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Annotated Archives
Here is where you will find an annotated listing of every article, video, audio, and resource guide posted at Choice Literacy.
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Revising Titles Minilesson (VIDEO)
Franki Sibberson
In this minilesson from Franki Sibberson's grades 3/4 classroom, Franki takes students through the process of selecting and revising titles. She uses the poem "Confessions of a Reader" by Carol Wilcox as a mentor text. . . .
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Linking Reading, Writing, and Getting to Know You Activities During the First Week of Middle School
Katie Doherty
The first day of 6th grade in my school is a challenge. The 6th graders get the school to themselves for a day since they are new to the building: a great idea in theory. The day begins with a tour, which includes the expectations our middle school has set forth at each destination. This means that at each location (be it the library, cafeteria, hallway, or bathrooms), the 6th graders will hear how to be Respectful, Responsible, Make Good Choices, and Safe in that particular area of the school. There are about 10 stops on this tour. It is a long tedious process that, unfortunately, many 6th graders will remember as the worst first day of school ever. After this tour, they go through their schedules to practice getting from classroom to classroom. With A and B day schedules, the kids go to eight different 15-minute classes and hear the same phrases repeatedly: how to be Respectful, Responsible, Making Good Choices, and Safe in the classrooms of our school. . . .
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From Teacher to Coach: Building Community in the Early Days
Melanie Quinn
It's late August and next week I start my position as Instructional Coach. I am not new to working with teachers. I spent six years in higher education working with student teachers before they were certified. The difference was they were new at this job and they trusted my experience meant something - it was something they didn't have yet. It's a different kind of pressure working with veteran teachers who might not be as confident they have something to learn from me. . . .
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"The Wrath of Guess Jeans": Debrief (VIDEO)
In this third video in a three-part series, Katie Doherty leads her sixth graders through a response activity. The text they are reading was written by a middle school student over a decade ago, and its themes of popularity and belonging still ring true for students. . . .
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Redesigning a Classroom: Putting Students First (and Technology in Its Place)
Mandy Robek
It takes time, effort, thinking, rearranging and more thinking to design a classroom environment . . . and then every summer the cycle repeats itself. I set up a kindergarten classroom after teaching third grade for six years. I realized as I made changes to my classroom that many of the challenges I faced were the same ones teachers all over experience - making adjustments for students of different ages and needs, at the same time we're trying to cram too much equipment into too little space. . . .
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The Book Matchmaker: Texts for "Outdoorsy" Boys
Franki Sibberson
I received this request from Carolyn: "Can we tackle the age-old problem of books that get ten-year-old boys jazzed about reading? I had many boys this past year that just didn't get drawn into a book. The boys in my school are outdoors guys. Many hike, hunt, fish, and ride their all-terrain vehicles." . . .
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Parent Contributions Beyond Instructional Support
Trish Prentice
Teachers clearly communicate the various ways that parents can help so they can feel a part of the school community. This can be done through newsletters, emails, meetings and personal contacts. Personally, I grab parents the first time they walk in my classroom, before school even begins, at our school supply drop-off day. My board is filled with an array of sign-up sheets with pencils underneath for easy access. Parents can volunteer to provide snacks, make playdough, send in clear plastic bags for materials, work the binding machine, plan the Valentine's party, or contribute card-stock and on and on. There's plenty for everyone. But, is there ever a time when it's best not to have "parent help"? When do you say "no" to parents who want to be in the classroom often? Is there ever a time when it should be just the teacher and the children? . . .
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Seedfolks: Connecting Community and Literature
Katie Doherty
The first few weeks of school at any grade level should be jam packed with "get to know you" activities. There are so many great ways to share bits of information about ourselves with our students, and many of those are done in those first few weeks of school. Games like "I'm Cool Because", Three-Ball Toss, and Snowball are favorites in my classroom. These are relatively quick to organize and play, and they help kids to get to know names and laugh a bit with each other right off the bat. . . .
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A Congenial Parent Night
Trish Prentice
Parent Night . . . most classroom teachers schedule a meeting during the first few weeks of school. The task sounds straightforward - welcome parents, introduce yourself, and explain all the brilliant things that will be happening in the classroom throughout the year. But for years it has been my least favorite teacher task! I find it difficult to dilute all the meaningful work we do into sound bytes and fit them into an one-hour meeting. It reminds me of to trying to squeeze into that blue pair of pants in the back of my closet, too much into too little. I've tried various formats to find that perfect mix: provide visuals and handouts, question and answer sessions . . . and when all else fails, I talk faster. None of these strategies inspired the kind of evening I was hoping for. . . .
