As many of us begin making the transition back to school after Winter Break, we often reflect on the school year so far, considering what has been working, what has not been working, what we have learned about our students over the last several months, and what changes we can …
Each school year, ELA teachers are tasked with covering a lot of diverse content in a relatively short amount of time. No longer just about instructing students on the foundations of reading and writing, we are also required to teach students to differentiate the conventions of fiction from nonfiction, multi-media texts from single-genre. Presentations. Collaboration. Persuasion. Revision. …
In my school district, November is affectionately known as “No School November.” Between election day, a teacher workday, and three recognized holidays, we end up with only one full instructional week during the month. As a result, my twelfth-grade classes did not have a single “Writing Wednesday” week for the entire …
Writing Revelations: Why Writing Wednesdays are Good for Everyone Read More »
With only a few weeks to go before Winter Break begins, student engagement often starts to wane. Rather than lament their lack of focus, try shaking things up by integrating Writing Wednesdays into your own classes. These weekly creative writing breaks keep students focused on learning when they might otherwise …
Groups of students pass sample essays around their table, referring to a rubric as they work. Occasionally a debate ensues: “This one earns the thesis point. “No it doesn’t. They don’t actually argue anything.” “Yes they do. Right here. See?” “Yeah, but that’s not an argument. That’s just a summary.” …
One of the favorite buzz-words in education is “collaboration.” Teacher certification programs teach future educators about the value of collaboration. Teaching interviews often inquire about an applicants’ view on collaboration. Administrators often encourage (and require) collaborative learning teams (CLTs) within departments. But for as much as we talk about collaboration, …
We’ve had a busy month here at Alexandrite Publishing. From teaching, to blogging, to shopping, here are some of our favorite highlights from October: 10. Beginning our month by asking: “Who Gets to Be a Writer,” we walked through an average day to explore the many modes of writing we …
This week marked the first “Celebration Day” – a quarterly Writing Expo – of the school year. Across all of my classes, students came together in their Writing Teams to create an original narrative that showcased the best of their learning this marking period. Coming off of a virtual school …
Even before Writing Wednesdays, I incorporated creative writing into my Language Arts instruction. But one of the biggest challenges I faced, particularly when integrating creative writing early in the year, was getting students started. They would stare at the blank page in terror, frozen in place by their inability to …
Creative Writing Tasks Made Easy – Storymatic Classic & Synapsis Story Generators Read More »
Teach long enough and you’ll have those students. The ones who are naturally gifted in Language Arts. The ones for whom writing seems to come easily. The ones who sometimes, despite our best intentions, slip through the cracks. As educators, we are so well trained to help struggling students that …
Like many educators, I am becoming increasingly disheartened by the growing number of calls from parents and lawmakers around the country to exclude certain books from education. Tennessee recently passed a law that makes lesson plans illegal if students “feel discomfort, guilt, or anguish.” A county in Texas made national …
Dedicating every Wednesday to creative writing instruction takes commitment. Rearranging the schedule in order to maintain weekly writing when unexpected events chip away at instructional time takes commitment. Taking a little longer than usual to get through our literature units in order to give space to writing takes commitment. Sometimes, its easy …
Do you consider yourself a Writer? ___ Yes ___No Let’s play a game. Grab a scratch piece of paper and a pen or pencil. Go ahead. I’ll wait. … … Welcome back. Now, write the word “Writer” at the top of your paper. Below, take three minutes to brainstorm a …
The sound of students’ voices fills my ears as I wander around the room. Fragments of stories here. An interesting line of text there. The sentences float like confetti around the room, unknowable in their entirety except to a select few. What I’m hearing is the sound of thirty Writers …
Writing Wednesdays emerged from a growing awareness that secondary ELA students were starving for creative writing opportunities and that, when well-integrated into instruction, student engagement increased dramatically. As much as we love the idea of student engagement, however, incorporating creative writing into core instruction simply because students enjoy it is …
