When we think of research writing, we often think of the laborious, quarter-long essay projects that often scare our students. And while there is value in teaching our students to use research that culminates in an academic essay, the truth is that not all research writing looks that way. My students have been doing infographics […]
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Mentor Text Wednesday: Turning…
Mentor Text: the series of poems about turning different ages from Black Girl You Are Atlas by Renee Watson Techniques: Memoir Background – This post almost didn’t happen. Between different events, field trips and weather closures, I’m in one of those times where as a teacher you feel absolutely overwhelmed and ineffective. I’m pretty flexible, but […]
Books Made for Sticky Notes: Analysis in the Wild
When I read nonfiction, I usually read through two lenses: a reader interested in the topic and a writer interested in the craft. I’m pretty much always on the hunt for those little gems that give both student and teacher writers a glimpse at what writing for authentic audiences and purposes can look like. The […]
A Guide to Informational Writing Genres
Standards and pacing guides dictate the modes of writing students need to do in a given school year: informational writing, persuasive writing, argumentative writing, narrative writing. But these documents aren’t as good at sharing what that should actually look like. That — what modes of writing look like in the wild — is genre. The […]
Mentor Text Wednesday: Tuning In
Mentor Text: Tuning In by Rick Rubin Techniques: Introduction Background – When you’re talking to friends, and that old hypothetical classic, “What would you do if could have any career in the world?” comes up, I’m pretty boring. There’s not much I think I want to do except what I do. I know it’s cliched to […]
Borrowed Forms, Borrowed Shells: The Hermit Crab Essay
Lately, I’ve been interested in what educators do to invite playfulness in the classroom. When we create conditions for playful experimentation, we can lower the stakes for communicating about a serious topic. In fact, we may lower an entire drawbridge, allowing students to enter into an imaginative space previously regarded as a formidable realm, where […]
GRIT: Balancing a Student’s Capacity to Grow & Pass a State-Mandated Test
Source If you teach a tested subject like me, February seems to be the month that everyone starts becoming “invested” in what you are doing in the classroom and how it is preparing our students to pass their TEST. This time of year students are taking “field tests” and “benchmark tests” in addition to […]
Better Questions . . . Better Classrooms
Questioning strategies are a passion of mine. I’ve been doing some research into what academics call dialogic talk and what teachers call questioning for the better part of 25 years. Thinking about your classroom, I want you to consider the layered and nuanced dimensions purposeful questioning can take in your classroom. First-Write Them Down Do […]
Mentor Text Wednesday: Things to Do around Winnipeg when you’re Black
Mentor Text: Things to do Around Winnipeg when you’re Black by Michael Fraser Techniques: Titling Pieces Using theme to make a statement Background – I’m drafting this at the end of the second day of the second semester. That means I’ve survived the madness of the end of the first semester, exam week, marking everything and […]
So you want to start a writing center?
At the beginning of December, a local high school reached out and asked to come into our school to shadow our writing center and ask questions. They were interested in beginning their own center. It was a career-long dream of their English department chair, much like it was for my own department coordinator when we […]
