This is a follow-up conversation with Caitlin Wingers, a grade 3 teacher in Jubail, Saudi Arabia (The initial conversation, that occurred in October, can be found here). This time around, Caitlin reflects on the unit she implemented at the start of the year — a Writing Process Unit that was Non-Genre Specific. A unit that […]
Overview Docs help you communicate with every student in your room, but especially those who need support with copies of notes and those who are chronically absent! They also provide streamlined one-stop communication with administrators, parents, and colleagues. Here you can take a peek at a completed overview document from this school year! And […]
In my continuing series this fall, I am examining the fundamental elements of writing workshop and providing ways for teachers to get started and ways for seasoned workshop teachers to take their practice to the next level. In the first two installments, I wrote about choice (here and here) and making time for writing (here […]
Starting with blank space allows for more collaborative instruction throughout the year.
So much of the workshop method is built on the desire to mold students into independent writers who will continue to thrive when they leave our classes. By the end of a year in my ninth grade Reading Writing Workshop, I hope that students will have discovered their own unique writing process, they will know […]
In April, in Creative Writing, we’ve taken a detour from technique-driven units of study. Students are participating in a National Novel Writing Month-inspired challenge, choosing from one of the following writing projects: 30 poems in 30 days, a novel (10,000 words minimum), a screenplay (45 pages minimum). As the weather turns from winter to spring, […]
A few months before our wedding, my husband and I signed up for private dance lessons at the local dance studio. On the first day, we were brought into a small room with a large rectangular window that looked out into the main ballroom. Professional dancers in street clothes leapt and arabesqued across the wooden […]
