We know that writing strategies are everywhere. And, I am amazed at the amount of writing skills and strategies that are embedded into social media platforms. Although the student writer may not actually notice the author’s craft and intention that goes into well-crafted tweets, they are there in abundance, and I realized recently that these […]
Category: remote learning
Three Authentic Audience Web-Based Platforms to Move Writers
Teaching writing, at first, was a struggle for me. It was a struggle because the kids seemed to detest it. When I asked them why I received all sorts of answers, but one answer that kept coming up was that they didn’t feel like the writing was “real”; they turned in all their writing to […]
An Open Letter to Teachers (and those who love them)
Dear (overly tested subject) teacher, How are you? February in Texas was a rough ride. And, I’ve been thinking about how to support you. I’ve been thinking about the most meaningful thing to write about this month every day to add to the writing resources and ideas for supporting teachers of writing and writers themselves. […]
Thinking Smaller
I am proud that under normal circumstance I can choreograph a lot of “movement” into a single class period, but for this year, I am learning to embrace the fact that I cannot. I need smaller, simpler moves in a writing workshop that we can learn together and execute well. Otherwise, frustration will prevail.
Writing Relationships: “Slide”ing into Writing
This year at Moving Writers, I hope to explore various ways to utilize writing practices in your classroom to build strong social-emotional relationships with students despite the physical separations imposed on classrooms by the pandemic. I hope very much that this proves to be a limited series… When I posted my first contribution of the […]
On the Lookout For Happy Accidents
My greatest hope is that amid this newness, the “I-feel-like-a-first-year-teacher-again” of it all, we can all learn some things about teaching writing that we may never have otherwise explored.
The Life-saving Power of Routine
Last spring, when the rug was pulled out from under teachers and students everywhere, some things were surprisingly difficult, and others were much easier than expected. Though our teaching situations may be different, it’s the same deal this year, right? Interestingly, noticed a pattern last spring: if we had developed a routine around [insert stuff […]
Writing Relationships
With almost everyone back to school in some unusual, frustrating form by now, it feels like a weird time to be asking you to kick back and read an educational blog. I know–I lost you at “kick back.” But I’m hoping this one might be timely–it’s a revelation I had this Tuesday afternoon after spending […]
Announcing the Inside the Blended Workshop Community
Whether you are returning to school virtually or face-to-face or something in between, we all need help envisioning how we will keep reading AND writing workshops thriving this year! We all need a sounding board, cheerleaders, and regular support. Let’s build a community! Community members will receive: A monthly newsletter filled with exclusive articles on adapting BOTH […]
Surprise and Emergence
In our writing classrooms, 2020 has been a year full of surprise. In Pennsylvania, we had a warm, nearly snowless winter and sudden, snappy late frosts in in the spring, so it’s been a year of surprises in the garden just outside my back door as well. Recently, I started taking some photos of striking […]