Content Category: Choice Literacy
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The Big Fresh September 5, 2015 Playing School
Creative play is like a spring that bubbles up from deep within. Joan Almon One day, Ava asked for an extra copy of a news magazine that I was...
Using Reading Notebook Covers for Reflection and Goal Setting
When you walk into grade 3-6 classrooms during writing workshop, the covers of writing notebooks are often filled with photos, images, and quotes that remind young writers of stories in...
Getting Started with Digital Portfolios
A student portfolio is a collection of student work that is compiled for the following reasons: to create a snapshot of a student’s learning over the year, to evaluate the...
“How Can I Help?” Conference
Ruth Ayres helps a fourth grader reflect on whether she is finished with her personal narrative, and how Ruth might assist her.
Data That Matters
On the first day of my internship with Nancie Atwell at the Center for Teaching and Learning in Edgecomb, Maine, I sat eagerly with my spiral-bound notebook, poised to record...
The Big Fresh August 29, 2015 Norms
The secret is to gang up on the problem, rather than each other. Thomas Stallkamp Recently I met with Jan Burkins and Kim Yaris, coauthors of the brilliant Think Tank...
Launching Student Data Binders
Student data binders are an invaluable tool. I do not know how I ever taught without them. The purpose of data binders is to drive student performance, to teach students...
Staying True to Best Practices with Required Resources
In recent years many districts have turned away from teacher autonomy in literacy instruction and toward reading or writing programs. The reasons for this shift are varied. Some think that...
Conferring with Boys in Sixth Grade
Katie Doherty confers with boys in her sixth-grade reading workshop. This is the second installment in a two-part video series.
The Big Fresh August 22, 2015 Whining and Learning
If you took one-tenth the energy you put into complaining and applied it to solving the problem, you'd be surprised by how well things can work out. Randy Pausch...
A Booklist for Grandparents Day
Grandparents are special people for many children. Sometimes they are baby-sitters or day care providers. Sometimes grandchildren live with their grandparents. Sometimes they live far away and only get to...
Just Reading?
A colleague recently said to me, “My seventh graders never just read. Every time they pick up a book, they have an activity to do.” Following up, I uncovered that...
Conferring with Boys in Middle School
Katie Doherty circulates for quick conferences with boys about their independent reading in her sixth-grade classroom.
Speed Dating Books
I come back from lunch to join my second block of students, whom I always greet with “Did everyone have a good lunch?" There are the usual grumblings about the...
The Big Fresh August 15, 2015 The View from the Back of the Pack
Most of us, swimming against the tides of trouble the world knows nothing about, need only a bit of praise or encouragement -- and we will make the goal. ...
Why I Stopped Asking, “Where’s Your Pencil?”
In college I became a brain research junkie. I blame my dad. He was an elite pistol shooter, winning national and international titles and obliterating records. He believed in practice...
What Difference Does Difference Make?
One of the most important conversations I have with my students at the beginning of the year is about being different, embracing the ways we are different from others, and...
Classroom Environment: Access to Supplies
One way I promote a sense of community and ownership is by making all supplies and materials accessible to students. I make time during the first few days of school...
Growth Lines
When we began to remodel our home recently, we realized that the opening between the dining room and the kitchen had pencil lines vining up the wall from the late...
I Don’t Want to Know What You Did Last Summer: Rethinking Narrative Nonfiction
Maria is already on her second page of writing. She has a lot to say about that family vacation to the beach. She is eager to share the shells she...
Classroom Environment: Bulletin Boards
At the beginning of each year, I make it clear to students that it is "our" classroom, not "my" classroom and that we share responsibility for taking care of our...
