetry has its own place in the calendar, a whole month dedicated to increase awareness...
Born Wonders: Tapping Student Interest in Animals, Babies, and Books
Children love to read and learn about animals of all sizes, shapes, habitats, and species. As parents, learners, and teachers, we understand why kids are fascinated with small creatures: Animals...
Spring Reading Interviews (TEMPLATE)
We believe strongly that students should live authentic lives as readers in our classrooms. Following each interview, we want to put the information together for ourselves. We start by asking...
Ubiquitous Venns, Watch Fors, and Leverage Points: Coaching for Depth
Ubiquitous Venns Ubiquitous Venns -- you see them everywhere. Those friendly overlapping circles. Some are hand-drawn and look more elliptical than circular, and the intersection is never large enough for...
Mentor Texts to Help Students Monitor Their Actions
Thoughtful planning, experience, and visualization were not enough to help me at the beginning of the school year two years ago in kindergarten. After spending five years with third graders,...
Knowing Students Beyond Test Data with Kathy Collins (PODCAST)
In this podcast, Kathy Collins chats with Franki Sibberson about the importance of getting to know students beyond test data, and what that might mean for teachers. Kathy's latest book...
Teaching Stamina Strategies to First Graders
Tammy Mulligan works with two seven-year-olds to teach them strategies for building reading stamina.
Strawberries, Fun, and Student Blogging
Growing as a teacher and learner requires honest feedback. Who else could be more honest than students? During winter break, I reflected on my teaching practices in order to set...
An ESL Poetry Cafe Celebration (Part II)
In Part I of this feature, I shared some projects, expectations, and activities for our Poetry Café celebration. This is an event where families enjoyed listening to their children read poems,...
Walk Arounds: Gathering Data to Test Assumptions
As an instructional leader I am subjected to tattling. You are probably assuming I mean tattling on the part of children, but you'd be surprised. I am referring to teachers...
Closing Out the Year Round-Up (PART 1)
The end of the school year is such a precious and busy time. This year we asked Choice Literacy contributors to share some of their favorite ideas and activities for...
What Matters Most: A Conversation with Samantha Bennett (PODCAST)
Samantha Bennett is the author of That Workshop Book: New Systems and Structures for Classrooms That Read, Write, and Think, and works with teachers and literacy leaders across the country to...
It May Be a Mess, But It’s Our Mess: Creating a Student-Organized Classroom Library
It may be a mess, but it's our mess . . . This is my thought as I look around my first grade classroom. Children are spread out in groups...
Books with Overlooked Potential for Launching the School Year (and Ideas for Using Them with Students)
Editor's Note: Teachers often have cherished favorite books for launching the school year, and it's no wonder. We know how students will respond based on our experiences in previous years, and...
The Power of Linking Words and Perceptions
The school year is underway, and all across the country teachers have undoubtedly already identified the children in their classrooms who are going to give them a run for their...
Rethinking Mentor Texts
I know. That title kind of makes your heart skip a beat, doesn't it? Imagine how I felt when I read it in a National Council of Teachers of English...
Sharon Taberski on Book Choice (PODCAST)
In this podcast, Sharon Taberski talks with Franki Sibberson about how she selects books for instruction, as well as how she assists students as they make choices for independent reading....
Coaching Reluctant Writers
I'm not sure I've ever met a reluctant writer. Oh, she may look reluctant or he may sound reluctant, but they rarely are. Take, for example, Eduardo. Eduardo slunk into...
From Hearing to Listening
Being an active listener is hard for some of us. It would be great if we were all genetically programmed to not plan what we are going to say as...
Using Animated Short Films to Teach Inference
My students and I have just finished reading "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin, a staple short story in the literary canon of the high school English curriculum. The story...
Virtual Book Clubs for Teachers
My first encounter with a virtual book club was about three years ago. My regular, run-of-the-mill, face-to-face book club was on a field trip. We were taking a tour of...
