What is the goal of your writing instruction? • Is your instruction geared to helping your students become the next great American novelist? • Is your primary goal to make sure that your students never leave a dangling participle or split an infinitive? • Do you hope to develop a passion for writing? • Is your goal to help [...]
State Standards, Standardized Tests, and… Writer’s Workshop? In the real world of state standards and standardized tests, it can be a little difficult for a teacher to get their head around what Writer’s Workshop is. As long as I have been teaching there has been a continuing push towards making teachers more and more accountable [...]
What is the Purpose of Your Writing Prompt? Have You Defined a Goal or Objective? The most important thing about a writing prompt is for the teacher to have a purpose for the writing prompt. Many teachers don’t think a lot about what their purpose is when they put up a writing prompt. The thought [...]
The Six Traits of Writing In teaching elementary students how to write well, there is grammar and there is writing. Many teachers teach A LOT of grammar because when it comes to teaching writing they are at a loss. What does it mean to teach writing? A useful model that can help elementary teachers is [...]
Are Patterns What You Think They Are? It’s likely that you know a lot more AND a lot less about patterns than you think you do! In the movie A Beautiful Mind, there is a scene where Russell Crowe’s character looks up at the night sky and illustrates all the beautiful patterns he can see. [...]