information writing – moving writers

September 2, 2021August 30, 2021Abigail Lund

Exploring a Place Through Writing

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.

May 10, 2021May 9, 2021Starian Porchia

Bios, Threads, & Retweets: Moving Writers with Twitter Simulations

We know that writing strategies are everywhere. And, I am amazed at the amount of writing skills and strategies that are embedded into social media platforms. Although the student writer may not actually notice the author’s craft and intention that goes into well-crafted tweets, they are there in abundance, and I realized recently that these […]

February 4, 2021February 4, 2021Abigail Lund

The Two Powerful Words… I Think

The powerful words I think can open a world of inquiry in our classroom especially in the science and math classroom. How can you use predictions and hypothesis in your classroom to generate critical writers? Abigail shows you some moves you can make!

November 5, 2020November 5, 2020Abigail Lund

Two Truths and a Lie

A writing teacher’s attempt to fill her classrooms full of words. In this excerpt students use Two Truths and a Lie to explain their “Why”

October 1, 2020October 1, 2020Abigail Lund

Becoming an “Expert”

(Above is a recording of the following article) If I had a quarter for everytime someone told me that we don’t have time to write in subjects other than ELA I think I might be a millionaire. Writing is such an integral part of every subject area and I am on a mission to make […]

December 11, 2019December 10, 2019Jay

Mentor Text Wednesday – The Day It Finally Happens

Mentor Text: ‘The Day The Last Slaughterhouse Closes‘ from The Day It Finally Happens by Mike Pearl Techniques: Presenting Research Using Narrative as an Introduction Attribution Background – I realize that it’s almost stereotypical for an English teacher, and lifelong reader, to go on about the importance and impact of libraries. So, I won’t. Except […]

March 27, 2019March 26, 2019hattiemaguire

Teaching From My Twitter Feed: Developing Messy Arguments

Last year about this time, this article from the New York Times showed up in my Twitter feed. I clicked on it because I was intrigued by the title (“Extensive Data Shows Punishing Reach of Racism for Black Boys”) but when I realized that the article was all moving data, I knew my students would […]

March 21, 2019March 20, 2019Michael Ziegler

A Cute Argument Against Obtuse Argument

I promise the title is the last of the math-related humor in this piece. I’ve already profiled the big Narrative Journalism unit my PLC does every year, but I had an interesting experience today that made me think that maybe one element of that writing project is worth revisiting in a bit more detail. […]

March 7, 2019March 6, 2019hattiemaguire

Tackling the Dry Stuff aka Footnotes made Fun

Early in the school year, my Runner’s World magazine showed up in my mailbox with a new column. It’s called “How to Be a Runner” and I think it’s incredibly clever. The bulk of the column is a two-column list where the writer highlights a choice. Treadmill or Outside? Group or Solo? Some choices are […]

January 17, 2019January 16, 2019Michael Ziegler

A Firm Defense of “Squishy” Research

I recently dropped into a colleague’s class while her students were in the midst of a pretty deep dive of a research project and was impressed by some of the conversations I listened to about source reliability and peer-review. It made me second guess–for a moment–the project my kids are working on right now wherein […]