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Feb 9, 2012, 6:05 am
Trains Go is a new 16 page board book by Steve Light. It’s a book that helps a child differentiate between the sounds different trains make. The board book helps readers hear the distinct sounds of a mountain train, a speed train, a steam train, a diesel train, etc. It reminds readers that n... Comment - Like
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Feb 8, 2012, 10:01 pm
Haven’t done one of these for awhile…but these words from Katie Wood Ray in her book WRITING WORKSHOP: WORKING THROUGH THE HARD PARTS AND THEY’RE ALL HARD PARTS have been tumbling around in my mind. It’s funny, but as they’re learning about writing workshops, my teacher education students ... Comment - Like
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Feb 6, 2012, 10:36 am
Yesterday I heard James Kofi Annan tell his story of child slave to business man to freedom fighter for the children in Ghana. Check out this CNN video for a taste of what I had the privilege of hearing first hand. His story moved me and compelled me to think about how I can use my corner Comment - Like
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Feb 5, 2012, 4:48 pm
Special thanks to Second Story Press for sponsoring a giveaway of Claudia Souza’s book. Lisa Osterman was commenter #27, which was the random number generated (left). Therefore, she will receive a copy of Princess to the Rescue. If you missed the original post about this book, then click here ... Comment - Like
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Feb 3, 2012, 6:44 am
The 5th Annual Slice of Life Story Challenge begins on Thursday, March 1st, 2012. Are you planning to participate to stretch yourself as a writer? Are you hoping to amass a lot of writing about slices of your life in a short amount of time? Are you thinking about participating in our month-lon... Comment - Like
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Feb 2, 2012, 6:15 am
I’m consulting in a local school today where I’ve been working with the staff since August rolling-out interactive read aloud. Every two months the interactive read aloud text set reflects a particular social issue. Today we’re preparing for the voice/silence text set, which teachers will ... Comment - Like
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Feb 1, 2012, 11:40 am
I’ve been thinking about teachers on the tough days. You know those days. The days when you can barely lift your hand to high five kids on the way out (which may be a good thing because you don’t really want to give them high fives anyway). When you’re not sure you can make it Comment - Like
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Jan 30, 2012, 9:28 am
I’ve been percolating some ideas for the Celebrating Writers book Christi Overman and I are working on and expect to have out later this year with Stenhouse. We pretty much had it drafted, but then, looking back after letting it settle realized (due to the insight of our editor) that it just wasn... Comment - Like
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Jan 27, 2012, 3:01 pm
Yesterday in Mr. Gause’s third grade class, some incredible thinking was happening. This week we launched into reviews. Earlier in the week, he asked students to test different toy cars and then select the one they thought was the best. Then they met as a group and talked about their choice. Yeste... Comment - Like
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Jan 26, 2012, 5:53 am
One of the moms I met this past year coined a phrase I love. She says, “We do pink, but we don’t do princess.” If you’ve read some of my other posts about princess culture in the United States (Click here or here to read them now.), then you’ll know that this other mom and Comment - Like
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Jan 25, 2012, 11:46 am
I {heart} conferences. Do you? The thing is money is tight right now, making conferences a little more difficult to attend. So I’m excited to share with you TWO super reasonably priced conferences with incredible presenters in the field. Dublin’s lineup includes: Eric Litwin and James Dean —... Comment - Like
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Jan 24, 2012, 5:40 am
I’ll be leading a seminar, “Conferring in Writing Workshop,” on Wednesday, February 22nd at Penn State – Harrisburg. I’ll be talking about conferring basics, as well as sharing strategies for implementing peer conferring in the classroom, and information about goal setting for each of th... Comment - Like
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Jan 23, 2012, 9:57 pm
One of our favorite reads is… The book is as great as it looks. I love the whimsical illustrations and the strong craft of the text. In fact, each time I read HOLLER LOUDLY by Cynthia Leitich Smith (and I read it multiple times each week), I find more craft moves to imitate. Right now I’m busy Comment - Like
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Jan 20, 2012, 7:03 pm
