Allison and I are taking some time away from the blog this summer to work on other writing projects. We will be popping in and out periodically to share resources and new ideas as we plan for the 2014-2015 school year. In the meantime, each Monday for the next ten weeks we will share our […]
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The Liebster Award
Thank you Dorothy of junglegymnegotiations.com for your nomination. We are honored! Official rules for the Liebster award: List 11 random facts about yourself. Answer the questions designated by the blogger(s) who nominated you. Place YOUR nominations for the Liebster Award! Nominate five (or more) other bloggers who have less than 200 followers. Make sure to […]
Reader Mail: How do you begin the writing workshop year?
Below is a recent email we received: I am a second year ELA teacher with seniors from Ohio and a huge fan of Moving Writers. After completing my first year of teaching I realized direct instruction, novel unit comprehension questions and crosswords, and assigning writing was not working in my classroom. I spent last summer […]
Resource Roundup: Mentors for Teaching Satire & Humor Writing
When people ask me if I’m excited for summer, I sound my barbaric yawp over the schoolhouses of the world–but not for the reasons most suspect. Don’t get me wrong: I love waking up to my own internal clock and sipping on my coffee slowly. I love having time to wade through all the house […]
The “Data” that Writing Workshop Works Part II
I was surprised to see him in the doorway of my classroom, holding a piece of computer paper. “Steve! It’s so good to see you. How’ve you been?” It was 3:00 on a Tuesday. I wondered why he wasn’t at practice. A star baseball player, Steve isn’t the kind of student who hangs around after […]
Mentor Text Wednesday: Mentor Text Anchor Charts
All year long we have been working backwards. In our genre-driven workshop, we have always begun with a genre, figured out how it works, and searched for an idea to fit it. But now that my students have a command of several genres and an understanding of the varying purposes and audiences of each, they are […]
MTW: Weaving Argument and Description Together
Mentor Texts: I used excerpts from the following reviews: “With Poetic Intensity, Kevin Powers Tackles the Terror of War” (book of poetry) “Modern Family: A Hard Jay’s Night” (television episode) “Pharrell Williams: Just Exhilaratingly Happy” (album) Note: Read Rebekah’s post about how she uses this mentor text to teach figurative language “Titanfall Supplants Its Ancestors […]
Mentor Text Wednesday: Restaurant Review PLUS Interview with Writer
Mentor Text: Wells, Pete. “Fred and Barney Would Feel Right at Home.” The New York Times. The New York Times Co. 28 Jan. 2014. Web. 7 April 2014. Author Information: “At the Critics’ Table.” The New York Times. The New York Times Co. 3 Sept. 2013. Web. 7 April 2014. Background: Driving to work this week, […]
A Lesson for Tomorrow: Sentence Study
Last week Rebekah blogged about teaching students how to find and use mentor texts to increase their independence and cure their writing blues. She posted a fantastic chart that uses a problem-solution or if-then approach to guiding students to and through mentor texts. As her chart indicates, sometimes a mentor text is just a sentence. […]
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