This semester I’ve been chronicling my first-ever experiment with Genius Hour and its intersection with the regular machinations of our writing workshop. You can catch up on the other posts in this series before diving into this wrap up! ________________________________________________________________________________________ Genius Hour, and the school year, are almost over. My students are writing their final […]
As much as I hate to admit it, I was not much of a reader in high school. It’s not that I didn’t like reading. I did. I just didn’t know what to read. My friend would buy books every now and then and pass them along to me. I would read them and enjoy […]
This semester I’m sharing my experiment with bringing Genius Hour into my writing workshop. You can catch up on the rest of the series here. I don’t have many crystal-clear high school English class memories, believe it or not, but one of them is sitting in the library with my 11th grade class, a stack […]
Ever since I read Write Beside Them, I have been on the hunt for the perfect primer to writing workshop — the big, broad strokes. The definitions of all the workshoppy words in one place. Ideas for how to set up the classroom. The gist of what a mini-lesson should sound like and what students should […]
Friends, it’s almost time. Moving Writers is hosting its second annual 100 Days of Summer Writing — a mentor-text driven writing exploration for teachers and students alike! But we need your help! We need to compile (at least) 100 mentor-text-inspired writing invitations! And we want YOU to contribute a verse! Here’s how: Find some mentor […]
Not every administrator “gets” writing workshop (she says laughing at the biggest understatement ever). But a couple years ago, one of my admins, who didn’t really “get” writing workshop, complimented our program saying, “Well, I’ll tell you this. These are the most reflective students we have ever had. They can write reflectively for pages!” While that’s […]
If you’ve read any of my previous posts, you know that I am a big advocate of creating authentic writing opportunities for students without losing the rigor of academic assignments. This is especially important for students who struggle with writing; real scenarios can give them the push they need to become motivated and invested in […]
I’m spending the next few posts sharing how I’m using Genius Hour to help kids follow their passions to deeper research, learning, and, of course, writing! You can see past posts here: Introduction + Context Finding, Developing, and Pitching Ideas Beyond conferring with students, blogging is the only formal accountability system I am using in […]
For the next few weeks, I am going to share about how my experiment with Genius Hour intersects writing workshop — and how giving kids choice and freedom to access their passion helps you do it all! If you need to get caught up, I gave an introduction and overview in my first post in […]
Paige’s post today reminds us that our very best teaching with one group of students isn’t our best teaching with a different group — we must constantly bend our teaching to meet the needs of the students in front of us. Many of us cringe at the leveling of students and especially at the titles […]
