As we took off our socks and shoes, one girl said that even when she is in a bad mood, just getting her feet in the sand takes that all away. She went on to say she read an article about how our feet are …
2, Saturday. Husband and Book Shelves
https://youtu.be/7Ioou5CJfz8 Saturday morning is Dan time. Dan is my husband. Husbands of teachers are amazing, incredibly tolerant and not always patient with their teacher-spouse who answers school emails in bed and wakes up in the middle of night to write a lesson plan and who …
1, Friday. Sub Plans
Today is the first day of Slice of Life challenge. While this is a writing challenge, I am taking it as an opportunity to talk about and show my day in short video clips. Each day I plan to record a three to five minute …
How to Craft a Writing Assignment for All Content Areas
How many times have you been frustrated with the writing your students produce? You ask your students to respond to a question, and all you get are sentence fragments or an informal, sometimes a passive retort stating the obvious. Have you ever been disappointed by …
Interviewing: An Essential Experience in English
So much of our communication is brief or in passing. Think about quick text messages, Snapchats deleted in seconds, messages limited to characters. While such digital communication is a part of “twenty-first century learning,” so, too, is collaboration within classrooms, in open-concept-cubicle-land offices spaces, over …
A Radical Shift in Teacher Ed
This week, I had an idea. It happens sometimes. I am not arrogant enough to think this is an original idea nor have I done the research to be sure it is not already going on somewhere, but I do know that it is not …
The Answer to Vocabulary Instruction
Indeed, you read that article correctly. I wrote a “the” and not an “an.” After fifteen years of teaching ELA in junior high and earning a doctorate in English focusing on literature, specifically genocide literature, I think I have found “the” answer. I practice this …
How to Be the How-to
A big aha moment for me as a teacher and human being (we are both) was when I realized that I was the best writing teacher for my students — not graphic organizers or worksheets or packets or textbooks (certainly not anything someone else created).
Open Mic in Writers’ Workshop
It’s Friday morning. I am standing on a chair with Christmas lights in one hand and a magnetic clip in the other when a substitute teacher walks in the classroom. “Oh, do you share this room with Mrs. B.? I am her sub.” Startled, I …
Un-Seating Charts in the Writers’ Workshop
“Good morning, everyone. Before we begin our Compose for 7, we are going to spend just a little time reflecting on how we are developing as a writing community,” I say. Students open their writing journals and write the date in the upper right corner …