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"The Wrath of Guess Jeans": Response and Write-Around (VIDEO)
In this second video in a three-part series, Katie Doherty leads her sixth graders through a response activity. The text they are reading was written by a middle school student over a decade ago, and its themes of popularity and belonging still ring true for students. . . .
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Word Choice Lesson: A Collaborative Coaching Session with a New Teacher (VIDEO)
Jennifer Allen
When I work with a new teacher in his or her classroom, it's a collaborative experience. We design and teach together over time, sharing what works and what doesn't. In this video, you'll glimpse a snapshot in time of the collaborative teaching Jessica and I are doing within a revision unit of study. On this day, we are teaching her fourth graders about the importance of word choice... . . .
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Reflections on a Year of Read Alouds
Karen Terlecky
Last summer at about this time, I started to gather books I loved and thought my fifth grade students would also enjoy. My goal was to make a list of which ones I would read aloud throughout the year. I ended up with a list of nine books. . . .
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Creating a Kindergarten Classroom Library
Mandy Robek
Overwhelming. This is the only word I could use for many months as I thought about the transition from my third grade to a kindergarten classroom library. The first step was easy - pack away my chapter books. I could do that at the end of the school year. I kept my nonfiction, biographies, and poetry texts for the initial move because I knew I wanted to include those genres. But I wasn't sure what would be appropriate for these younger students. . . .
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Preschool Writing Center (VIDEO)
In this video from Melissa Kolb's preschool classroom, children work in the writing center. Melissa explains how she routinely changes the supplies in the center to spark interest in students and make connections to their experiences. . . .
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The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy
August 28, 2010
Mine Mine Mine
The incredible childhood excitement of owning a book you can read is hard to recapture as adults. Most of us have stacks of professional books and novels in our offices and on our night tables we've purchased and look forward to reading. Yet it takes an event publication of a book like Mockinjay this week to rekindle that thrilling feeling of holding a book you've been dying to own. . . .
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The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy
August 21, 2010
Getting to Yes Slowly
This morning I stumbled upon a gem for literacy leaders from Michael Bungay Stanier's book Do More Great Work. It's the season when many teachers and specialists are asked to take on new projects and mentoring tasks. In the chapter "How to Say No When You Can't Say No," the author recommends that you first thank your colleague for asking you to do the new project. (A gracious start is always a good way to launch a sticky conversation.) You then might ask a few questions to slow down the process and think through the new work together. . . .
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The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy
July 31, 2010
Burnout
If you are a literacy leader in your school, you're probably one of those energetic, confident, capable people who is called on all the time - to do all kinds of things, for all kinds of people, often far outside the realm of reading and writing instruction or your job description. . . .
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Injecting Writing into Everything:
Prediction Stories
Heather Rader
Moving from teaching kindergarten to third grade, I noticed something suspicious about students' predictions. Ask five-year-olds about what might happen next in a story and they look like a mob scene at a rock concert. But not at eight. They were no longer falling out of their chairs pleading, "Pick me, pick me." They'd become reticent predictors; they were afraid to be wrong. . . .
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Make it Personal
Trish Prentice
What turns a respected teacher into a beloved teacher? Maybe it's just one small thing. Maybe it's a myriad number of events. Sometimes it just happens, but most times, I believe those beloved teachers purposefully design opportunities to build strong relationships with children and their families. Make it personal - personal for them and personal for you. Here are my tried and true tips . . .
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Getting to Know English Language Learners at the Start of the Year
Stella Villalba
As you get ready for the school year you'll hear this classic and fundamental advice: get to know your students. What does this mean when it comes to meeting and getting to know the English language learners (ELLs) in your classroom? You may wonder, what are some of the things that I should ask or consider when meeting and teaching English language learners? Let me share with you some basic information you may want to know about English language learners in your classroom as the first weeks of school progress. . . .
