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December is a month of celebrations and a chance for the co-authors to take a brief blogging break as we turn our focus to our families during the rest of December. The rest and reflection always helps us start the new year with a renewed sense of passion and purpose.

Finding New Opportunities and Joy: All It Takes Is A Slight Twist This year presented my family and my teaching life with many changes, and each one took real focus for me. I had the opportunity to make a slight turn turning each into a change blessing or a change obstacle. The difference is in considering the intention.

Is there a sense of writing urgency in your classroom?

A week ago, Kathleen Tolan, Senior Deputy Director of the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, died peacefully in her sleep. Kathleen was the one who hired me, first as her own and… Continue reading →

Deb shared fabulous ideas about developing authentic audiences in a post she wrote for the blog series on What Matters Most.

Dana's post on the power of demonstration writing is one of my favorites. Writers love to see their teachers write, and teachers have a terrific platform for instructing using this technique.

Melanie asked the students, "What makes you feel like a writer?" Read the voices from the classroom. YOUR writing matters to YOUR students.

This week on Two Writing Teachers, we are each chosing another co-author’s previously published post to feature as part of our Throwback Week.

  A well-planned word wall allows students to quickly access familiar high frequency words from word study instruction. As they are writing, they can simply glance up, find the word, and continue to write. With… Continue reading →

Kelly Boswell reminded me of a three step process for using mentor texts with students.

Maybe you teach in a school where all is calm during the weeks between the end of Thanksgiving weekend and the beginning of Winter break. I do not. (If you do, will you… Continue reading →

A class hub can make all the difference for digital writing and learning!

The realization of this moment gave me chills and led me to share my writing backstory with Dana. Dana listened and encouraged me to open my presentation with this story. I was hesitant, the experience had halted my inner writer for years. What if sharing it again had the same result?

Three words that can change a student's life forever.

Checking in on my 2016 One Little Word...

We can all be a little more like my daughter's swim teacher, Coach Annie, and a little less like the camp counselors of my childhood. Here's how.

Feel free to add on or share some ideas of how caregivers can support children's writerly lives.

On Tuesday evening I attended a lecture by Lydia Davis, an award winning writer whose published work includes short stories, essays, novels, and translations of a number of classics including Madame Bovary. Davis’s… Continue reading →

More and more, I've been recognizing the need to give students some freedom in their writing lives. Can independent writing time be the answer?

Kate brought us in closer to consider the importance of the tools’ accessibility and their effect on learning. Not only do these tools need to be accessible to the students, but students need to understand how and when to use them for learning.

Last week, I attended the Connecticut Reading Association’s convention, and I was lucky enough to hear and see some of my literacy heroes. Jennifer Serravallo presented about writing instruction, and her presentation made… Continue reading →

This week I am again reminded of how life in the classroom intersects with the world outside the classroom. When children come to school having experienced tumultuous or frightening events at home, school is… Continue reading →

Maribeth Boelt’s new book A Bike Like Sergio’s will appeal to readers and writers of all ages. It’s a heartfelt story with a message to which readers will relate; the right decision is… Continue reading →

We believe "Assessment Strengthens Writers" and this past week, we explored many different ideas related to assessing writers. In case you missed it, here are the links to all of the posts in this blog series. We hope you join us tonight for our Twitter chat and continue the conversation.

Annie began reading, the first few words showing strong attempted spelling, "I went to the forest and followed a path...." As she continued, her stamina for attempted spelling waned. Her enthusiasm and eagerness to share did not change! She kept reading her story with fluency and excitement. When Annie finished, she turned to the class, and the writers greeted her with silent applause and Annie beamed.