I am proud that under normal circumstance I can choreograph a lot of “movement” into a single class period, but for this year, I am learning to embrace the fact that I cannot. I need smaller, simpler moves in a writing workshop that we can learn together and execute well. Otherwise, frustration will prevail.
Category: remote learning
Writing Relationships: “Slide”ing into Writing
This year at Moving Writers, I hope to explore various ways to utilize writing practices in your classroom to build strong social-emotional relationships with students despite the physical separations imposed on classrooms by the pandemic. I hope very much that this proves to be a limited series… When I posted my first contribution of the […]
On the Lookout For Happy Accidents
My greatest hope is that amid this newness, the “I-feel-like-a-first-year-teacher-again” of it all, we can all learn some things about teaching writing that we may never have otherwise explored.
The Life-saving Power of Routine
Last spring, when the rug was pulled out from under teachers and students everywhere, some things were surprisingly difficult, and others were much easier than expected. Though our teaching situations may be different, it’s the same deal this year, right? Interestingly, noticed a pattern last spring: if we had developed a routine around [insert stuff […]
Writing Relationships
With almost everyone back to school in some unusual, frustrating form by now, it feels like a weird time to be asking you to kick back and read an educational blog. I know–I lost you at “kick back.” But I’m hoping this one might be timely–it’s a revelation I had this Tuesday afternoon after spending […]
Announcing the Inside the Blended Workshop Community
Whether you are returning to school virtually or face-to-face or something in between, we all need help envisioning how we will keep reading AND writing workshops thriving this year! We all need a sounding board, cheerleaders, and regular support. Let’s build a community! Community members will receive: A monthly newsletter filled with exclusive articles on adapting BOTH […]
Surprise and Emergence
In our writing classrooms, 2020 has been a year full of surprise. In Pennsylvania, we had a warm, nearly snowless winter and sudden, snappy late frosts in in the spring, so it’s been a year of surprises in the garden just outside my back door as well. Recently, I started taking some photos of striking […]
Well, What are You Waiting For?: An End of Year Rant
Trigger Warning: this post opens with a possibly offensive rant. If you feel the need to skip said rant, I have inserted a subheading to indicate where it is safe to begin reading. When I first started this beat about starting over and about being more intentional with which practices we keep and which ones […]
Overcoming “New Tank Syndrome”
The Feedback Dilemma The workshop model is built around giving students high-impact and timely feedback. Instead of writing comments on a graded paper, we get to work with students one-on-one or in small groups during the reading and writing process. As a result, students get that feedback when they need it, and they have time […]
Where do we go from here? How ’bout a victory lap?
Lindsay Bruggeman is a high school English teacher currently working toward her Masters of Arts in Teaching with the Ohio Writing Project at Miami University. You can reach her at lindsaybruggeman3@gmail.com or Twitter @MrsBruggemanLHS So, where do we go from here? We can start by holding on to the good bones of our classrooms. […]