Welcome to a new year of content and conversation in Heinemann's PLC Series. This month we focus on the craft of teaching writers—not the writing.
Take a moment to look around your classroom. You might see pencils on the floor, journals sticking out of desks, and baskets full of notebooks or papers. Now look more closely. Chances are writing is hiding there, words and ideas tucked into the inconspicuous corners of the room.
When you nurture a classroom of writers within a workshop model, you have the opportunity to uncover this hidden writing – writing that students would like to bring to life and can, with a little time and a gentle nudge.
In this clip from a Heinemann PD webinar, educator and author Lisa Eickholdt shares an example of this kind of writing. After you watch the clip, think about this discovery from the young writer in her classroom and consider: What conditions were in place for this student to put the pencil to the page in this way?
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Lisa Eickholdt (@LisaEickholdt) has 23 years of experience in the classroom as a primary grades teacher, a Title I teacher, a Reading Recovery teacher, an interventionist, and a literacy coach. Currently, Lisa is an Assistant Professor of Literacy Education at Georgia Gwinnett College and works as a literacy consultant in classrooms nationwide. Her recent book, Learning from Classmates: Using Students' Writing as Mentor Texts, celebrates student writing and promotes student engagement.
