by Amanda | Dec 1, 2017 | Holiday Writing, Podcast
November, December, April, May and June are months full of fun and anticipation for the upcoming break! It can be incredibly challenging to keep things running smoothly and continue the teaching and learning during this time. Here you’ll find ten ways you can...
by Amanda | Oct 7, 2017 | Mini Lessons, Podcast, Reading, Routines, Writing Units
Writing and reading workshop are powerful methods to teach English. But, how can secondary teachers, who have less than an hour with their students, do it all?!?! I think I have found the solution! Here are the two different schedule options depending on if you are in...
by Amanda | Sep 21, 2017 | Featured Post, Podcast, Technology
In the last three years Google Classroom has definitely transformed my teaching practices. It is such a simple system to use. At first I used it in obvious ways, create a Google Doc, type directions in that Doc and post it as a class assignment. But as time went on I...
by Amanda | Sep 5, 2017 | Back to School, Management, Mini Lessons, Podcast, Writing Units
6.2kSHAREShare Tweet Pin It This blog post outlines exactly what I did to launch both reading and writing workshop in my classroom. If you are an English teacher wanting to teach using the writing and reading workshop model,...
by Amanda | Aug 6, 2017 | Assessment, Featured Post, Publishing, Technology, Writing Units
Publishing student writing is the cornerstone of a successful writing workshop program. At the beginning of each of my writing units I tell students they will write many different drafts within a writing genre and pick one to revise intensely and then to publish. In...
by Amanda | Jul 30, 2017 | Back to School, Featured Post, Technology, Videos
PowToon is a fun and fairly easy video creation tool for teachers and students. The company already has an excellent blog post about how teachers can utilize this tool in their classrooms here. This blog post is about how students can use PowToon for ten writing and...
by Amanda | Jul 17, 2017 | Back to School, Management, Podcast, Routines
Every teacher on the planet knows that the first weeks of school are all about routines, routines, routines and more routines. But, over time so many routines in our classrooms go overlooked. This guide discusses five important components of the workshop schedule...
by Amanda | Jun 9, 2017 | Podcast, Technology
Ever spend hours looking for YouTube videos to teach writing? Youtube channels for writing teachers are hard to find! YouTube is an incredible resource bank for writing teachers…but sometimes it can be annoying to sift through all the junk to get to the good...
by Amanda | Apr 20, 2017 | Assessment
I’m going to be honest here. In my opinion, writing assessment is the worst part of a writing teacher’s job. As objective as we try to be while assessing with rubrics and checklists, grading writing is subject to our attitudes, relationships and even our...
by Amanda | Mar 22, 2017 | Podcast, Research
Researching online is easier than ever. But, thoughtlessness is easier than ever too! Classrooms are transforming. They are spending more and more time learning online. This is why it is vital we read articles like this with our students. We need to think about,...
by Amanda | Feb 2, 2017 | Argumentative Writing, Make Writing Fun, Mini Lessons, Podcast, Support for Struggling Writers, Videos
Students are glued to their media…YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat are the top apps used by secondary kids. As educators our job is to engage our students in the process of learning and what better way is there to engage than through video?!?! In this...
by Amanda | Dec 29, 2016 | Technology
Okay, let’s be honest here. Everyone Googles everything. Am I right? Hence, the need to teach students how to “Google” properly. Googling has taken over past research practices such as going to the library or using an encyclopedia. It is so...
by Amanda | Dec 2, 2016 | Holiday Writing
Before your pants are covered in green glitter and your classroom floor is littered with candy cane wrappers, make sure to check out these holiday writing activities! Narrative Writing Activities Possible Key Terms for These Lessons: dialogue, characters, setting,...
by Amanda | Nov 18, 2016 | Mini Lessons
Many teachers think mini lessons are a way to teach writing or reading skills. THAT IS NOT TRUE! We should all be teaching behavior mini lessons too. Go directly to videos you can use with your writing class today by clicking on any of the links below… 1. What...
by Amanda | Nov 4, 2016 | Podcast, Writing Units
Most secondary teachers I know, wonderful teachers who are friends of mine by the way, teach information/expository writing using essay assignments. Here’s how it usually goes: Read & annotate articles Write an essay in response to the articles Teach how to...