Content Category: Choice Literacy
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Notebook Sketching: Conferring with Sarah
Aimee Buckner confers with Sarah about sketching in her notebook.
Conferring with Izzy
Ruth Ayres confers with Izzy to help her create an organizer in her writing notebook.
The Big Fresh March 7, 2015 The Power of Play
People tend to forget that play is serious. David Hockney If you visit the Galapagos Islands, one of the first things you notice is that sea lions are everywhere. They...
The Secret to Productivity: Hard Work or Play?
In our culture, we learn that when something needs doing—writing a report, reading the manual on how to administer a new assessment, creating a bulletin board, organizing the classroom library—it...
Three Classroom Games for Literacy Learning and Laughter
I know that time is precious in classrooms, so any time we can find or invent games that reinforce instruction or skills, I try to pass them along. The following...
Integrating Student Teachers into Literacy Workshops
Entering my 17th year of teaching, I have had my share of student teachers in the classroom. Since transitioning to a workshop classroom for language arts several years ago, I...
The Big Fresh February 28, 2015 The Ketchup Incident
Forever is composed of nows. Emily Dickinson Sam asked me, "Mom, did you hear about the ketchup incident?" "No. What's the ketchup incident?" I asked, pausing as I chopped...
The Secret to Magical Author Visits
School visits are usually great. The staff prepares. I present. The kids participate. The projector doesn't burst into flames. Success! But occasionally, magic happens. Word ripples through hallways: "The author...
Integrating Paraprofessionals into Reading Workshops
For the past three years, I've had support in my classroom. These wonderful women, some of our school's paraprofessionals, are in the class to support students with identified behavior issues....
Channeling Monet
She wanted to come into my class to “volunteer and observe.” I understood the desire to volunteer, but I struggled to make sense of her purpose in observing. Usually when...
First-Grade Math Lesson: Concept Practice and Conclusion
Danielle French's first graders continue to test out new math concepts and language in the conclusion of this lesson series.
The Big Fresh February 21, 2015 What Comes First
Most of us can easily do two things at once; what's all but impossible is to do one thing at once. Mignon McLaughlin This winter I started hosting a...
How Long?
The question I’m most often asked about writing workshop is "How long?" How long does it take to revise, how long is writing workshop, how long is a minilesson? Here...
Post It Prove It
Leslie Lloyd explains how she uses Post It Prove It with her third-grade students as a quick check-in and assessment.
Finding Pockets of Time
The hard part of teaching is coming to grips with this: There is never enough. There is never enough time. There are never enough resources. There is never enough you....
Digital Status of the Class
Are you frustrated about not having enough time in your reading workshop? Would you like to gain 18 hours in your reading workshop and be better prepared for your reading...
The Big Fresh February 14, 2015 Joy’s Path
When I was 10 years old, I loved books, and I used to haunt the secondhand bookshop. And I found a little book I could just afford, and I bought...
Making Time for Individual Conferences
I called Courtney over for a reading conference in early November. I had called her over to check in about a few things, but before she had even sat down,...
Guiding Principles for Conferring
As I confer with students in writing workshop, I have a few guiding beliefs that govern how I approach students, what I say, and what I teach. These six tenets...
Moving Away from Bed to Bed: Conferring with Ty
Ruth Ayres confers with fourth grader Ty about his personal narrative, and works to move him away from a "bed-to-bed" approach in his writing.
Making Memories Stick: Tutoring Kirk
Memory tasks challenge some children. Teachers might assume that demonstration, copying, reciting, and repeating tasks are sufficient. Yet for some children our instruction does not stick. We try alternatives such...
