How to use this Page

Now I know different. I know that all writers hear that voice. All of us. Here was my message to the 6th graders: All writers have an inner critic. Acknowledge yours. And KEEP WRITING.

I’m working on a presentation, “Getting Started with Writing Workshop,” for a group of 3rd – 6th grade teachers I’ll be working with later this month. I’ve made a list of non-negotiables I’m… Read More →

I love, LOVE, L-O-V-E  Ralph Tells A Story (Amazon Children’s Publishing, 2012), which is a story about a boy, Ralph, who has trepidation about writing. (It’s already become a book I suggest to… Read More →

One of the fantastic sessions I attended at NCTE was called “Beyond Classroom Walls: Honoring Voices of Young Readers.”  It was led by Julie Johnson of Raising Readers and Writers, Katie Keier of Catching Readers, and Cathy Mere of Reflect and Refine.  Let me start by saying that all three of these women are the [...]

Whenever I used to hear the words “Center Time” I immediately thought about early childhood classrooms.  However, that notion changed in 2008 when I created a Poetry Station for my fourth graders.  The Poetry Station was created for students to use during the “morning work” period of the school day.  It was a choice, not [...]

I recently read Michael Putnam’s article, “Running the Race to Improve Self-Efficacy,” in the Winter 2009 Issue of the Kappa Delta Pi Record. Putnam asserts, “I have complete confidence that you too could run a marathon; but it takes a plan, plenty of hard work and dedication, and a belief in yourself. Running [...]

With the action research project I’m about to embark on, I’m trying to get a better hold on the writing behaviors my students, who do not write regularly, possess. I reached for M. Colleen Cruz’s New Book from the Workshop Help Desk Series entitled A Quick Guide to Reaching Struggling Writers. This book [...]

I’ve been going through some of my former students’ end-of-year self-assessments in writing (adapted from Buckner’s Book Notebook Know-How) that were completed in June 2007. I’m doing this to find just a couple of good quotes about the way that my reluctant writers transformed, in their own eyes. Here’s what the most reluctant [...]

Ro asked: I have a student in my class who is on the spectrum and is extremely reluctant to writing. He doesn’t think anything is important or worth writing about. It’s extremely difficult even getting him to write a few sentences because he is so defiant. My next step is getting him to try writing on [...]

For the past two years I’ve included “My Writer’s Notebook/Diamond Search” by Brod Bagert inside of every student’s writer’s notebook. However, in addition to Barert’s Poem this year, I’m also going to be putting some writerly advice inside of the kids’ notebooks. These pieces of “advice,” combined with the gift-wrapping of [...]

TWT on Two Computers at Courthouse Coffee Originally uploaded by teachergal As you know, Ruth and I got together to work on our presentation for NCTE this past week. Now that I’m back home, I’m marveling at the fact that we got SOOOOO much accomplished. We started out at Courthouse Coffee on Wednesday Morning with [...]