Pre-Writing, Drafting, Revising, Editing and Publishing. While these are the five steps most closely, and most generally associated with the writing process, we must not forget one critical aspect of genre studies, the “Immersion Phase”. It was early in my teaching career when I engaged in the planning…
There Destiny stood, all of four feet tall, holding a single piece of paper tightly in her hands. She smiled proudly, anxiously awaiting her audience members’ attention. She gently brushed her freshly curled hair away from her face and carefully groomed the front of her dress as if…
Here’s what students had to say about the literature circles in their classrooms: “I get to ask more questions and learn more by talking about the books with my friends. We help each other with new words, reading them and understanding them.” “During book clubs we talk to…
March is National Women’s History Month. What better way to celebrate the legacy of female resilience, ingenuity, and limitless possibilities than with rich, diverse, picture books? A good book has the power to shift our thinking and challenge preconceived notions. Intentional Read Alouds provide the opportunity for students…
Stories of the journeys taken by refugees touch all of our lives. Perhaps we have neighbors, friends, or family who are refugees. Perhaps we have read about the global crisis in the news. Perhaps refugee children are new to our schools. The moment a newcomer walks into a…
The first, and highly successful lesson study cycle at Grissom Elementary (Houston Independent School District) inspired its kindergarten through 3rd grade teachers to collaborate within their grade level teams, and across languages of instruction. The process of planning an Intentional Read Aloud (IRA) lesson together, and watching a…
Turn and Talk, in which children are partnered up to take turns listening and speaking with one another, is a common classroom practice with many benefits. It allows all children to share their thinking with one another, it helps children develop their oral language skills and the pragmatics,…
As teachers of young children, we all have encountered learning scenarios in which a child makes up a word. How do we effectively handle these teachable moments? We need to find a way to validate the child’s offering, without muddling the difference between words that are real and…
Lesson study is a valuable tool for schools as they continue to look for ways to improve teaching and learning. Lesson study is a form of long-term professional development in which teams of teachers collaboratively plan, research, and study their lesson instruction as a way to determine how…
Imagine this, an unexpected visitor peeks into your classroom. What words do you want the visitor to use when describing how your classroom looks and feels? How do you want your students to describe their classroom to that visitor? Safe? Hard working? Joyful? Welcoming? Supportive? Collaborative? Empowering? When…