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Tips for Displaying Student Work (VIDEO)
The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser)
In this six-minute video, "The Sisters" (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser) help a colleague dress up her displays of student work. The common mistake made by teachers is to display work with standard-size borders, all lined up in a row. Joan and Gail demonstrate how teachers can use techniques that mix up the images visually, promoting more of an art gallery look and feel to wall displays. . . .
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Literary Letters: Helping New Students Understand Ongoing Assignments (VIDEO)
Katie Doherty
How do teachers bring new students up to speed with ongoing assignments? In this video from Katie Doherty's middle school classroom, Katie presents the latest "Literary Letters" assignment to her sixth graders. It is early spring, and all but two of the students have experience with this writing assignment. Katie helps the new students understand the assignment by using a student example as a mentor text, taking five minutes in a small group to walk the new students through the assignment and brainstorm strategies for completing it. . . .
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The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy
July 24, 2010
Creation Stories
Bill Bowerman, the Oregon track coach who was one of the founders of Nike, borrowed his wife's waffle iron one morning. He poured urethane on it, and the famous Nike waffle sole was born. Anne Sullivan put Helen Keller's hand under water running from a well, and. . .well, you know the rest. . . .
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A Community of Parents: Connecting with Email
Trish Prentice
To promote solid relationships with my parents, I use email as a tool to communicate with families every day. I start this process before school even begins. As soon as records are available listing family data including email addresses, I copy email addresses into a "class group." I send out a welcome "test" message to work out all delivery kinks. . . .
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The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy
July 17, 2010
Treasures and Junk
This week I read a hilarious rant online from a new teacher who had just visited her classroom for the first time to begin organizing it. I'm not going to link to the post, because there are a few identifying characteristics in it that could get her in hot water. Suffice to say the previous classroom occupant (and maybe some of her colleagues) had left the new teacher a room full of "gifts" - old and musty books, faded construction paper, piles of partially bent and dusty pipe cleaners, a stack of two-year-old newspapers. In other words, JUNK. . . .
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Animals for Literacy: 4th Grade Room Tour (VIDEO)
Andrea Smith
In this five-minute video room tour, 4th grade teacher Andrea Smith from Dublin, Ohio shows how she builds a classroom community and much of her literacy curriculum from the care and study of unusual pets. . . .
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Primary Series Study (Part 1)
Katie DiCesare
One of my first goals at the beginning of the year for my first and second graders is to help them find and choose books to fill their book bins. With such young readers, I know I can best support this goal by reading aloud many books that I know they will love. Last fall after a month of introducing routines, assessment, and inviting kids to think about what we love about reading, I introduced a series study with a few specific goals in mind. . . .
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From Questions to Drafts (VIDEO)
Aimee Buckner
In this video, Aimee Buckner shares the mentor text Could You? Would You? with her 4th grade students. Aimee explains how questions are a springboard to interesting writing topics, and models connections she makes to the text. . . .
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Literacy Room for Teachers Tour (VIDEO)
Jennifer Allen
In this four-minute video tour, Jennifer Allen describes how she arranges and displays materials in the "Literacy Room," the space she has created in her grades 3-5 school as a hub for her professional development work with colleagues... . . .
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1st Grade Room Tour (VIDEO)
In this four-minute video, Kelly Yahr introduces viewers to her 1st grade classroom. Kelly emphasizes how much ownership students have of wall displays and the library, especially through their writing and lettering of materials. . . .
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6th Grade Classroom Room Tour (VIDEO)
Katie Doherty
In this video, Katie Doherty shares how she has organized her 6th grade classroom to support different groups of students at her bustling middle school. . . .
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Read Alouds for the First Day of School (Part 1)
Last month we surveyed Big Fresh subscribers to learn their favorite literacy activities for launching the school year with students and colleagues. This week and next we'll feature suggestions for read alouds during the first week of school. . . .
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Pencil Plans
Heather Rader
You are about to get really honest with yourself and no one else has to hear your confession. Begin by envisioning your workroom. Picture yourself standing in front of your copier right now. What color is the copy button? Where is the paper tray? Can you picture it? Good. Now here's the question: How many times have you messed up your copies? Maybe you've forgotten to remove the blue paper before printing need-to-be-on-white assessments? Or maybe you've selected one-to-two sided copies when you really meant two-to-two sided copies so you ended up with double-sided copies with only half of your pages? Perhaps you've even tried to copy paper with dark edges that stick to the roller and cause an operator-related error? . . .
