writing community – moving writers

September 10, 2021September 9, 2021Michael Ziegler

New Perspective for an Old(ish) Teacher

Before laying down an opening for this year’s first post, I found myself browsing around the Moving Writers site and checking out some of the lovely work my colleagues are already producing. Hattie found a way to recharge from last year in the form of an outstanding education book that inspired her. David found similar […]

June 4, 2021June 3, 2021Shawna Easton

It’s a Celebration!: Why We Should Honor Achievements in the Classroom

My 40th birthday is in a couple of days, June 6th to be exact. I expected this to be a difficult time in my life as I don’t like accepting that I’m getting older (turning 30 involved a lot of crying!). It has been kind of the opposite; it has made me appreciate the cliche […]

April 2, 2021March 31, 2021Shawna Easton

Three Authentic Audience Web-Based Platforms to Move Writers

Teaching writing, at first, was a struggle for me. It was a struggle because the kids seemed to detest it. When I asked them why I received all sorts of answers, but one answer that kept coming up was that they didn’t feel like the writing was “real”; they turned in all their writing to […]

March 15, 2021March 17, 2021Kenneth Bui

Single Skill Revision

In my last Moving Writers post, Shokunin as Revision, I equated the revision process to the elements of artisan work. One of those elements was taking small steps for gradual growth. A great reminder on maximizing the effectiveness of a writing conference with students? Focus on just one skill and one skill only. It is […]

March 12, 2021March 13, 2021Michael Ziegler

Turning the Page on Writing Conferences…with Reading Conferences

Some thoughts on why I always establish reading conferring in order to prepare students to confer about writing.

March 5, 2021March 3, 2021Shawna Easton

Write Where You Are: How Writing Helps Us Process Life

Things are a little stressful in Texas, where I live. We just survived a snow-pocalypse the likes we’ve not seen in a century. Many of us had power outages, no internet, no water, or busted pipes, and this was just during the week of SNOVID! That doesn’t include all of the trials of the aftermath. […]

February 19, 2021February 19, 2021Brett Vogelsinger

3 Keepers: Lessons I Hope to Keep From Hybrid Writing Instruction

After a few more deep breaths and some reflection, I’m ready to think about what I hope sticks from this time period we are all so eager to put behind us.

February 5, 2021January 30, 2021Shawna Easton

How Single Point Rubrics can be a Game Changer

One day, a few years ago, I was doing what all teachers do at some point: writing a rubric. And it looked something like this… Grammar and Mechanics The writer has a strong command of grammar, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. The writer has command of grammar, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. The writer has little command […]

October 16, 2020October 15, 2020Michael Ziegler

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 […]

September 15, 2020September 15, 2020Kristin Bond

Critical Connections with Ourselves, Our Students, and Each Other

Recently, my friend’s 10 year old son asked: “How is retirement going?” First reaction: ummm…say what now?! But he explained himself: “You are no longer going to teach kids in a classroom, so you are retiring from that.” And he is right…the teaching that I have been doing for the past 15 years is over […]