Research Note Taking Graphic Organizer Teaching research is often anything but effortless, but I was honestly stunned by the results of my research note taking graphic organizer. I was dealing with a group of students more reluctant than ever to work independently with the persistence demanded of research. I taught research in a January and…
Category: Writing
This Debate Activity Will Have Your Students Requesting More Opportunities
Debate Activity When I perfected this debate activity, the English Learners in my classes begged me to do more debates! More speaking and listening about complex topics? Yes, please! This process took me years to perfect, and I am so happy that I didn’t quit. Classroom Debate Guidelines There are many pitfalls on the road…
You’re Missing Out On Formative Assessment for Writing Skills
Formative Assessment for Writing Skills Hate it when students don’t read your feedback on the final paper–or even the draft?! Formative assessment for writing skills can bring peace to your world. Are rubrics formative or summative? They can be either, so it’s all about use. Because a rubric breaks down multiple skills in one chart,…
Literacy Assessment: How To Evaluate All The Things
Literacy Assessment Literacy assessment can get overwhelming fast. How do you assess what you need to assess? Where’s that sweet spot between authentic work and easy to grade? Literacy Performance Assessment My favorite literacy performance assessments are portfolios and discussions. They help me see students’s depth of knowledge, but they are also real. Use portfolios…
Literacy For All Is The Hill I’ll Die On
Literacy for All How do we create an inclusive world with literacy for all? 54% of U.S. adults read at or below the sixth grade level. These adults (and you know them) can experience anxiety, confusion, and embarrassment with adult-level reading tasks. They can miss opportunities for advancement. They can become easy targets for those…
6 Tips for Argumentative Writing in the Classroom
Tips for Argumentative Writing Argumentative writing is one of the most difficult kinds of writing to teach. Students get stuck with the content, the writing, or both. Here are 6 tips for argumentative writing to keep everyone unstuck. Separate content from writing. Make sure students understand and gather most of their evidence and ideas before…
Teaching Text Structure: The Missing Reading and Writing Skill
Teaching Text Structure I haven’t always focused on teaching text structure as a reading comprehension and writing skill, but now I will never not teach it. Teaching text structure allows me to teach writing skills and then transfer them directly to reading texts to see how published authors use the skills we are learning while…
Literary Examples to Inspire Even the Most Reluctant Students
Literary Examples It’s time to return my classroom to the literary. The literary examples of teaching are the ones I fell in love with first as a student, and then a teacher. Getting lost in a book. Stunning discussions. Laboring in love through drafts of my writing to get every word just right. Right now,…
5 Ways Teaching Sentence Writing Solves All Your Problems
Teaching Sentence Writing Teaching sentence writing is a powerful and under-utilized tool in the secondary classroom. While it won’t cook your dinner for you, teaching sentence writing can help in a variety of ways. Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com 1. Students can apply grammar and vocabulary knowledge to sentence writing. Grammar and vocabulary are…
High School ELA Classroom Setup That’s Worth Your Time
High School ELA Classroom Setup We’ve all “crashed out” during high school ELA classroom setup at the start of the year. Instead, let’s do what’s worth our precious time. Photo by Miguel Á. Padriñán on Pexels.com What is classroom setup? Classroom setup essentials include the physical space as well as key materials that you’ll use…
