Topic: Units of Study

What better way to start the year than by inviting students to share stories from their own lives?

The last few days of school, which once seemed so far-away we could barely imagine them, are on the horizon, coming into sharper relief and clearer focus every day.

What does a truly kid-driven classroom look like? Reflecting on this question can lead to some powerful decisions.

Strategically planning your daily read-alouds can help you get the most out of this valuable practice.

April is a time of year the time of year when seasons change. From winter to spring for some. From basketball to baseball others. From fiction to nonfiction for others. However, when seasons change, it doesn’t mean we throw out everything and start all over again from scratch.

Consider your nonfiction collection in your own classroom, as well as the way that you use nonfiction texts with your students. Do you read aloud nonfiction for enjoyment? Do your students know how to approach different types of nonfiction reading with different strategies?

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.

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.

Consider how well you know your students by this time of year. By now you know about their interests, hobbies, favorite sports, and so much more. The best literacy assessments help you to get to know another side to your students--as readers and writers.

What if preparing for tests could look, sound, and feel like your favorite units of study for reading and writing? What if they could have the confidence and the tricks-of-the-trade to make it possible for them to do their best work on every test they take?

Writing workshop is not a time where where students prepare to someday write a letter to the editor, or prepare a speech for their local school board. They are doing it right now, every day, in ways that shape their schools and communities in important ways.

Lucy Calkins's leadership is rooted in her practice of reading and writing workshop instruction, but where did that instruction begin and how was she called to literacy work to become the leader we know today? How has Lucy Calkins nurtured her own culture of continuous study?

Book clubs provide an authentic purpose for reading closely, note-taking, and writing about reading--to prepare for great conversation. When book clubs meet, the conversations are usually open-ended and completely student-directed.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.