Content Category: Choice Literacy
Results
Video for Last Days of School
Last week, Christine Holley, a Teachers College Reading and Writing Project staff developer, worked with our primary teachers on improving talk in classrooms. In the classroom, she showed first-grade students...
Best Part of Me
A few weeks ago, I was hustling down the hallway to a classroom to do a teacher evaluation. I was late—I am perpetually late this time of year—but I saw...
A Spring Villanelle
Deep in the samadhi of the old pond soft heavenly weather arrives, light seeps into rock, enchanted by the eternal tide. Peepers rise in a chime of bells clear,...
The Big Fresh May 2, 2015 Navigating Boston
Not until we are lost do we begin to find ourselves. Henry David Thoreau I recently went to a conference at the JFK Library in Boston with my colleague...
Big Idea: First-Grade Lesson
Bitsy Parks introduces her first graders to the concept of theme.
Favorite Wordless Picture Books for Teaching Inference
When children are first learning to read, figuring out the alphabetic system is often so taxing that grappling with letters and sounds relegates meaning to the back burner. Although we...
The Big Fresh April 25, 2015 What We Crave
The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated. ...
Working Hard and Reading Carefully: On Theme and Rereading
I can accept failure—everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying. Michael Jordan How long do you have to watch Michael Jordan playing basketball before you realize...
Using Picture Books to Foster Resilience
Each year as we work to build a strong classroom community, my fourth graders and I read several picture books focused on learning and working with others. Many focus on...
Celebrating “The Voice” of Writers
I love writing workshop and the traditional, predictable structure that accompanies it. However, I also love when I hear about teachers incorporating play into their workshop instruction. Recently, one fourth-grade...
Supporting Readers with Nonfiction Text
In a recent meeting a teacher spoke about her frustration in trying to find nonfiction resources that work with the standards she is teaching. As the conversation continued, we agreed...
Redefining Just-Right Books
Recently a friend, Clara, who is a retired literacy coach, told us a story about a visit to her first-grade grandson Trevor’s classroom. With a long face, she explained that...
Using Padlet with Students
Technology is something I am constantly exploring in my classroom. New websites, tools, devices—all have their place in our classroom. One website that has been integral to our classroom this...
The Big Fresh April 18, 2015 Messy Inventions
To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk. Thomas Edison My nine-year-old sons love to invent contraptions created from Legos. Rarely do they follow instructions...
Shared Writing in Kindergarten
Mandy Robek guides her kindergartners through a shared-writing activity.
Space to Draft
Powerful writing instruction allows time for students to practice. When we force a lockstep approach to writing instruction, we diminish time for students to practice writing. Sometimes in the quest...
Group Composing
I was nervous when I stood before my class with nothing more than my wireless keyboard and a Word document opened up on the Smartboard. We were about to compose...
Tutoring Carl: Sketching to Draft
I am sitting at a circular library table; this is my learning space. Retired from full-time teaching, I now tutor. Midafternoon is my new kid time. I look forward to...
The Big Fresh April 11, 2015 Perspective
The present moment represents all moments. John Zeisel It was a day my mother’s dementia was weighing heavily on me. Donna, a caregiver, must have seen it in my...
The Big Fresh April 4, 2015 True Horizontal
Let yourself be drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray. Rumi There is a beautiful scene in Cutting for Stone,...
Setting Goals with Students
As an adult learner, I always have a set of evolving goals. Some of these goals I have to put on my annual professional growth plan, others I write down...