The Slice of Life Challenge is coming to a blog near you! In March, we’ll host the 5th Annual Slice of Life Challenge. The Challenge: In the month of March share a slice of your life. Every. Single. Day. Have you been thinking about joining us? (You should!) But don’t take my word for it! Comment - Like
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Jan 18, 2012, 11:12 pm
There were a few times when I sat back at the end of a day of teaching and thought I don’t know if I’d want to be a student in my own classroom. The reason for this horrible realization? There was just too much group work going on, especially in mathematics. I often felt as Comment - Like
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Jan 18, 2012, 11:34 am
I’m excited to share this with you. It was one of those times when things just worked out in writing workshop. In one of the third grade classes studying reviews, we began talking about using details to support your opinion. I try to avoid the word details as much as possible. I think it’s an Comment - Like
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Jan 17, 2012, 12:23 am
I keep a private, family-only blog about my daughter’s daily life. I began keeping it about a week after she was born. Unless we were out of town, I blogged each and every day of her life. By the end of 2011, I was getting pretty tired of blogging. In fact, I began to find Comment - Like
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Nov 2, 2011, 4:50 pm
I. Am. So. EXCITED! I can’t wait to present with Stacey, Patrick Allen, and Troy Rushmore. We are discussing the way our personal reading and writing lives influence our teaching. It’ll be fast paced, useful, and fun. If you plan to attend, make sure to say hello. I get to visit with people I on... Comment - Like
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Nov 1, 2011, 12:01 am
A record number of people left comments about Ralph Fletcher and his new book Mentor Author, Mentor Texts: Short Texts, Craft Notes, and Practical Classroom Uses (Heinemann, 2011). A special thank you to Heienemann for hosting a giveaway of his new book. Ellen Arnold was the fourteenth person wh... Comment - Like
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Oct 31, 2011, 2:45 pm
One of the ways Martha Horn suggests launching workshop is to spend a significant amount of time steeping the workshop in storytelling. In fact, she suggests every child tell a story aloud to the entire class. She shares this approach along with Mary Ellen Giacobbe in their book Talking, Drawing, Wr... Comment - Like
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Oct 29, 2011, 10:10 am
What we call little things are merely the causes of great things; they are the beginning, the embryo, and it is the point of departure which, generally speaking, decides the whole future of an existence. One single black speck may be the beginning of a gangrene, of a storm, of a revolution. - Amiel,... Comment - Like
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Oct 28, 2011, 5:13 pm
These two words cycle through my mind every, oh I don’t know, maybe, every five seconds during writing workshop (and other times of the day, but I’ll keep focused on being a teacher of writers). Just listen. Just listen. Just listen. It’s a mantra that I’m trying to program into myself. I’... Comment - Like
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Oct 27, 2011, 1:50 pm
There are two articles that have been published in The New York Times in the past week that are worth reading if you teach or have young children. (1) A Silicon Valley School That Doesn’t Compute By MATT RICHTEL Published: October 22, 2011 The Waldorf School’s computer-free environment has bec... Comment - Like
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Oct 27, 2011, 6:36 am
If you do a Google image search for a “Teaser Pilates,” hundreds of photos will come back to you. Many of the photos are of a person sitting on a Pilates mat with their arms and legs reaching diagonally into the air. Some of the photos are of a person sitting on a piece of Comment - Like
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Oct 26, 2011, 4:36 pm
A few days ago Linda Baie asked me to share some ideas for using Twitter. I remember thinking the same thing. Remember the reason I started tweeting in the first place? I wanted to learn a new genre. What I didn’t know I would find was incredible professional development and relationships with a v... Comment - Like
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Oct 24, 2011, 10:24 pm
My friend June Yazel and I are putting together a workshop called: Tackling Technology in a Writer’s World. We are planning two different versions, one for elementary teachers and another for content area secondary teachers. Although similar, the secondary version will focus more on research and i... Comment - Like
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Oct 22, 2011, 8:19 am
Dear America The Second Diary of Abigail Jane Stewart: Cannons at Dawn by Kristiana Gregory (Scholastic, 2011) is in Hannah’s book stack. It takes place during the Revolutionary War, which is one of Hannah’s favorite time periods. “This is the best book I’ve ever read,” Hannah said one nig... Comment - Like
