In reading and writing workshop, strategic partnerships can help us provide an audience, built-in feedback provider, and peer-reviewer for every student. While we can’t clone ourselves and have a teacher next to every student, we can set up partnerships that support, motivate, and inspire. (continue reading)
This week on the Heinemann podcast, a conversation with author Lucy Calkins on leadership. In Leading Well: Building Schoolwide Excellence in Reading and Writing, Lucy Calkins draws on the transformative work that she and her colleagues at the TCRWP have done. (continue reading)
At this time of year, it’s natural to experience a flagging of energy - both yours and your students’. Attention is divided between school and all of the holiday goings on, and there’s a sense that everyone could really use the December break. (continue reading)
To assess for independence, probably the most important assessment is observational: what do you notice when you sit back and simply watch. You might come up with a checklist to guide your observations, something that would work across subjects areas. (continue reading)
Read an excerpt from Chapter 7 of Lucy Calkins' new book for school leaders. In this chapter, you’ll find: ways to make time for teachers to plan together, tips to ensure collaborative groups go well, ways to anticipate and dissipate resistance, and more. (continue reading)
At this point in the year, it’s important to take stock of how your students are progressing toward independence and whether it would be helpful to shine a light on this all-important focus. (continue reading)
Supporting independence and helping students to become true, life-long writers also takes a certain kind of flexibility and willingness on teachers' parts to let go of the reins. (continue reading)
The TCRWP phonics team has been observing and collecting data as teachers have gotten the phonics units off and going. This feedback will inform the ongoing phonics work, including the development of the second grade series. (continue reading)
Empowerment comes from having a clear vision of the work that needs to be done, and from having a sense of autonomy in one’s process. It is from this thoughtful balance between shared goal and a menu of options that smart decisions can come. (continue reading)
Reading is a process that is internal, and where the problems lie can seem difficult to pinpoint. Happily, though, for many young readers, once they get focused help working through stuck points, their progress seems to skyrocket. (continue reading)
