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 reading workshop and whole class novel […]
Mini Lessons
How I Teach Reading & Writing Workshop in 54 Minutes
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 a reading or a writing unit. In this article, […]
Launching Writing Workshop: The First 14 Days
This article 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, then this post is exactly what you’ve been looking for! You’ll find my exact lesson outline for 14 total school days. Students […]
Five Must Teach 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 is a mini lesson? Often, students raise their hand, […]
31 Mini Lessons for the First Month of School
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 goals and most importantly my philosophy for teaching writing…students and teachers ARE WRITERS. Here, take a look at […]
Realizations About Teaching Writing
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 the leading think tank in writing instruction today, aka Lucy Calkins and her incredibly inspiring and talented crew. […]
How to Support Your Writing Haters
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 rarely get the chance to talk about in their writing classrooms. Click part one & two […]
The Truth About Writing Part Two
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 chance to talk about in their writing classrooms. Here’s the run down of the […]