An Old Class, A New Risk: A Mini Fiction Workshop in IB English

Previously on Stefanie’s Moving Writers Posts (or, perhaps for the sake of this TV-style intro, As the Pencil Sharpens): In writing conferences with seniors last month, the most popular response to the question “If you could write anything, what would you like to be writing right now?” was “a short story.”  And so, on today’s […]

Writing Our Way In Reader Mail: Creating Authentic Assessments

As is our habit, we are taking the summer away from the blog to read, write, and recharge. We’ll be back in late August with new content, but for the summer, let’s take a journey down memory lane as we visit our ten most-read posts from the previous school year!  Yesterday, Rebekah posted about assessment […]

This Is Letting Go, and This Is Good: A Lesson from Minute Maid (And Megan Kortlandt!)

One of the joys of a rainy Saturday afternoon when all the work is caught up and the laundry rumbles around in the washer or dryer is stretching out on my couch for a little channel surfing. Usually, a commercial break means it’s time to change the channel, but last Saturday, the break began with […]

Writing Our Way In: Tips for Balancing Literature Study and Writing Workshop

My beat this fall is all about exploring how students can write their way INto texts and use their writing (or others’) to learn more about literature. If you’re looking for new ways to use writing in a literature study or hoping to blend writing workshop into a course where it doesn’t seem like a […]

Writing Our Way In: Exploring Drama Through A Soliloquy Study– Part Two

Last month, I shared my plans for using a soliloquy study to help my seniors write their way in to Hamlet. Today, I’m almost done reading the seniors’ soliloquies, and I’m excited to share the results, the lingering questions, and my plans for the future of this unit with you! Previously, on Moving Writers… The […]

Writing Our Way In: Exploring Drama Through A Soliloquy Study– Part One

On any day last week, a quick sweep of my three senior classes offered the same scene: gaunt, gray faces; foreheads on tables; backpacks exploding with papers; hair teased and tangled by frustrated fingers. It’s the October crunch, and my seniors are feeling the pressure of first quarter assessments, college applications, and fall SAT testing. […]