Have you ever felt you weren’t supporting a group of students with writing? Maybe these students had IEPs, maybe they didn’t, maybe they were the students who turned in writing that was all over the place, spelling mistakes, run-on sentences, no paragraphs...you know what I’m talking about. And you just didn’t know how to support these students or even where to start!?!You are not alone. I’ve felt at a loss for how to support struggling writers every single year of my 13 years as a teacher.There … [Read more...] about 5 Mini Lessons to Teach Writing Explicitly to Support Struggling Writers
Mini Lessons
Your First Mini Lesson of the School Year: How Workshop is Like Playing Fortnite Battle Royale
There are so many things we need to accomplish the first week of school. We need to get to the content but we also need to teach students about how our class will run and build relationships and community too. Now you may feel a bit overwhelmed at this point. Not to worry...in this article you'll find the tools you need to do all of these things in one class period and with one mini lesson! You will accomplish four things during your very first mini lesson of the school year: Students … [Read more...] about Your First Mini Lesson of the School Year: How Workshop is Like Playing Fortnite Battle Royale
How to Write Your Own Mini Lessons
Teachers are busy and don't have time to go looking for mini lessons. If you do have time, here are The Best Places to Find Mini Lessons Online. However, if you you don't have time, like most teachers on planet Earth, then you'll want to come up with your own mini lessons. Now, I know that this article is titled "How to WRITE Your Own Mini Lessons" but I'm going to be completely honest and let you know I rarely actually write my mini lessons down. All I really do is write down is the … [Read more...] about How to Write Your Own Mini Lessons
Whole Class Novels Reading Workshop Style
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 teaching looks like: A Reading Workshop System Looks Like... If you are implementing reading workshop, students choose the books they want to read the majority of the time. … [Read more...] about Whole Class Novels Reading Workshop Style
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, I'll walk you through the writing unit schedule. Read about the reading unit schedule here. 10 Minutes: Reading Students walk into the … [Read more...] about How I Teach Reading & Writing Workshop in 54 Minutes
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 will get to know each other, you'll build a reading and writing community, and begin teaching workshop routines in a matter of 14 days. If you'd like … [Read more...] about Launching Writing Workshop: The First 14 Days
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, shout out, play with their shoelaces or whisper to their friend during a mini lesson. Mini lessons are uninterrupted, brief, energetic and cover only one skill. But why is a mini … [Read more...] about Five Must Teach Mini Lessons
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 my first week... Some few notes on my first week plans: W.W. is writing workshop. Oral storytelling is essential the first week of school so … [Read more...] about 31 Mini Lessons for the First Month of School