Content Category: Choice Literacy
Results
Moving Beyond Bed-to-Bed Stories in First Grade
First I went on the play structure and then I went on the swings and then I saw a butterfly and then I saw my friends and then we drove...
Resources for Quick-Writes
Last summer I stumbled across Linda Rief’s book, 100 Quickwrites: Fast and Effective Freewriting Exercises That Build Students’ Confidence, Develop Their Fluency, and Bring Out the Writer in Every Student....
Using Webcomics in Classrooms
I’ve always been a supporter of graphic novels in the classroom for a variety of reasons. Graphic novels can support your struggling readers, but they are more than that. They...
Visual Reading for Writing
Just recently, I was babysitting my five-year-old nephew Ellis. He is a bright kid who loves playing outside, anything related to Star Wars, and books. One of my favorite things...
Reading Pictures in High School
A picture is worth a thousand words—we’ve all heard the old adage. As a language arts teacher, I am apt to believe that this isn’t always the case, but it’s...
The Big Fresh October 24, 2015 New Glasses
What we see depends mainly on what we look for. John Lubbock It had been ten years since I'd updated my eyeglasses. I love my contact lenses, so there...
Close Reading for Comparison in Fifth Grade
I am always on the lookout for a great picture book to use in a minilesson. One skill my fifth graders struggle with is comparison, in texts, across texts, which...
Literary Analysis and Authenticity in Middle School
Literary analysis essays are scary. They sound so serious and formal. Although I know it is the style of writing that will be required of my eighth graders most often...
Close Encounters with Text: Reading Many Ways
I believe in one day and someday and this perfect moment called Now. Jaqueline Woodson Getting children to pay attention as they are reading requires front-end work on task...
Beginning a Novel with Close Reading
Aimee Buckner helps a fourth-grade boy tease out emerging themes in the first pages of the novel Morning Girl.
The Big Fresh October 17, 2015 Mockingbird
They say that ninety percent of TV is junk. But, ninety percent of everything is junk. Gene Roddenberry My parents raised my siblings and me on a small farm that...
“Are We Gonna Watch the Movie?”
“Are we gonna watch the movie?” What English teacher hasn’t heard this question at least a thousand times? Whenever I begin a whole-class study of a novel, I am invariably...
Stories from Illustrations: Conferring with Kendall
Ruth Ayres confers with first grader Kendall about her writing, emphasizing the stories in the illustrations.
From Strengths to Revision: Conferring with Connor
Karen Terlecky confers with Connor in her fifth-grade classroom. She demonstrates how to begin with strengths, and build to revision suggestions.
Core Memories and Gotcha Moments
The popular Disney Pixar movie Inside Out delves into the idea of “core memories”—those things that have happened to us that have had such an effect that they will forever...
Embracing Standards in Creative Ways
I am learning to let go of my frustration over new standards that leave a gaping hole between where we were in the past and where we need to be...
Mid-Workshop Conversations
Okay, readers, go ahead: find a friend to share your thinking about the book you’re reading. The classroom teacher says these words without much fuss and noise, and students quickly...
The Big Fresh October 10, 2015 Passion or Craft
Once your eye and hand are trained to the skills of your craft, then it becomes possible - like driving - to go on autopilot and leave the world behind. ...
Technology Is Not a Reward
Do you remember the first time you actually got on the internet? That very first time you connected to the web? Maybe you were in high school or college; maybe...
Figuring Out Social Media Together
My teenage daughter Stephanie sits across the table, and the phone sits in neutral territory between us as we enter another discussion about digital responsibility . . . or do-the-right-thing-with-your-tech....
NaNoWriMo with Students
For the past three years my writing workshop has been transformed into a flurry of writing activity every November. My students and I join people around the globe in a...
