“For the children we serve, we may be their only reading role models. Even when family members read, many parents rely on teachers and librarians to recommend books for their children. If we are charged with fostering children’s literate lives, it follows we should know …
Write about what we’ve done in writing class since midterm and what you learned. This is the first sentence of the “final exam” in our seventh grade writing workshop this quarter. This school year, as I discussed in last week’s post about assessment in the reading …
by Fidan Malikova As a 15 year-old freshmen in high school, I have had quite an experience with writing. I write for the newspapers at my school,which is called Cutlass. It is an amazing experience in which I get to work with such wonderful people, and …
Your assignment is a 2nd Quarter Summary blog post to me and your parents about what you’ve learned and how, using the standards and evidence from class. That is the first line of the “final exam” I wrote for our second quarter, seventh grade reading class. …
Rage by Jackie Morse Kessler My rating: 2 of 5 stars I applaud the author in taking on cutting and representing the compulsion in such detail. I think some parts may be triggers for readers, so read with caution. I struggled with the apocalypse horsemen …
One-Handed Catch by M.J. Auch My rating: 4 of 5 stars Loved Norm and feel blessed to know so many students who have Norm’s compassion for himself and for others. It is beautiful to read about a family communicating, noticing each other’s struggles and triumphs …
Narrative, argument, informational. We may teach these genres as though writing can be contained in just one of these forms in part because that is how the Common Core State Standards segregate writing. I can’t imagine writing an informational piece without someone’s story to add …
I have taught middle school ELA for over a decade. My first year, I tried Nancie Atwell’s reading workshop model. My second year, I tried it again. I struggled to implement Atwell’s model. I followed her guide from In the Middle, but there seemed to …
When I wrote last week about cheating with my no-grades classroom, I talked about how I was using narrative feedback (written and verbal) to communicate with students about their learning and how, for the most part, the revision part was not happening. I was reluctant to …
“You can’t just declare that you have a growth mindset,” said Dweck. “Growth mindset is hard. Many educators are trying to skip the journey.” To do it right, Dweck says that many teachers have to change how they teach, offering more critical feedback and giving …