Tony Keefer
Tony Keefer has more than 20 years experience in education. He currently works with seventh graders in Dublin, Ohio. Tony, a proud member of NCTE, has presented at local, regional and national conferences and is the co-founder of March Book Madness. He also has written for The Nerdy Book Club. Tony is passionate about building classroom communities that empower students to learn and connect with each other.
All Content
Percy Jackson Read-Aloud in Fourth Grade
Tony Keefer demonstrates how he makes his read-alouds interactive, and explains why he selected Percy Jackson to use with this group of fourth graders.
Blurring Genres and Real-Life Readers
The line between fiction and nonfiction can be fuzzy, but Tony Keefer finds what matters most is finding texts that captivate readers.
Teacher as Mentor Writer
Tony Keefer takes the leap and commits to sharing more of his writing process with students.
Curriculum Night? No Sweat
Curriculum night? No sweat says Tony Keefer. Only kidding — there is a lot of sweat involved, but Tony’s humorous account of how he has changed his curriculum night presentation will get you thinking about new ways of connecting with families.
Revising Writing: Fourth-Grade Conference
Tony Keefer confers with fourth grader Sydney about revising her writing and transitioning to a new genre early in the year.
Manipulating Time: Fourth-Grade Writing Minilesson
Tony Keefer uses his writing as a mentor text in this fourth-grade minilesson on manipulating time in personal narratives.
“Article of the Week” Activity in Fourth Grade
Tony Keefer finds that the article-of-the-week activity (adapted from Kelly Gallagher's work) is a good way to integrate short shared texts into his fourth-grade literacy workshop.
Writing a Strong Ending: 4th Grade Writing Conference
Tony Keefer confers with fourth grader Tommy to help him write a stronger ending.
What Data Will You Be Collecting?
Tony Keefer explains why attitudinal survey data is important to collect early in the year, and shares different reading surveys he uses with students to understand their needs in the first six weeks of school.
Planning a Read Aloud Sequence to Launch the School Year
Tony Keefer shares the three essential questions that guide his process of selecting first read alouds.
Using Instagram to Sell Summer Reading Options
Tony Keefer taps into the Instagram craze among his students, and finds it is an ingenious tool for encouraging summer reading while kids are on vacation.
Decoding and Meaning: Conferring in 4th Grade
Tony Keefer confers with Amanda, a fourth grader who comprehends texts well, but struggles at times with fluency, decoding, and book selection.
March Book Madness
Basketball’s March Madness has many possibilities in schools. Tony Keefer tries a similar format with brackets and voting for March Book Madness.
Lifting the Quality of Peer Response
Tony Keefer discovers that his fourth-grade students need focused instruction and support to strengthen their peer conferring skills. Tony shares tips and two video examples from his classroom.
Book Talks in 4th Grade
Tony Keefer previews Infinity Ring with his fourth graders, and talks about the value of book talks for building a reading community.
Appealing Book Displays for Boys
Are your book displays enticing to the boys in your classroom? Tony Keefer has suggestions for making classroom libraries more appealing.
Engaging Boy Readers: Beginning with Teacher Behaviors
Tony Keefer considers some of those awkward early conferences with male readers in his classroom, and shares advice on how to get the year off to a comfortable start with minilesson and conferring suggestions.
Nonfiction Favorites for Boys (BOOKLIST)
What boy can resist a book titled How They Croaked? If you're looking for some books to fascinate and delight the boys in your classroom, Tony Keefer has some terrific suggestions of recent nonfiction titles in this booklist.
New Fiction for Boys (BOOKLIST)
It takes a kid at heart to share what young boy readers would take to heart, and Tony Keefer is just the guy for the job. Tony loves whonunits, blood ‘n’ guts, and cliffhangers, and he shares that passion with his tween students in this fiction booklist for boys.
Producing Instead of Consuming: Using iPads Wisely with Students
In order for an iPad to transform teaching and learning, Tony Keefer suggests we need to think about these tools with creativity in mind. This article is packed with thoughtful resources for iPad users.
Lifting the Quality of Peer Response
Tony Keefer discovers that his fourth-grade students need focused instruction and support to strengthen their peer conferring skills. Tony shares tips and two video examples from his classroom.
