In a recent trip to western Maine, my family sat mesmerized by the glorious visits of a group of hummingbirds to our home in the woods. Visit after visit, each little jewel-colored shimmering bird, eating from the jar of nectar or hovering to look us
The beginning of the new school year offers equal doses of excitement, tempered with a bit of trepidation. “I can’t wait to meet new people!” and “I hope they like me…” seem to compete simultaneously for attention. And we’re talking about the teachers! We don’t
What’s your ultimate goal as an educator? You want to inspire your students to think. You want them to be able to express thoughts clearly. That’s exactly why you assign essays. Your students, however, don’t understand the purpose of essay writing and think writing essays
Each spring students are challenged to create original writing assignments for spring conferences and open house events. Many students, who are fluent speakers and readers, struggle with extensive writing assignments. Marcia Tate’s Preparing Children for Success in School and Life provides instructional strategies based on brain
How many of us have listened to a speaker or read a book and marveled at the descriptive power and richness of the words used? We have our favorite speakers, reporters, or authors who move us through how they write. Nations, peoples, political change
Literacy is freedom’s gatekeeper. We know that the more literate an individual, the more capable he is of reaching his educational and career aspirations. After all, a major measure of effective schooling is the literacy attainment of its graduates. But the impact of literacy reaches
Breathe in, Hold for 10, and Try These 5 Techniques for Student Talk Read page 25 from Read, Write, Talk We all know the statistics and, well, we chat right over them! Teachers do far too much talking in the course of the day, and students do
We all know these writers: they may sit and stare at the blank page for ages, visit the bathroom for most of writing time, distract others, and even shed tears when asked to write. These are the dormant writers who keep us up at night
Just take off the top of your head! Share your reading (and writing) expertise with think alouds. In our last post, “Developing Student Expertise Through Deliberate Practice,” Michael Smith discussed Anders Ericsson’s (Ericsson & Pool, 2016) findings about deliberate practice. For practice to develop expertise, it
I have a confession to make. Every six months my university requires me to change my password. And every six months I dread doing it. Why? After I follow Temple’s directions on how to change my password on their system, I have to change my