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Injecting Writing into . . . Everything:
Ellipsis Stories
Heather Rader
Ellipses allows picture book readers to trail off and kids to fill in what's coming on the next page. The layout of these books build suspense with each preceding ellipsis bringing forth a "Yes! I was right!" or "Whoa, I didn't see that coming." These are delicious as read alouds, but add even more as a writing response opportunity. . . .
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Keeping "House" in a Literacy-Rich Classroom
Ann Williams
Housecleaning is not one of my favorite chores, but it is necessary for my life to be organized (and for me to have some sense of sanity considering the pace of my life). Like my home, my classroom also needs to be organized. It is the key to my success as a teacher. I clearly remember my supervising teacher during student teaching tell me that "Organization is the key to success in this job," and though I didn't think much of it at the time, truer words were never spoken. Not everyone needs the same amount of structure, or organization to be successful, or even comfortable in their classroom, but I think that many teachers would agree that some amount of organization is vital. I have learned to take my skills as a good organizer and turn them into a very structured and literacy filled activity called "Housekeeping." . . .
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Digging Deeper with Rereading (VIDEO)
In this video from Katie DiCesare's first-grade classroom, Katie uses the strategy of rereading to help students look more closely at words - in this case, rhymes. . . .
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Literary Themes and Miley Cyrus in 3rd Grade
Brian Kelley
Teaching eight- and nine-year-olds how to identify the theme in a piece of literature is not the easiest part of being a third-grade teacher. Many students are still struggling with basic skills such as decoding, fluency, and retelling. To ask these children to name the underlying meaning of a literary work can present quite a challenge, yet understanding theme gets to the core of what reading comprehension is all about. I have learned that third grade students will understand the concept of theme if we can relate it to their world. . . .
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Tips for Conducting Demonstration Lessons, or How to Avoid the "Am I Doing This Right?" Question
Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan
Sometimes when teachers watch a demonstration lesson, the important conversations that we want to take place simply don't happen. Busy schedules and time constraints make it difficult for teachers to have time to plan and think together. Teachers also spend so much time thinking and problem solving alone in their classrooms that being asked to talk about the nuts and bolts of teaching practices can be awkward. . . .
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The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy
June 19, 2010
Passionate Learners
We all have "must do" work this summer, but what are you most looking forward to this summer? The joy of being a literacy specialist is that we can build our skills and knowledge base by reading and writing about almost anything, if we just stop now and again to reflect on our own reading and writing processes. . . .
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The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy
June 12, 2010
Back to the Beginning
When I was a writing teacher, I found my students always loved trying out the circular lead/ending in their drafts. The effect could be magical. No matter how messy or out of control a narrative gets in the middle, circling back to the beginning image or idea creates a neat and tidy ending (even if it is just an illusion). . . .
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Science and Literacy
The purpose of this cluster is to invite teachers to think about the importance of working with colleagues to establish common ground in their teaching . . .
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Conferring Notebook for Coaches (VIDEO with TEMPLATE)
Gail Boushey
I am always on the hunt for new ways to reorganize the records I keep as a literacy coach. I want to be sure I have good records of encounters with colleagues, but I don't want to spend more time taking notes than I do collaborating with teachers. Recently I revised my coaching conferring notebook to mirror the notebooks I encourage teachers to use in their own classrooms as they keep track of conferences with students. The video below explains the components of the notebook . . .
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Getting Started with a Teacher Blog
Karen Terlecky
Four years ago, my friends and colleagues Franki Sibberson and Mary Lee Hahn started a blog called A Year of Reading. I was fascinated by the idea of putting their ideas and thoughts "out there" on the web to live for others to see. I began to read their blog several times a week, and then I progressed to reading other blogs (mostly the ones Franki and Mary Lee had listed on their blog roll). Visiting blogs became quite addictive. I would find great reviews of books, wonderful teaching points, and terrific reflections on the job we do as educators. These bloggers were people that understood the world I lived in; I wanted to stay connected to them on a regular basis. . . .
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Beginning with the End in Mind: Planning Ahead for Closing Activities
All of this week's suggestions for closing out the school year require planning ahead. How far ahead? Often all the way back to the first day of school, and many require a bit of writing or photography throughout the year. But the payoffs are huge - not only in the final keepsakes that students and teachers create, but in the enduring reminders of all the personal and community growth each year in our classrooms. . . .
