Heinemann Blog

If educators don't have a language to define and describe engagement—a point on the horizon toward which we're working—and if we don't incorporate talk of engagement into our discourse with students, how can we help children become truly engaged?

Today on the Heinemann Podcast, Lucy Calkins, author and series editor of the Units of Study for Reading and Writing, shares in her own words the latest, groundbreaking work to come out of the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project: the new Units of Study in Phonics for grades K–2.

Setting up our classroom furniture might seem haphazard at first, but each decision we make has a significant impact on how our community functions, and thrives.

Today marks the end of the first week of Jennifer Serravallo's online Summer Writing Camp, and what a week it's been! Jen walked 'campers' through five strategies for writing fictional narratives.

While school libraries and bookrooms both house books to be shared and even may be located in the same physical space, in many schools they serve a different role for students and teachers.

Today on the Heinemann Podcast, a special conversation between Linda Rief and Penny Kittle. Both are at the Boothbay Literacy Institute. Penny talks with Linda about her new “The Quickwrite Handbook: 100 Mentor Texts to Jumpstart Your Students’ Thinking and Writing.

Offering a variety of elaboration strategies will also help students to vary the types of details they may include in their piece, so their drafts don't end up sounding one-note.

When it came to choose between these two titles for our summer book study, it quickly became clear that we needed both. The intersection of messages and range of ideas for application—not just in our schools but in our lives—will create critical conversations as we mentally and emotionally prepare for the work that awaits us in August.

This Wednesday night, TCRWP staff developers Samantha Barratt and Anna Sheehan will lead a chat on ways to integrate the learning of the June reading institute into new teaching practices and gear up for the best possible start to the coming school year.

This year we join Kylene Beers, Robert Probst, Penny Kittle, Linda Rief, Chris Crutcher, and Teri Lesense, Kwame Alexander, and Kelly Gallagher to investigate aliteracy and our students through reading, thinking, and writing. We'll be adding to the blog as this multi-day institute progresses so keep checking back!

As we build a supportive environment, we must also set the expectation that all students will participate actively in an ongoing discussion. For this, students need not only to be willing to share thoughts but also to respond in constructive ways.

Today on the Heinemann podcast, we’re packing our bookbags for summer camp!

Writing and teaching writing can be intimidating. It is hard work, and it takes time. Quickwrites offer an easy and manageable writing experience that helps both students and teacher find their voices and develop their confidence, as they discover they have important things to say.

Before we were teachers, we were readers−readers who understand the power reading has to change our lives from the new characters we meet, the new places we visit, and the new lessons we learn.

You must protect your literacy life. Don’t be afraid to make a decision or to take a stand. You must protect this gift you have given yourself.

This week, institute season kicks off at The Reading and Writing Project, as thousands of educators gather at Teachers College in New York City to reflect upon, reinvigorate, and refine their teaching of writing.

You’re invited to summer camp with Jennifer Serravallo (and it’s FREE!) Find all the necessary details here, and we'll see you in The Reading and Writing Strategies Community Facebook group this summer!

Engagement, in part, depends on what you feel and sense when you enter a classroom. It's the culture—unseen and unheard, but omnipresent, and it's a little tougher to pin down.