My three favorite chapter books

For the longest time my top two favorite whole-class read alouds included Love That Dog, by Sharon Creech and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, by Kate DiCamillo. But my newest favorite was inspired by fourth grade teacher Crystal Callaway at Bailly Elementary (Chesterton, IN).    read more...

Stronger literature responses with the 6 Traits

Writing about your reading is a typical expectation in middle school writing. But beyond a summary of the reading, Language Arts teachers often work to develop students’ ability to respond to the literature. This might include drawing connections among texts, analyzing the text for figurative language, critiquing the text for a particular characteristic, using the text to support a specific opinion, etc. But what do you do when students repeatedly write weak literature responses? How do you elicit stronger ones?    read more...

Try something new — A literacy notebook

Many teachers have implemented a writer's notebook concept into their classroom. But what about a reader's-writer's notebook -- a literacy notebook? Since we are trying to create writers who write for readers, and readers who read like writers, then merging the two together makes sense.    read more...

Websites with mini-lessons & teaching strategies for reading

This page includes web links to sites that have lesson plans, mini-lessons, organizers and more!    read more...

Jumpstarting a nonfiction/research unit

Jumpstarting a nonfiction/research unit is a popular topic with many teachers. Several of you emailed excited to dive into a nonfiction writing unit, so I thought I'd give you a couple additional ideas this fuel the fire.    read more...

Preparing for research papers

For intermediate and secondary teachers, second semester curriculum often includes the "research paper unit." With this comes the usual woes of teaching students how to organize note cards, paraphrase, and draft a strong thesis statement.    read more...

Seeking out quality, short nonfiction passages

One way to help students with this type of crunch-time reading and writing is to give them more opportunities in class to read shorter pieces (short stories, short biographies, nonfiction passages on content-area topics, poems on content-area topics, etc.)    read more...

Paralleling in-class assessment with the state exam

Consider patterning your in-class assessments to those styles and formats your state’s standardized exam. Here are some suggestions:    read more...

End-of-the-year skills

This time of year there are so many things bombarding the classroom teacher that it’s difficult to stay focused on the top priorities. Instructionally, I would parallel the end of the year similar to the beginning of the year.    read more...

Integrating the 6 Traits with a new reading series

Numerous schools and districts chose to "take the bye" and not adopt a new reading series until next school year. However, many have already adopted and are six months into the first year. Talking with teachers, a common theme is that they are overwhelmed. It's like being a first-year teacher all over again!    read more...