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The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy
June 5, 2010
True Senior Moments
I've been enjoying the fascinating book The Secret Life of the Grown-Up Brain by Barbara Strauch, the perfect reading material for anyone who is painfully aware of their memory lapses in middle age. (Or maybe it's my own personal "just-right" book for the summer I will turn 50.) My favorite quote in the book is by the woman who rails against the phrase "senior moment" and how often it is used as an insult. To paraphrase, she says, "Sure, I lose my keys once in awhile. But so does my teenage son! And we don't call that a 'teenage moment' - we call it misplacing your keys." . . .
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More Literacy Keepsakes to Carry Home at the End of the School Year
Recently we surveyed readers of our weekly newsletter The Big Fresh requesting suggestions for literacy activities for the final days of school. Hundreds of teachers wrote back. This week we continue our month-long series of your literacy suggestions for closing out the school year with more literacy keepsakes to carry home. . . .
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Data Cards: Assessment Profiles
at a Glance (VIDEO)
"Data Cards" are ingeniously designed to allow an entire grade-level team to look at the reading levels of all students in the grade. In this four-minute video, "The Sisters" (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser) explain how they work. . . .
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Writing and Publishing Book Reviews with Middle School Students
Erin Ocon
If you've ever spent time with 8th graders, you'll find that they review EVERYTHING. Whether it's today's lunch, their teachers' outfits, their new assignment, or the latest video game, the students have an opinion. I wanted to celebrate their opinions, and utilize them to discuss the books that they had read in reading workshop. I also wanted to challenge the students to support their opinions by giving specific reasons why they held them. . . .
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Summer Learning for Teachers
Volume 4 Number 2 May 27, 2010
We know that the end of the school year is an exciting time for students and teachers. Many teachers we know use this time to set up great summer reading experiences for their students. They also use the end of the year clean-up as a chance to reflect on the things that went well and the things they'd like to change for the following year. This digest focuses on ways to get the most out of those last few weeks of school -- for both you and your students. . . .
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Reading Without Pizza? Well, Almost . . .
Ellen McEvoy
I had such high hopes that our attempts at building a stronger reading culture would not include a pizza reward. But the day before we began the winter reading challenge, a sixth-grade class bushwhacked the volunteer sent in to explain the upcoming program and motivate the kids. "What's in it for us if we do win?" they wanted to know. The intended answer was "more credits for the book swap." What slipped out was one fatal word: pizza . . .
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Conferring in First Grade (VIDEO)
Katie DiCesare
This nine-minute video from Katie DiCesare's first-grade classroom demonstrates a range of conferring in the midst of writing workshop - from quick on the fly conferences, to small group brainstorming of ideas, to more sustained instruction of individual letter sounds and concepts. . . .
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Literacy Keepsakes to Carry Home at the End of the School Year
Recently we surveyed readers of our weekly newsletter The Big Fresh requesting suggestions for literacy activities for the final days of school. Hundreds of teachers wrote back. This week we continue our month-long series of your literacy suggestions for closing out the school year with a focus on keepsakes to carry home. . . .
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Read Alouds for the Last Days of School
Recently we surveyed readers of our weekly newsletter The Big Fresh requesting suggestions for literacy activities for the final days of school. Hundreds of teachers wrote back. This week we begin our month-long series of your literacy suggestions for closing out the school year with a focus on read alouds. After all the books read all year long for all sorts of reasons, the final text shared is often especially important. . . .
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Supporting Successful First-Year Coaches
Heather Rader
It's Friday, a little after noon, and Cristina Charney, Heather Sisson, Becky Lee and I are tucked around the small circle table with our lunches in my office. We are talking about where we've been and where we are going. Cristina and Becky work as district-based coaches, and Heather works as a site-based coach at a brand new elementary school. What an adventure this year has been. . . .
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The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy
May 29, 2010
What's Worth Saving and Savoring
When I was working with preservice teachers at a local university, everyone completed an assignment where they brought in whatever artifacts they had from elementary school assessments. Year after year, the experience was the same. Students would gather up old report cards their parents had saved in attics, and inevitably, they were disappointed that the letters, numbers, and stock comments told them virtually nothing about who they'd been as young learners. It was the special projects on fading construction paper, the autograph books, the photos with funny captions that reminded them of what mattered most to them in grade school. . . .
