by Amanda | Sep 23, 2018 | Featured Post, Mentor Texts, Podcast
6.9kSHAREShare Tweet Pin It Every writing unit should start with mentor texts. Students need many examples of the type of writing we expect them to do. In this article, I’ve compiled my favorite middle school mentor texts. Each mentor text...
by Amanda | Sep 23, 2018 | Mentor Texts, Podcast
Most writing workshop teachers know what a mentor text is (examples of writing in books, short stories, articles, poems etc.). But, what about how to use a mentor text? When I scoured the internet for the answer to this pressing question I found very little....
by Amanda | Aug 26, 2018 | Featured Post, Make Writing Fun, Podcast, Writing Units
Don’t Have Time to Read? Fiction writing is neglected in English classes everywhere for many reasons. We don’t have enough time. Or we are afraid students might produce pages and pages and pages and we feel too guilty about not reading all of...
by Amanda | Aug 5, 2018 | Back to School, Management, Podcast
I let students socialize the first day of school. Read on to find out why… After reading this important article by Write On with Miss G (which I highly recommend you read), I thought back to my first day of school, last year. Here’s what’s written in...
by Amanda | Aug 2, 2018 | Back to School, Podcast, Secondary Teachers
Don’t have time to read this article? Listen on iTunes instead! We all have our own curriculum, our own teaching teams, our own way of doing things but it’s summer vacation and time to ponder other options! This article is meant for secondary teachers who...
by Amanda | Jul 30, 2018 | Back to School, Featured Post, Management, Podcast, Writing Independence
Don’t have time to read all of this?!?! Listen below:) So, some of your students aren’t writing during writing? Maybe they are just sitting there staring off into space. Or maybe they are sneaking onto their phone, they’ll probably tell you they were...
by Amanda | Jul 18, 2018 | Mini Lessons, Podcast, Reading
English teachers struggle to fit it all in. We want to teach the novels we love while also allowing the freedom and choice that reading workshop provides. Can we do both? Yes! Keep reading to find out how…First a bit of background about my interpretation of what...
by Amanda | Apr 28, 2018 | End of the Year, Make Writing Fun, Podcast
The end of the school year can be chaotic, so keeping students engaged and having fun is incredibly important. I have used the project detailed here every year I’ve taught and it never fails to keep students loving their school work and writing until the very...
by Amanda | Feb 4, 2018 | Holiday Writing, Make Writing Fun, Reading
Teaching students how to identify themes in literature can be challenging! It takes a lot of abstract thought which students may not even be capable of yet. Why not use the Valentine’s Day holiday to your advantage? Often, themes in literature involve...
by Amanda | Jan 15, 2018 | Conferencing, Differentiation, Podcast
Teaching writing is tough and differentiating writing instruction is tougher! Student writers have so many varying needs. What do you do when Steven can crank out a well organized, thoughtful literary essay in twenty minutes and John can barely write a paragraph? What...
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...