Heinemann Blog

The teaching of phonics is a means to an end. Children need to decode in order to independently read and write. Phonics shouldn’t feel like an interruption or detour away from these authentic experiences. Phonics should be the building of a curiosity.

Today on the podcast, we’re talking with Anne Whitney, Colleen McCracken, and Deana Washell, co-authors of “Teaching Writers to Reflect: Strategies for a More Thoughtful Writing Workshop.”

Thinking about your students through a developmental lens will enhance your teaching each and every day. It will also make your job more interesting and therefore more fun. You can do this in a general way by getting into a three-step habit.

Witnessing a roomful of students typing or scribbling away, occasionally pausing to ponder a point or reconsider a sentence—this is teacher bliss. But how do we guide them to a place where they are writing for more than their teacher, for more than a grade?

Complete Comprehension operationalizes top-quality, peer-reviewed research and aligns with national and state standards of learning. Here's your access to all of the details.

Teaching Writers to Reflect is a book about reflection in the context of teaching writing. Anne Elrod Whitney, Colleen McCracken, and Deana Washell decided to start with themselves.

In a world of education that’s crowded by acronyms that vary state by state, teachers often find themselves needing to comply with mandates that someone far away has imposed on them. Sometimes, teachers look to principals for support in either doing away with these mandate, or to help make sense of them.

Katie Wood Ray interviews Carl Anderson and Jenifer Serravallo, who both recently published two conferring books in Heinemann’s Classroom Essentials Series.

Student conversations about writing, whether with a peer or a supportive adult, can provide powerful support on multiple levels. Opportunities to talk during writing workshop might take the form of rehearsal for writing, problem solving, reflection, feedback, or goal setting.

Welcome back to the PLC Series for the 2018-19 school year!

An Assessment Conference offers you a little time to study a reader along a number of different dimensions, considering a variety of possible goals.

Whether teacher vulnerability leads to an increase in student engagement is yet to be determined. However, an initial survey responses suggest students crave and appreciate authenticity.

Some children, no doubt, are just naturally reflective. I don’t doubt that much of Lucas’ thoughtfulness about his work was just part of who he is. But all children— and adults for that matter—can be taught to be more reflective.

Not only can teachers be flexible with what is taught to a small group of students, but also how it is taught can be differentiated according to how much teacher scaffolding, or how much student independence is appropriate for the students in that group.

In the online resources for A Teacher's Guide to Reading Conferences, you will find a variety of note-taking forms and other documents that will help you get started implementing—or refining—reading conferences right away in your classroom.

Today on the Heinemann Podcast, we’re continuing our series of conversations with author Cornelius Minor. In We Got This, Cornelius says it’s not necessary to be brave every second of every day, but rather in the moments when we are called upon to raise our voice and advocate for the right thing.

The more opportunities students have to practice using the language of mathematics through conversation, the deeper their understanding will be. As students engage in brief discussion, they have the chance to hear and practice providing explanations, multiple representations, and solutions.

The classroom library is the home of a class’ reading community. Like any remodeling project, it is best to make a plan that is real but achievable for the situation at hand. We always advise not to take on more than you can finish in the amount of time you have to do it.