Content Category: Choice Literacy
Results
The Big Fresh April 1, 2017 Joy, Angst, and Poetry
You don't have to suffer to be a poet; adolescence is enough suffering for anyone. John Ciardi As a young student, I spent many hours with pen to paper in...
News from the Interior
Every instant is at once a giver and a plunderer. Gaston Bachelard Now that the mockingbird claps winter from its wings, plunges, light-blind into the baptismal font of the...
“Old Age Sticks”: Choral Reading and Reflection
Christy Rush-Levine leads her eighth graders in a choral reading and analysis of the E. E. Cummings poem "Old Age Sticks." This is the second video in a two-part series....
Easing into Writing Poetry
The poet's job is to put into words those feelings we all have that are so deep, so important, and yet so difficult to name, to tell the truth in...
Beyond the Acrostic Poem
My announcing that we're going to study poetry to a class of fourth-grade students is usually met with groans and looks of fear. In the beginning of the year, I...
The Big Fresh March 25, 2017 Amplified
When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful. Malala Yousafzai It was a gorgeous summer night on the waterfront in Maine, and I was part of...
The Big Fresh March 18, 2017 Small Victories
First we eat, then we do everything else. M. F. K. Fisher I enjoy my cooking adventures: selecting recipes, buying ingredients, and following recipes step-by-step to create meals for...
A Booklist for Women’s History Month
March is Women’s History Month. At my school this year, we’re celebrating as part of an ongoing effort to bring more awareness of the contributions throughout history of different and...
Supporting Introverts at Any Age
When I was a first-year teacher, I remember being exhausted at the end of the day. Not from dealing with student behaviors—I had a wonderful class, as my principal was...
Good Questions for Group Discussions
Gigi McAllister helps a group of fourth graders evaluate questions for fostering good group discussions.
Supporting Introverts in Fifth Grade
I was the quiet child in your classroom. I liked to sit in the back, ideally behind a tall classmate, and didn’t speak unless it was required. Because of this,...
The Big Fresh March 11, 2017 First Things First
What you are as a person is far more important than what you are as a basketball player. John Wooden Whenever I shake a player’s hand, I’m reminded of...
Literacy Routines for Applying See-Think-Wonder
What do you see? What do you think about that? What does it make you wonder? Debbie, Paula, and Sylvia are doing a book study with Making Thinking Visible: How...
Starting the Day with Literacy
The halls have cleared and I’ve said goodbye to my last former student who stopped in for a visit on his way to his class. I walk into my classroom...
Teaching Students to Start at the Right Place
I read a lot of student writing. Somehow, no matter how many years students have heard about small moments, they fall into the trap of making stories longer by making...
Morning Greeters
Katrina Edwards has morning helpers who start each day with a greeting for every child in her first-grade classroom.
The Big Fresh March 4, 2017 LATTE Them
Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind. Henry James Charles...
The Ins and Outs of Using a Jot Lot
We’ve often talked with colleagues about how reading feels much more challenging to teach than writing: It’s so hard to know what’s going on in their heads as they read....
Do I Really Have to Keep Conferring Notes?
When it comes to conferring, the million-dollar question is “Do I really need to keep conference notes?” This is a fair question, and one that is best answered by looking...
Reminder Notes
This sweet invitation—"you can come to my basketball game"—greets me after children have been dismissed for the day and I’m cleaning up my teaching area. It is common to find...
Environmental Group Notes
Katherine Sokolowski meets briefly with a group of fifth-grade girls to go through the notes they are taking for their environmental studies project and talk through next steps.