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The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy
May 22, 2010
Clever Teachers and Lucky Students
Last week I posted a request for Big Fresh readers to share their favorite end-of-year literacy activities. The reward would be a free Choice Literacy membership for any suggestion included in a follow-up article. I know how busy everyone is this time of year, so my modest hope was for a dozen ideas I might post for everyone to read. I was blown away by the response. . . .
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Summer Reading List (Part 4)
In our final installment of Summer Reading Recommendations, we hear from more literacy experts with their suggestions for summer reading. . . .
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4th Grade Small Group - Writing Paragraphs (VIDEO)
In this six-minute video, Aimee Buckner uses a mentor text to demonstrate how writers construct lively nonfiction paragraphs. The small group has been pulled together because the students need more practice in adding details to their writing. . . .
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Assessment Conferences: Listening to and Learning from Our Students
Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan
As we work with teachers on conferring during reader's workshops, we often rely on Lucy Calkin's instructional model for one-on-one conferences: research, decide and teach. Recently in our coaching, we have been talking with teachers about using some of our conferences just to "research." This has given us an opportunity to observe what strategies children apply when reading independently, and to listen to what children have to say about their own reading process. . . .
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Seven Minutes of Listening
Andie Cunningham
Four-year-old Isabele pulled out the large alphabet puzzle, a big 2' by 3' wooden one that so many preschool and primary classrooms have. With her right hand holding the letter X, she said, "See, they match." I looked at her and asked how she knew. Like all brilliant children, she ignored my unimportant question and led the way. . . .
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Returning to Our Creation Chambers:
Supporting Experienced Teachers
Jennifer Allen
Isn't a lifetime of experimenting with one's craft what teaching and learning is all about? This year I am working with a group of veteran teachers who like Gorky have chosen a return to their "creation chamber" late in their careers. The group meets monthly to reflect, refine, and play with new thinking. These teachers wanted the chance to collaborate with other teachers and share thinking as they worked to build off best practices and push through new walls of thinking and learning. . . .
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Summer Reading List (Part 3)
We have more summer reading recommendations from some of our favorite literacy experts. Their suggestions should help you build your summer stack of "must-read" books. . . .
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Conferring About Inferring (VIDEO)
Katie Doherty
During reader's workshop, my main goal is to have students reading and practicing some form of reading strategy with the text that they choose. At the beginning of the year, this is more structured. For independent practice of a reading strategy I have students read their choice book (a novel of their choosing which they bring to class everyday), and as they are reading I will have them complete the strategy activity. As the year goes on, I give the students more choice. Reader's workshop becomes just that; a place where students can work on reading skills and strategies together. Students have the option of reading their choice book or working with a friend or two with some picture books to practice their reading skills and discuss text. . . .
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Summer Reading List (Part 2)
We asked some of our favorite literacy experts which books they are recommending to friends, to give us a running start on our summer reading lists. Who better to ask about great books? There is something on the list for everyone. We are running this series all month, with recommendations from over 20 of your favorite teacher authors. You can access the first installment in the series through the link at the bottom of the page. . . .
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Preschool Book Browsing Time (VIDEO)
This five-minute video from Kelly Petrin's preschool classroom shows the value of book browsing time. Kelly explains the skills children develop in language, book handling skills, and literacy independence during this time. . . .
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Great Little Books for Professional Book Clubs
Sharon Frost
What made this book club such a success? Was it the steaming cups of gourmet coffee? The fresh bagels? Tracie's warm and friendly smile? While these all may have been contributing factors, I think the key to this book club's success was the book selection. . . .
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Assessment: Inside and Outside Views
Andrea Smith
Recent events tested my view of assessment tools used to capture students' growth and learning. I finished publishing my report cards and our school "went live" using a new, on-line grade book tool that parents and students view from their home computers. After the blur of report cards and the launch of this public grade book, my attitude was a mixture of confidence and jitters about a communication tool that caused more questions than answers for me as a teacher. . . .
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Fonts: Small Group and Conferring with Intermediate Writers (VIDEO)
Franki Sibberson
In this follow-up to a whole-class lesson and discussion on fonts, Franki Sibberson pulls together a group of third and fourth graders from her class who have asked to be a part of a small group on fonts. She talks about how these small groups fit into her writing workshop plans, and how she assesses the needs of each group as they emerge to determine her role in the group... . . .
