In this summer’s beat Abigail takes you through two strategies that you can discover in Liz Prather’s new book “The Confidence to Write”… two strategies to start the school year off right and a great starting place for teacher growth this summer.
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Big Picture Writing: Things to Ponder
Thinking about our writing, big picture, helps us to think about who and how we want to be as people, and as we the people.
Mentor Text Wednesday: Pants: A Note
Mentor Text: Pants: A Note by Brian Doyle Techniques: Playing with conventions Expressing a single idea Using footnotes Background – This spring, I found myself really reflecting on the fact that I use a lot of heavy pieces in the classroom. I think we all do – they do the heavy lifting for us. They’re rich […]
The Value of Ambiguity
Sometimes, there isn’t one right answer. Sometimes it’s okay to admit we don’t know.
Dream Boards
In this school years last beat Abigail takes you through a writing strategy of “dream/vision boards” to cast a vision for the future with your students.
First Year Writing Teacher Support: Just Try It!
If you’re like me, you always have a project in the back of your mind that you want to try, but for whatever reason, you never pull the trigger. You keep telling yourself it will be a great project for the next unit, the next semester, the next year. But this is a warning for […]
Mentor Text Wednesday: 1944
Mentor Text: ‘1944’ excerpted from Gone to the Woods by Gary Paulsen Techniques: Memoir Narrator’s Voice Background – Though I have read numerous reflections and reports on Gary Paulsen’s books, particularly the Hatchet series, I had yet to read any of his work until this spring. My love of memoir and habitual checking of the recent […]
Learning From Poems: Comfort
It’s hard to believe I haven’t published a post here since January, but how the the wheels of time keep turning! And I hope you will excuse my absence, as I have been working on my biggest writing project ever: a book for teachers! The title is Poetry Pauses: Using Poems to Improve Writing in […]
Science Writing…For Kids!
Sodium Polyacrylate In science, my 4th graders are learning about the Law of Conservation of Matter after about a week of reviewing ideas around solids, liquids, and gases. Instead of doing the classic cornstarch and water lab, I decided to try something new this time around. If you go online, you can find packets of […]
A Perfect Personification Mentor Text
Abigail takes us through a mentor text which has endless amount of uses. She gives you a quick guide to this perfect personification mentor and hopes you will try it out too.
moving writers 