Writing is hard. The published piece at the end is a source of pride, a beautiful work, but it didn't start out that way. There was a process that went into that finished work. There was a revisiting of the message, the words themselves, that happened before it went out to the audience. That's how… Continue reading Modeling Writing (and Revision) in Your Classroom
Tag: language arts
Love, Mrs. G
Dear kiddos, It’s here. We’ve made it to the end of sixth grade. Some days have flown by, while others have seemed never ending. But we did it. Congratulations on successfully navigating your first year of middle school. You have come so far from the kiddos who were nervously trying to open their locker and… Continue reading Love, Mrs. G
On Teaching Writing
Teaching writing is my passion. Like anything else, as time passes I continue to learn more effective methods for nurturing the young voices in my classroom. There are instructional best practices to put in place, research-based strategies to employ, writing powerhouses to learn from, and structural elements conducive to stronger learning and development. Experience in… Continue reading On Teaching Writing
Meaningful Vocabulary Instruction
The past few weeks I’ve been doing some reflection on vocabulary instruction. Our language arts curriculum is up for review this year, and it’s led us to have some fantastic conversations about best practice, resources, and instructional methods. I love these nerdy conversations because they’re right up my alley, and they give me an excuse… Continue reading Meaningful Vocabulary Instruction
They have a story
Empowering student voice Just this week we finished up one of my favorite units of the school year. The Library of Congress sponsors a national letter writing contest where students spend time considering books that have had a major influence on them, and then write to the authors of those very books.Even that stands to… Continue reading They have a story
Kids Need [uncensored] Books
I’ve been struggling with something recently. It’s been a recurring internal argument since I started to build my classroom library a few years ago. But, it’s been at the forefront more recently in the past month because this year I’ve made it my mission to build a reading community and read with my students. At… Continue reading Kids Need [uncensored] Books
Who are you as a writer?
I’ve been considering this question for some time, even more after hearing Pernille Ripp’s “Creating Passionate Writers” talk at nErDcampMI. It’s such a complex question with many facets, and one that took a lot of inner reflection and consideration to answer. Mainly because, until I really sat down and started allowing myself to write freely,… Continue reading Who are you as a writer?
Finding Hermione
Holy cow. I just got home from nErDCampMI and let me tell you, I am riding on cloud nine right now! Such an incredibly motivating, exciting, and reflective experience for educators. This is sure to be the first of several blog posts inspired by the two days I’ve just had as there are countless messages… Continue reading Finding Hermione
Why I Encourage Cell Phones in the Classroom
You’re in your classroom teaching your heart out, really delivering the lesson on intensive vs. reflexive pronouns when all of a sudden, a phone starts going off. You stop talking, every kid is looking around, and you find the one student scrambling around trying to make the noise stop as quickly as possible. Their face… Continue reading Why I Encourage Cell Phones in the Classroom
From Mentee to Mentor
In the world of education, the topic of mentoring comes up incredibly often. In a profession where a growing number of people leave within the first five years, it makes sense that we would focus on how to help new teachers adjust to the stresses of the job. Between grading, attending meetings, learning new policies,… Continue reading From Mentee to Mentor
Curriculum Coffee 