Content Category: Choice Literacy
Results
Fonts: Small Group and Conferring with Intermediate Writers
In this follow-up to a whole class lesson and discussion on fonts, Franki Sibberson pulls together a group of third and fourth graders from her class who have asked to...
Professional Development Needs Assessment Inventory
Fall arrives and the school is busy with the activity of putting rooms together, team meetings to plan the first few days of school and set goals, and staff meetings...
Time for Reading
How much time do your students spend actually reading text during the literacy block? This question came up during a meeting of elementary classroom teachers. These teachers are required to...
Planning for a Year of Author Studies (TEMPLATE)
I plan author studies for my students at the start of the year. I think about the range of authors we might study, what authors work best at different times...
Conferring in the Zone: Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development and Writing Conferences
The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is a concept developed by the Russian language researcher Lev Vygotsky nearly a century ago. The theory simply stated is there is a learning...
The Literacy Coach Work Area: Arranging Materials in Cramped Spaces
Many literacy specialists and coaches find themselves in cramped work spaces when it comes to their desks, storage areas for materials, and meeting rooms for conferring with colleagues. In this...
Moving Beyond the Basics: Teaching Inferring to a Fluent Young Reader
In this conference, Gail Boushey (of "The Sisters") confers with Brandon, a reader who is becoming fluent in his reading. Gail helps him understand the concept of inferring, and Brandon...
Flexible Grouping: When, How, and Why
The topic of grouping for literacy, especially any grouping that involves sorting children according to their abilities, is charged politically and can polarize teaching communities. The key in my classroom...
Room for Beliefs: Linking Classroom Design and What We Value
Step outside your classroom door and look back in, as if for the first time. What do you see? Do you want to come back inside? Or do you want...
Just Because They Can Doesn’t Mean They Should: Choosing Age-Appropriate Books for Literature Circles
"Whatever you are doing tomorrow, cancel it! You have got to come and see Jan's literature circles." That was the message that Patty, a literacy coach, left on my voicemail....
Hooked on Series: Great Series Books for Transitional Readers
Most of us have memories of a series that we loved. When I was a child, I was hooked on Nancy Drew mysteries. My grandmother had every one of the...
Organizing Writing Groups
Many times I'll form a writing group based on what I'm noticing as I observe children in writer's workshop. They will tell me what they need in conferences, or I'll...
Learning to Cross-Check: Conferring with Hailey
Joan Moser confers with five-year-old Hailey and helps her set a reading goal. Hailey reads a text, and Joan demonstrates how cross-checking can be a useful strategy for readers in...
Mix It Up: Helping Young Writers Learn to Confer with Peers and Teachers
When writers put words to paper, they are writing to an imagined audience. The audience might be themselves at another point in time; it might be a specific friend; it...
Letters from Home: Letting Families and Friends Teach Us
To send a letter is a good way to go somewhere without moving anything but your heart. Phyllis Theroux We've found one of the most enjoyable ways to...
Honor Books: Helping Children and Families Build Bridges Between Home and School
The students I teach come from home environments of limited resources, but their years of family and life experiences are rich. Many of these families only recently immigrated to America,...
Collaborative Teaching: Finding Common Ground First
The questions on this checklist are designed to be used by teachers, coaches, or mentors working as partners in co-teaching or demonstration teaching situations. Ideally, the partners should get together...
Small Group Instruction: Inferring Focus
In this example of reading instruction with a small group, Gail Boushey of "The Sisters" leads a discussion of inference, using Peter Rabbit as a focus text. All of the...
Assessing Student Writing
The standards and testing movement almost made me lose sight of the "workshop" part of writing workshop. It's been hard to keep the energy, joy, and excitement of a thriving...
Three Little Phrases No Literacy Coach Can Live Without
If there are three skills any literacy coach needs, they are the ability to engage with colleagues, diffuse hostile situations, and connect with people who have a different world view....
Viewing Guides for DVDs
Here is where you will find full guides for all the Choice Literacy DVD Workshop Kits. These guides include focus questions, workshop suggestions, templates, and further readings on the topics...
