Content Category: Choice Literacy
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Supporting Brave Writers
Say what you wanna say, and let the words fall out. —Sara Bareilles, "Brave" Usually, when we look at the on-demand writing prompts that we give our fourth graders as...
Everybody Wants to Be a Hero (and Needs a Guide)
Every story has a hero. The Princess Bride has Inigo Montoya. The Wizard of Oz has Dorothy. Star Wars has Luke Skywalker. Everyone wants to be the hero of their...
The Big Fresh December 10, 2016 Golf Course
Golf gives you an insight into human nature -- your own as well as your opponent's. Grantland Rice Not long ago, I attended a professional development opportunity for teachers...
The Big Fresh December 3, 2016 Tics
A bad habit never disappears miraculously. It's an undo-it-yourself project. Abigail Van Buren If you live in Maine and spend any time outdoors, you’ve got to be vigilant about...
Teaching Students How to Give Revision Suggestions
I discovered the video Austin’s Butterfly a few years ago through a Twitter post. This amazing video shows the power of a learning community and how learners can grow with...
Why I Don’t Like Erasers
I recently visited a second-grade classroom as a teacher was administering a preassessment. As I walked around the room, I jotted notes about some of the behaviors I was seeing...
Story Maps for Reflection in the Midst of Drafting
“I’m done!” I heard from several students in unison on day two of writing workshop. I thought to myself, How are they finished? They’ve only just begun. I get it,...
Student (and Teacher) Risk-Taking
In my school district there is a focus on risk-taking for teachers. What does that mean? Essentially, not to be afraid to try something new and perhaps even totally different...
Partner Conference: Audiobooks to Support Comprehension
Gigi McAllister meets with two fourth graders who are reading the book Paper Things, talking about how using an audiobook can support comprehension.
The Big Fresh November 26, 2016 Secret Handshake
You have to trust someone before you can have rituals with them. Rachel Klein I am observing in Gigi McAllister’s fourth-grade classroom early in the year. Hannah and Cara are...
Using Paired Texts with Beginning Readers
“Have you seen my cat?” read Chloe, a kindergartner, purposefully pointing to each word as she read it. “Wow!” said Bridget, Chloe’s surprised teacher. “How did you know what that...
Book Talk: Boy21
Christy Rush-Levine previews Boy21 with her seventh-grade students.
Creating a Culture of Book Love
Readers are made, not born. Few students spring out of the ground fully formed as readers. They need help, and we cannot assume that they will get it from home,...
The Big Fresh November 19, 2016 Move It
Sitting is the new smoking. James Levine How can teachers encourage students to avoid a sedentary lifestyle, when classrooms by their nature involve a lot of sitting? Recently...
No More Strong Girls?
“Why does every heroine have to be a Katniss?" asked Laini Taylor, author of Strange the Dreamer. “Aren’t there other ways for girls to be worthy role models without shooting...
Recess of the Mind
At the beginning of each school year, I ask parents to complete a learning survey about their incoming fifth grader. One of the questions I ask is "What academic area...
Branding Blogs (Part 3)
I entered many a school year optimistically, with renewed hopes that this would be the year student blogging would be productive and present long-term opportunities for students to have an...
Branding Blogs (Part 2)
In the first installment of this series, I wrote about my students using blogs as open-ended writing platforms and how I learned about more focused, “branded” blogs. In this installment,...
Parent in a Foreign Land
For students who are new to the English language, nothing comes easily: they have to work hard to figure out a new language, new customs, new foods, new friendships, and...
The Big Fresh November 12, 2016 A Hand to Hold
Nothing in this world compares to the comfort and security of having someone just hold your hand. Richelle Goodrich Sam, Stephanie, and I went out for a run. The...
Environment and English Language Learners
A child walks into my class and says in Spanish, “Ms. Villalba, can I just come into your room and put my head down? I’m tired." Meet William, a fifth-grade...
