The beginning of a new school year is the perfect opportunity to get writing workshop off to a great start! And I know many of you are planning for back to school now. So today I'm sharing my favorite tips to help get your writing workshop started on the right foot. The key to establishing a successful writing workshop is to engage your students ... Continue Reading

One of the most common questions I hear from teachers is “How do you get students to revise their writing?” At first, this question stumped me. I didn’t have a special plan or strategy to encourage kids to revise. I just made it part of my writing process.  Each day, I taught a mini lesson and told my students to practice the skill we ... Continue Reading

I’m not a betting girl . . . but if I were, I’d bet that many of you start the year with a unit about paragraph writing. Am I right?  I thought so. It’s pretty common to begin your writing instruction with a unit on “how to write a paragraph." Typical lessons include what a paragraph is, how to write topic sentences and conclusions, and how ... Continue Reading

What if I told you that you can plan an entire year of writing lessons in one afternoon? You’d be amazed, right? And maybe a little bit skeptical. (That’s okay, I won’t take it personally). I wouldn’t have believed me either. I thought that teaching writing was so hard. Coming up with ideas. Gathering prompts. Photocopying pieces for all ... Continue Reading