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Summer Reading List (Part 1)
We all rely heavily on recommendations when choosing books. Last year, we asked literacy leaders from across the country to recommend books for teachers' summer reading lists. Because of the positive response we received, we decided to create a new list for readers. This will be a four-part series, so you can look forward to more great titles in the coming weeks. We hope that these lists provide you with a starting place for building your stack of next-read books for the summer . . .
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Science Workshop Whole Class Debrief
In this final video in a three-part series, Jennifer Morgan discusses what was learned during a science observation and writing activity in her grades 3 and 4 classroom. . . .
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The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy
April 17, 2010
A World in a Word
A principal friend of mine was frustrated with attendance at evening literacy workshops for parents. Plenty of parents were showing up - but they were virtually all women. Finally, she changed one word on the invitation and saw the attendance of dads triple. The change? She described the events as "clinics" instead of "workshops" on the flyer that went home with students. "These guys know sports clinics, and I hadn't realized 'workshops' would sound so feminine to them," she explained. . . .
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Ways to Avoid Coaching Traps
Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan
When we first began providing staff development to schools, our mentor at Tufts University shared the book Strategies for Teacher Collaboration by Loviah Aldinger with us. We each carry a well-worn copy of one chapter with us at all times - "What Goes Wrong in Teacher Collaboration?" The chapter explains the different types of traps that trip up consultants and coaches who work with teachers; how you get into the traps; how to get out once you are in a trap; and how to begin to recognize patterns so you can avoid traps in the first place. We have been in our share of traps over the years, but most of the time we use these strategies to avoid them. . . .
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Relentless Consistency: Finding a Common Teaching Language Without Scripts
Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan
We notice the lack of consistency in practices and language in many districts. These discrepancies may seem minor, but from a student's point of view they are confusing and can impact the speed of change. If districts identify core goals and practices and bring "relentless consistency" from kindergarten through sixth grade, then both teachers and students could spend more time for the "new learning required for continuous improvement." . . .
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Portable Anchor Charts for Literacy Coaches
After watching a video clip of Franki Sibberson share her use of foam boards, I was intrigued with how I could use this idea in my own work as a literacy coach. I am always moving around the building, going into different classrooms. I thought foam boards would great for creating durable anchor charts - lists that I could build with students, and that would help me model for teachers the power of these visual aids. . . .
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Purposeful First Grade Reading Share Sessions (VIDEO)
This video is from Katie DiCesare's first-grade classroom. Katie prompts her students during the reading share time at the end of workshop to make connections between the strategies they use during independent reading time and the day's minilessons. . . .
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Community Language Board:
Building Vocabulary All Year Long (VIDEO)
The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser)
The Community Language Board is where the class shares interesting new words from read alouds, sight words, and alternatives to common words in writing. In this video tour, "The Sisters" (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser) talk about how the board changes and evolves over the year, building a sense of community and shared literacy. . . .
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Middle School Library Makeover Part I (VIDEO)
In this first of a two-part video series, "The Sisters" (Joan Moser and Gail Boushey) work with students, a librarian, and a principal to redesign a middle-school library. This first installment features the creation of a "cozy area" and new book browsing displays. . . .
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Making Connections as a Reader and a Scientist
Heather Rader
My son recently attended a science fair at a local university as a requirement for the seventh grade. He did an experiment of his own design called "Where the Wild Winds Are: Testing Wind Speed at Different Elevations." With my husband's assistance he constructed an anenometer, which is a device to measure wind speed. Picture a two-foot high propeller with four blades and small hemispheric cups to catch the wind and spin. Jamin has always loved weather. While he did a great job collecting data, creating a three-paneled presentation board and discussing his findings, I know that science goes far beyond the annual fair project. . . .
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Ending the Year with Literacy Gifts
Franki Sibberson
Recently I received an email from a student who was in my kindergarten class nine years ago. He is now a freshman in high school and just wanted to say hello. It was a great note - he shared homecoming pictures, and information about how he was doing in school and at home. But what struck me most were the things he remembered about kindergarten. He told me he still watches the end of the year DVD that I gave each child as a parting gift - a collection of photos set to music celebrating our year together. . . .
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About
Jennifer Allen
