Can You Read What We Wrote?
Wednesday, December 14th, 2011

We want our students to be risk takers when it comes to word choice, but young writers often stop taking risks when they discover that there is only one right way to spell a word. Without encouragement, they tend to settle for shorter, simpler words they know how to spell. [read more...]

Utilize Photo Files in Your Literacy Classroom
Tuesday, November 15th, 2011

Many mini-lesson ideas and literacy strategies we share at Smekens Education workshops include a concrete object, toy, or prop. That little bit of visual reinforcement can engage more students and make your instruction more effective. One of the simplest visual tools is the photograph. [read more...]

Using Texting to Your Advantage
Tuesday, November 1st, 2011

TXT MSGS R GR8T! WDYT? (Translation: Text messages are great! What do you think?) According to Jacquie Ream, the author of K.I.S.S. Keep it Short and Simple, text messaging is destroying the way our students read, write, and think. Is there a way to use texting as a benefit in the classroom? [read more...]

Strategies for Helping Spelling Perfectionists
Monday, December 13th, 2010

Some writers are open to sound-stretching and writing out a word using their best spelling. But then there are your perfectionists--those who only want to write words correctly. If they limit their writing to only words they can spell, then their writing vocabulary will be skimpy. [read more...]

Crown a Conventions Court
Monday, October 25th, 2010

In the late spring, young writers tend to find their writers' fluency. They are writing faster and faster, longer and longer. This is a great sign that their writers' muscles are growing. Unfortunately, with all these details flowing, students tend to neglect their conventions. [read more...]

Hooked on 'Tronics
Thursday, October 14th, 2010

We're all trying to grab the attention of our secondary students. And after a few short minutes with Michelle Rodgers, high school English teacher at Woodlan Jr-Sr High, it's easy to see that she is "in touch" with her students. [read more...]

Demonstrate the Power of Punctuation
Tuesday, September 21st, 2010

Do your students love punctuation? It's not uncommon for students to look at punctuation as nothing more than annoying little marks a teacher makes them use. The key is to get students to understand that punctuation is for the reader, not the writer. [read more...]

Incorporate "Answer of the Day" in your Morning Work Routine
Wednesday, April 21st, 2010

Here’s a great strategy that Linda Settlemyr from South Adams Elementary (Berne, IN) is utilizing based on a poster she purchased from Really Good Stuff. Several times a week, she hangs the poster, which reads Today’s answer is…. In the blank, she posts a noun (e.g. spring or family or [read more...]

Write About Conventions Characters
Friday, February 26th, 2010

The voice in this piece is fabulous! “Period girl stopped a sentence.” This young writer is exactly right! That’s exactly what a period does. Students need to understand the purpose of punctuation marks before they will utilize them accurately, intentionally, and consistently. That [read more...]

The Test Lady™ Lives!
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

She has collected numerous plastic sunglasses and popped out the lenses. Each of the frames is within a section of a pocket chart along with a colored pen. When students are “done” writing in her classroom, they move to the Editing Station and put on the different glasses to check over [read more...]

Use Grammar to Improve Sentence Fluency
Wednesday, April 21st, 2010

Sentence fluency is a difficult trait to master. Because we often speak in short choppy fragments or long, gangly run-ons, students bring those habits into their writing. They write how they speak. It doesn’t take long for students to realize [read more...]

Teaching Grammar Within the Writer's Workshop
Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

When planning a writing unit (e.g. expository / animal report; Dear Santa letter / persuasive letter writing; fun time at recess/narrative writing; etc.), first consider what grammar/convention skills are dominant within that type of writing. Don’t simply teach the grammar skill [read more...]

Speaking Punctuation
Friday, April 24th, 2009

When having a conversation about their weekend or what they ate for lunch, Jane will have them converse while articulating which punctuation marks they would use if they were writing down their conversations. For example, instead of saying I had soup, crackers, and [read more...]

Recognizing Footnotes
Thursday, January 29th, 2009

To help students understand how to use footnotes, start by teaching them to write their own. Within their next writing, ask students to find their two best words. Have them put a tiny “1″ after the first word and a tiny “2″ after the second. At the bottom of the piece, ask each student to then write the same 1 and [read more...]

Find Poems in Previous Writing
Monday, January 26th, 2009

Have students find a previous writing (narratives work well for this activity) they’d like to experiment with. Then have them read the piece entirely through to review it. After they’ve read it over once, they should read it again, this [read more...]

Improving Students' Self-Assessment After Writing
Wednesday, January 14th, 2009

Here’s a hands-on strategy that ensures all required tasks are included initially. As you explain the writing assignment, identify a colored highlighter to be affiliated with each specific component. Then, as students include each component [read more...]

Should Kids Look Up Word Spellings in the Dictionary?
Monday, October 27th, 2008

Q: Is it wrong to expect kids to look up word spellings in the dictionary? A: Looking words up is a necessary skill to learn. And when focusing on editing and conventions, then absolutely, the dictionary and other resources should be used. However, it's not necessarily an appropriate first-draft strategy. [read more...]

Hearing Punctuation for Writing
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008

Before students write using punctuation marks purposefully, they need to see the power of them within their reading. Students tend to read right through punctuation marks, never stopping, pausing, or taking a breath. If students don't adjust their voices to "read" punctuation marks, [read more...]

Understanding the Difference Between Revision and Editing
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008

There is a clear distinction between revising ideas and editing conventions. Revision makes the piece SOUND a whole lot better--which addresses the traits of ideas, organization, voice, word choice, and sentence fluency. Editing makes the piece LOOK better (conventions). [read more...]

Magnetic Punctuation
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008

The inspiration for this lesson came from a Punctuation Magnet Set purchased by Barb Needler (Sweetser Elementary, Sweetser, IN). She utilized the oversized magnets to have students fill in missing punctuation and fix other editing errors when writing sentences on the board. [read more...]

Heartfelt Conversations
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008

Looking for a quick writing activity to help teach dialogue? Dawn Beach (sixth grade teacher at River Forest Elementary) has a great idea! She utilizes the seasonal conversational hearts to give students practice with punctuating dialogue. [read more...]