Teach Argumentative Writing Through Video
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...
5 Steps Students Should Take After Googling
260SHAREShare Tweet Pin It 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...
Fifteen Holiday Writing Activities to Save Your Sanity Before Break
Share Tweet Pin It 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:...
Five Must Teach Mini Lessons
Share Tweet Pin It 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...
Why You’re Probably Teaching Information Writing WRONG
Share Tweet Pin It 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...
5 Simple Ways to Improve Your Writing Units
Share Tweet Pin It Planning a unit can be time consuming but it doesn’t have to be. Planning a unit can actually be quite simple, especially if you plan as you go, based on the needs of the students in front of you. Below you’ll find 5 tips...
How to Create Student E-Porfolios
217SHAREShare Tweet Pin It Student E-Portfolios are an easy and engaging way to demonstrate growth and learning. But, what exactly are they and how do you make them happen in your classroom? E-Portfolios are websites that contain pages which show...
31 Mini Lessons for the First Month of School
676SharesShare Tweet Pin It What do you write in your plan book the first month of school, how about the first week? If you took a peek at my plan book you’d find mini lesson titles, mentor text lists, scheduled assessments, deadlines, unit plan...
Realizations About Teaching Writing
Share Tweet Pin It Don’t have time to read? Listen to this article instead! I’ve been teaching writing workshop for four years now with no formal training. Last week I attended the Summer Writing Institute in NYC organized and facilitated by...
How to Support Your Writing Haters
140SHAREShare Tweet Pin It Welcome back! This is part three of a series revealing the truth about writing with mini lessons! In each blog post I provide a mini lesson you can use with your class to discuss topics all students think about but...
Ten Places to Find Mentor Texts
1.5kSharesShare Tweet Pin It What is a mentor text anyway? A mentor text is any text used to model the type of writing your students are learning. Mentor texts are the backbone of writing workshop because students need to see what the pros do, to get...
The Truth About Writing Part Two
Share Tweet Pin It Welcome back for part two of this three part series revealing the truth about writing with mini lessons! In each blog post I provide a mini lesson you can use with your class to discuss topics all students think about but rarely get...
The Truth About Writing Part One
965SHAREShare Tweet Pin It This is a three-part mini lesson series that will help you reach for the truth about writing with your students. Each post will include a mini lesson, not for the faint of heart. These mini lessons are for writing teachers who...