Paige’s post today reminds us that our very best teaching with one group of students isn’t our best teaching with a different group — we must constantly bend our teaching to meet the needs of the students in front of us. Many of us cringe at the leveling of students and especially at the titles […]
As teachers we plan for the writers in front of us every day, but what about the students who aren’t in front of us? The students who are sick at home, at an away game, or visiting the doctor? In my early years of teaching, absent students created a lot of stress for me. “What […]
“Praise addressed to students is unlikely to be effective, because it carries little information that provides answers to any of the three questions: Where am I going? How am I going? and Where to next?, and too often deflects attention from the task.” – Hattie & Timperley: The Power of Feedback If you aren’t already […]
Early in the school year, my Runner’s World magazine showed up in my mailbox with a new column. It’s called “How to Be a Runner” and I think it’s incredibly clever. The bulk of the column is a two-column list where the writer highlights a choice. Treadmill or Outside? Group or Solo? Some choices are […]
Reading and Writing Workshop are my teaching superpowers and my kryptonite. While the workshop model enables me to be the teacher I want to be to empower my students to be the kind of students they are truly capable of being, they can occasionally make me hesitant to try new models. I love consistency (so do […]
When we take on coaching or other leadership roles, we aren’t going to get anywhere with those we’re leading unless we recognize the vulnerabilities they’re facing. Last month, I started a mini-series of posts on this idea. Each post in the series will tackle a different vulnerability by exploring: How to recognize the vulnerability in […]
In this series, I am breaking down essential writing teacher habits and routines to help simplify your teaching life and create more space so you can do what you do best: actually teach! Today we’ll explore how to find “just-right” mentor texts, a topic requested by several readers. Please let me know what other topics […]
When I began incorporating inquiry into my instruction early in my career, I was excited by the possibilities. It was finally a way for students to personalize learning; I could hand over the role of the question-asker to the students and guide them as they found answers to topics in which they were invested. For […]
Gentle readers, when we were last together, I shared some ideas for assessing the spirit of workshop with an emphasis on assessing both process and product without looking for perfection. Instead, in writing workshop, we look for growth. When we consider assessment separate from grading (something too personal, too school-by-school to really make broad recommendations […]
Student: Why are you going to India, Ms. Bond? Me: For a conference on how to be a better teacher and person (my typical response). Student: Is it for AP? (She is one of my go-getter AP students) Me: Not specifically. Student: Did you have to go to a conference for our class? Me: Yup. I […]
