Source As this year draws to a close, taking time to reflect is natural. As teachers, reflecting is just as important for our students, as it is for us. However, I have struggled with finding a “student reflection” that gives both the student and I real, honest feedback that we can turn into action. Data […]
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Teaching Grammar with Mentor Texts
One of the most common questions I get asked when I speak with teachers is “Okay, but how do you teach grammar?” And this mini-course is my answer to that! Yes, I use mentor texts to teach grammar just like I use mentor texts to teach any other writing skill. But in this course, I […]
Mentor Text Wednesday: Red Vise, Blue Vise
Mentor Text: Red Vise, Blue Vise by Eric J. Stormer Techniques: Background – I’ve long been a proponent of maintaining a notebook as a teacher – a place to capture all the half-baked ideas and flights of lesson planning fancy. I love my physical one, and have developed a similar pattern with the Notes app on […]
Coaching Call with Rebekah: How Can Teachers Gather Data About Students in English?
In my twenty years of teaching, I have been in many IEP / 504 meetings and participated in the writing of student goals. And, always, the more qualitative nature of English is a challenge. It doesn’t make sense, for instance, to write a goal necessitating a student to “correctly identify the main idea of a […]
Mentor Text Wednesday: The Giraffe
Mentor Text: The Giraffe from Vanishing Treasures by Katherine Rundell Techniques: Background – Daylight Savings Time and insomnia don’t work very well together. I feel like I’ve just gotten that part of my life halfway regulated. Of course, it’s meant that I have a lot more time for reading. Combine that with the ease of borrowing […]
Putting on Your Game Face: Card Games for Building Literary Analysis
I’m a frequent teacher, sometimes poet and occasional gamer. Once in a while, these identities collide. One such collision produced what I’m sharing today: Explicate, The Poetry Analysis Card Game. Before we get into the details, let me say, this is free to download and use here. But, if for some reason, you want to […]
Mentor Text Wednesday: Maggie Smith’s Scars
Mentor Text: a scar tells a story by Maggie Smith Techniques: Background – Sometimes my reading choices are influenced by my job. I read a lot of memoir anyway, but sometimes, when I flip through a book, I am deciding not just whether it is going to interest me, but whether it may bear fruit in […]
Coaching Call with Rebekah: Nonfiction Reading Strategies
Over the last year or so, I’ve been thinking about how I can do more to help teachers. A one-day workshop or webinar is great, but I’m also convinced that the most important conversations we have are individual, one-on-one, and speak into the specifics of our lives. So, I started offering private coaching sessions just […]
Find a starting line: Using writing contests to reexamine writing skills and motivate writers
On a recent sunny October morning, I laced up my sneakers and set out on a run through golden tree-lined paths in a park close to my house. The run was at a mild pace, the air fresh, and I was daydreaming while running. I ended the run red-cheeked but not overly winded or strained. […]
Flash Proofreading Inspired by Rebekah’s Flash Revision
I tried Rebekah O’Dell’s Flash Revision and loved the results. Later in the unit, one of my students asked, “Why don’t you help me with a timer while proofreading too? It’s harder than revision.”
moving writers 