Content Category: Choice Literacy
Results
Weekend Headlines: Introduction
In this first of a three-part video series, Katie Doherty and her sixth grade students begin the Weekend Headlines activity. Each Monday, students listen to Katie share some of the...
Two or Three Things I Know for Sure: A Teacher Workshop Activity
"Two or Three Things I Know for Sure" is a writing and discussion activity designed to help teachers write about and explain their bedrock beliefs about teaching or other related...
What Are Reading Centers?
The term "reading centers" is challenging because it may very well suggest many different things to teachers. For this reason, I'll begin by describing what reading centers are NOT. Reading...
Worth a Thousand Words: Teaching with Wordless Picture Books
Wordless picture books are a wonderful instructional tool for teachers to use with students of any age. I remember some time ago when the American Library Association annouched their annual...
The Books We Can’t Live Without in Our Teaching: Resource Round-Up
It was late afternoon one day last spring, almost twilight, that mellow time after children are gone and planning is finished, when conversation rambles among friends in empty classrooms. Jennifer...
Old Elm Speaks Conclusion: Connecting Poetry, Observation, and Reading
In this second installment of a three-part video series, Aimee Buckner shows how observation skills, poetry, and reading instruction come together with the mentor text Old Elm Speaks: Tree Poems...
Weekend Headlines: Peer Response
In this second part of a three-part video series, Katie Doherty and her sixth grade students continue the Weekend Headlines activity. Each Monday, students listen to Katie share some of...
The Conversations Inspired by the Questions We Ask
The most effective way to develop a common understanding of classroom practice may be the questions we choose to ask. As literacy leaders it is often difficult to express clear...
Notetaking Series Part III: “Raw” and “Cooked” Notes
Sometimes I learn the most when I am uncomfortable, unsure, and attempting new things. As you use new tools to observe and note events in your classroom, you may gain...
Where Have All the Picture Books Gone?
When my oldest daughter was in first grade, she was in the 20+ basket. This meant that during reading time, she could read books at level 20 and above. This...
Staying Focused in Literacy Workshops
Clare Landrigan meets with a group of fifth graders to talk about what's going well in literacy workshops, and to set individual goals. Stamina is an issue many of the...
Solving Problems Quote Collection
When the only tool you own is a hammer, every problem begins to resemble a nail. Abraham Maslow Each problem that I solved became a rule which served afterwards to...
The Power of Layered Coaching
The new teacher support group is already sliding into spring. My hunch is that no one component of the layered coaching model is responsible for the success of the group....
Evaluation Quotes
There is a comedian on television who jokes about putting together a difficult, five-thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle: It was all sky! Too much talk about standards, and not enough of the...
Rethinking Centers
As I started writing this article, I began having flashbacks to middle school when I was assigned to write a persuasive essay of my choice. My objective in writing about...
Chatting About Coaching Collaboration
Gail Boushey and Janet Scott discuss how they collaborate as coaches, sharing strategies and common goals across the classrooms they work in.
Differentiating Book Boxes
In this second video in our "Organizing Book Boxes" series, Joan Moser (of "The Sisters") explains how she differentiates the content of book boxes for students with different skills and...
Learning from Graphica: Class Discussion
This is the third installment of a video series on using graphica in a fourth-grade classroom. In this episode, Sarah Thibault debriefs with her class after writing workshop. Students are...
Teaching Inferring with Picture Books Part II: Partner Shares
When my sixth-grade students are given the opportunity to share their thinking after a read aloud, it does several things for their learning. First and foremost, kids listen to each...
4th Grade Small Group: Writing Paragraphs
In this video, Aimee Buckner uses a mentor text to demonstrate how writers construct lively nonfiction paragraphs. The small group has been pulled together because the students need more practice...
Book Boxes Nuts and Bolts
In this final video in our "Organizing Book Boxes" series, Joan Moser (of "The Sisters") tackles the issue of what types of books and what levels are appropriate for student...