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Oct 21, 2011, 5:23 am
I was recently offered a position as an adjunct professor starting in 2012. I will be teaching a graduate course about using children’s literature to teach writing. As I prepare to teach this course, one of the things I have to think about are the professional texts I will require my students ... Comment - Like
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Oct 20, 2011, 8:05 am
I began working with one-on-one with a Pilates instructor in August 2008, just 15 months after I had an artificial cervical disk replacement in my neck. In an effort to regain the strength I lost as a result of the surgery I was told to try Pilates (since physical therapy alone wasn’t cutting it... Comment - Like
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Oct 19, 2011, 10:07 am
One of the features I’ve been wanting to add is something called From the Book Stack, highlighting the stacks of books around my house. One of the reasons I’ve wanted to do this is because we have a lot of different kinds of readers around our house, so I thought it would be a great Comment - Like
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Oct 17, 2011, 9:29 pm
It was one of those days where writing workshop just felt good. Here’s a little recap of the highlights. First thing this morning, I implemented the things I’m learning from Martha Horn from listening to her speak and from reading her book, Talking, Drawing, Writing, which she wrote with Mary El... Comment - Like
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Oct 16, 2011, 8:56 pm
Many thanks to Schwartz & Wade Books for hosting a giveaway of Marisabina Russo’s new book I Will Come Back for You: A Family in Hiding During World War II. If you missed the original post, then click here to read more about how you can use this book as a mentor text in your Comment - Like
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Oct 14, 2011, 10:35 pm
Imagine me gloating because I spent the day learning about our youngest writers with Martha Horn. Check out the day on my Twitter feed. Comment - Like
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Oct 13, 2011, 5:17 am
Bonnie wrote about 750 Words in one of her Slice of Life Story Challenge posts over the summer. I immediately signed up and got excited about writing (essentially) three pages every day. I did well, but then I had to go out of town for a speaking engagement. The hotel had internet, but my comp... Comment - Like
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Oct 12, 2011, 10:14 am
If you are a regular reader, you know a lot of my thinking lately has been about writing process, and specifically nudging third grade writers into more traditional drafts. Today’s post is a collection of my thoughts about drafting. I hope it is applicable to a range of writers — not a specific ... Comment - Like
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Oct 10, 2011, 11:48 am
A few posts ago I shared my evolving thoughts about the writing process. Last week I was able to put my thinking to the test. In third grade, kids were getting ready to move from notebooks to drafts. It was a little bit of a painful process because I was breaking the news to them Comment - Like
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Oct 7, 2011, 2:17 am
As an observant Jew, I will observe Yom Kippur, which begins today at sundown. The Days of Awe, which is a ten day period that begins with Rosh Hashanah and ends with Yom Kippur, is a time for introspection, where Jews think about the year that has passed, make amends for sins they’ve committed,... Comment - Like
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Oct 6, 2011, 12:42 am
There are three tech tools I acquired when I was in the classroom that changed the way I taught. The first is a document camera, which allowed me to write “live” in front of my students. The second item is an LCD projector because longtime readers of this blog might remember that a 26” tel... Comment - Like
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Oct 5, 2011, 10:17 pm
I have a great post to share with you, but it’s late. (Tonight was high school boys’ soccer sectional for our hometown team. We are big soccer fans, so the post is going to have to wait.) Instead I’d like to share a favorite slide from a presentation about reflective practice that I’m giving... Comment - Like
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Oct 4, 2011, 9:02 pm
Many thanks to Stenhouse Publishers for donating a copy of Choice Words to one of the people who read and commented on the post that included an interview with Peter H. Johnston. Comment - Like
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Oct 3, 2011, 11:35 am
Sometimes writing workshop gets a little messy. At least it does for me. I think we are trucking along, working our way through a unit of study, learning as writers, preparing for a celebration and then — all of a sudden — it crashes. Sometimes it crashes and burns. And sometimes I just want to Comment - Like
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