Topic: The Classroom Essentials Series

Begin conferences by asking students an open-minded question that invites them to talk about what they're doing as writers.

If you’re an experienced workshop teacher, the book will help you imagine new possibilities for getting started. If you’ve ever longed for beginning writers to show more independence during units of study across the year, then this book is for you.

When you ask the question, 'How’s it going?' at the beginning of writing conferences, you’re doing much more than inviting students to talk about what they’re doing as writers. The question initiates your relationship with each student and deepens each of these relationships.

This week on the Heinemann Podcast, we’re talking about how to support your students during writing conferences. Writing conferences help students build confidence in their writing ability and find joy in the writing process.

The goal of a writing conference is to teach students something about writing that they can use in the future. If you add to students' writing repertoires in every conference, they become better writers over time.

We're excited to announce that pre-publication sample chapters are now available for the first two books in the Classroom Essential Series, A Teacher’s Guide to Writing Conferences by Carl Anderson and A Teacher’s Guide to Getting Started with Beginning Readers by Katie Wood Ray with Lisa Cleaveland.

Today on the Heinemann Podcast, we’re excited to announce a new series of professional books. Joining us to talk about this special series is Heinemann author and editor Katie Wood Ray.

Although the way we read is evolving, the transformative power of foundational ideas remains the same. This important realization was the genesis of the Classroom Essentials series.