As an American now living and teaching in Canada, I’ve had to learn a lot in a short period of time. I’m teaching a self-contained 3rd + 4th grade class this year, which means I’m teaching Social Studies, and the American Education system doesn’t really give us all that much about our neighbors to the […]
A mentor text doesn’t have to be an entire article or lengthy passage. Sometimes just a couple of sentences provides a writer with the guidance and inspiration they need to move forward as a writer. This year, I’m continuing to use a few full-length mentor texts in each unit of writing, but I am also […]
“…in many writing classrooms, students are learning to write by not being allowed to do any of the things “real” writers do: make choices.”
Abigail’s first beat of the year takes you through a lesson you could do tomorrow. Discovering the importance of place and how through observation growing a deeper understanding of why place matters in our writing.
Through all the unprecedented changes the pandemic has brought into our classrooms, something that hasn’t changed and is highly unlikely to change is, how, despite seemingly perfect external conditions, the inner condition of the writer affects their writing.
To celebrate the beginning of the school year, we’re offering a little discount on our on-demand course archives! Head here to see what we have to offer and use your discount before it’s gone!
Last year, I shared a lot about the language field guides I use in my classroom to help students not just memorize (and forget) words but explore words and use them to improve their reading and writing! Here are those posts: Language Exploration That Changes Writers in 30 Minutes per Week Field Guide Entries That […]
In the 2020-2021 school year, the Inside the Blended Workshop Community was founded to help teachers navigate the unknowns of teaching in a pandemic, teaching students in person and online simultaneously, and moving our common practices to a fully blended-learning world. Now, Inside the Blended Workshop is becoming the Moving Writers Community — a group […]
One of the most rewarding aspects of my Moving Writers beat is hearing from other educators about how they encourage students to identify when they feel they are a part of Nature and not merely apart from it. Despite receiving a constant barrage of information, or perhaps because of it, our information-glutted minds seem to […]
I recently read Simon Sinek’s The Infinite Game. In this book, he builds upon the ideas in James P. Carse’s work titled Finite and Infinite Games. As Carse’s original title suggests, there are two games in our world: finite and infinite. Exploring this concept, Sinek explains the contrast of these two games with specific criteria. […]
It think it’s safe to say that for most of us, this school year felt like several different years. In my school there were remote portions, hybrid portions, five-day-return portions, and with just a few days left in the school year, a masks-optional portion. Texting teacher friends throughout the year, I have used a rickety […]
Each spring, I use my discomfort with my school’s requisite summer reading assignment as a challenge: How can I make required reading work for my students and our wider community? How can I create some opportunities for student choice and voice that still allow some structure for evaluation? This year, I really thought I hit […]
As an American now living and teaching in Canada, I’ve had to learn a lot in a short period of time. I’m teaching a self-contained 3rd + 4th grade class this year, which means I’m teaching Social Studies, and the American Education system doesn’t really give us all that much about our neighbors to the […]
Today’s guest post comes from Savannah Cordova, a writer with Reedsy, a marketplace that connects self-publishing authors with the world’s best editors, designers, and marketers. In her spare time, Savannah enjoys reading contemporary fiction and writing short stories. As a teacher, you have a shot at being that one unforgettable person who deeply motivates a creative writing class, […]
Before laying down an opening for this year’s first post, I found myself browsing around the Moving Writers site and checking out some of the lovely work my colleagues are already producing. Hattie found a way to recharge from last year in the form of an outstanding education book that inspired her. David found similar […]
We’re so excited to immediately offer the second session of our series on studying vocabulary through Language Field Guides! (If you missed session 1, Language Field Guide Basics, you can find it here!) In this seven-video learning module, teachers will: – Understand the rationale for teaching root words and word parts – Get suggestions for […]
A mentor text doesn’t have to be an entire article or lengthy passage. Sometimes just a couple of sentences provides a writer with the guidance and inspiration they need to move forward as a writer. This year, I’m continuing to use a few full-length mentor texts in each unit of writing, but I am also […]
“…in many writing classrooms, students are learning to write by not being allowed to do any of the things “real” writers do: make choices.”
Abigail’s first beat of the year takes you through a lesson you could do tomorrow. Discovering the importance of place and how through observation growing a deeper understanding of why place matters in our writing.
Through all the unprecedented changes the pandemic has brought into our classrooms, something that hasn’t changed and is highly unlikely to change is, how, despite seemingly perfect external conditions, the inner condition of the writer affects their writing.
