Content Category: Choice Literacy
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Clearing Up Confusion
Brian needed a change. He had been voraciously reading graphic novels since school began two months ago, and I had been wondering when to start nudging him to change it...
Young Learners and Martin Luther King Day (BOOKLIST)
I never met this parent, but her concerns in a letter to the editor stayed with me for years. The parent was very upset that her kindergarten daughter came home...
“I Am the One Who . . .” Building Writing Skills and Community in Middle Schools
In this 12-minute video, Katie Doherty leads her sixth-grade students as they try the prompt "I am the one who . . ." during writing workshop. This is an excellent...
Literacy Letters: Helping New Students Understand Ongoing Assignments
How do teachers bring new students up to speed with ongoing assignments? In this video from Katie Doherty's middle school classroom, Katie presents the latest "Literary Letters" assignment to her...
Getting Started with a Teacher Blog
My friends and colleagues Franki Sibberson and Mary Lee Hahn started a blog called A Year of Reading. I was fascinated by the idea of putting their ideas and thoughts "out...
Injecting Writing into Everything: Prediction Stories
"What do you think will happen next?" I asked my student Jerome. "I don't know," he said. "If you did know, what would you say?" He paused and looked up,...
Seedfolks: Connecting Community and Literature
I had my first anxiety dream about school starting last night. It was the first day of school, and I was late. Not just 5 or 10 minutes late. I...
Jennifer Allen on Working with New Teachers (PODCAST)
Franki Sibberson chats with Jennifer Allen about the joys and challenges of working with new teachers. A transcript is below the player. Franki Sibberson: What have you found to be successful...
Creating a Coaching Schedule
We have been encouraging the literacy coaches we work with to create a year-long coaching schedule for their school. The main goal of these coaching schedules is to ensure that...
34 Languages
This year they come to me speaking English, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Lao and Chuukese. They come to me from different worlds of experience. Some full of light and sound and...
Undercover Coach: Making Time to Work with Children
Have you ever watched the television show Undercover Boss? Each episode shows what happens when a high ranking official of a company attempts to do an entry level job in the...
Ready-to-Go Readers’ Theater Books
Are you caught up in the "fluency frenzy"? Since the National Reading Panel's report in 2000, fluency has gotten a lot of attention. The good news is that there has...
Giving Up the Whole-Class Novel
Edie stomped into the coach's office lugging a 15-gallon Rubbermaid storage tub. She dumped the contents out onto a table. Out rolled penguin beanie babies, penguin posters, a DVD of...
What Messages Do We Give Students with Our Classroom Library Design?
In the article Room for Beliefs: Linking Classroom Design and What We Value, Debbie Miller helps us think through the ways that our room design reflects the things we value about...
When Does Level Matter? Being Efficient with Small Group Instruction
I find my flexibility as a teacher is both challenged and validated when I group students for instruction. When I think about the wide range of needs in my classroom...
I Need a Hero: Finding a Place for Comics and Graphic Novels in Our Classrooms
Grab your cape and get ready! One of the most interesting developments in recent literacy history has captured our readers - and it's causing quite a stir. In the past...
Assessment Beyond Levels: The Reading Grid
Assessment systems that work are difficult to find. I've been teaching for just over 20 years now, and I'm quite sure I've tried nearly that many systems for organizing assessment...
Teaching Revision to Struggling Writers
Revision can be a difficult process for many writers—kids and adults alike! As writers, we both know how difficult it is to come up with a topic, get our ideas...
Using Student Conferences to Build Book Choice Skills
I went through a phase last January where I just couldn't find a book that I loved. I started lots of books but didn't finish any of them. I tried...
Help! Our Grade-Level Team Meetings Are Awful! (LITERACY COACH CONFIDENTIAL)
Literacy Coach Confidential is Choice Literacy's forum for answering the toughest questions literacy coaches and teachers face as they work together. Our contributors respond to the questions anonymously, which enables them...
Assessing Professional Development: Focus on Feedback
This summer I was at the ocean with several families. A few adults and a slew of kids including my daughter Samantha were swimming out to an island. It was...
