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The key learning I took from this blog was picking a lens year to year. It is easy to feel overwhelmed and try too many growth ideas at one time. Focusing on one improvement part of the workshop for an extended period of time is much more manageable and strongly effective.  It's like we teach kids, one goal at a time!

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Step 1 definitely resonated with me. I am guilty of preemptively planning the changes to my curriculum. If we are truly differentiating to meet the needs of our kids, we need to tailor our lessons accordingly. Simply changing things around a bit to make it "different than last year" is not differentiation.

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Oh got it!

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Everything is better with friends and wine, especially planning. J/K about the wine . . . or not
"Always better with friends"

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Step 4 was helpful. I like how the article suggested to take notes for each section in preparation for teaching the lesson. As we teach, refer to the notes instead of reading the lesson as a script. I do this with my LLI Lessons that I teach. It is helpful.

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I still write all the lessons on 3x5 notecards for memorization and usually don't end up even using them

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kids love seeing teachers do their own writing in front of them - It gives me a chance to preview what might come as I teach the lesson. Helps me troubleshoot things too. But I get excited about the writing as well.

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I love how is Step 4, I believe, the author suggested taking notes on a large post-it to use while teaching.

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I thought it interesting and helpful to "state the obvious" - use the plan as is. Its important to have a usable framework and adapt that to your students each year, As Ryan states below, your students are not the same year to year.

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Do the work that the kids will do.

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I like how the blog talks about breaking down the lesson into chunks and using a post-it to break it down into the things you will teach for the connection, teach, link, etc.

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Step 2: Having the guide is a very helpful.  It gives suggestions to teaching the lesson but allows you to alter to fit the needs of your students

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It was great to hear that the units are not scripts. You can teach the same units & lessons year after year but, they are never the same. A lot of what you say and do depends on the kids in your class. It is also great to add your own voice to the lesson.

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I believe collaboration is key in any aspect of teaching, especially in writing. It is nice to know that it isn't scripted and you are able to put your own twist on it.

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Taking notes as I read has really helped me break the units down. I do this on Post Its so I can peel them off and use them in a lesson as prompts for the reading and my own thinking to guide my teaching.

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Step 4 was VERY helpful for me.  Taking notes on each section of the mini-lesson- Connection: What am I doing here? then repeat with Teach, Active Engagement, and Link.  Use the bullet points I made from my notes and teach from those when I'm with the kids.
Also, doing what the kids are doing makes all the difference....when I don't have my model, it is almost meaningless to them (and me)

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It was so helpful for me to read about using a lens one year, then another the next year. I remember feeling so overwhelmed by the density of the books and thinking I had to know it all at once.

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Use a large post-it and make a few bullet points for each part of the minilesson, and that is what I teach from when I’m sitting with kids during actual writing workshop. Mini-lessons shouldn't take longer to plan than they do to teach!

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The units are written as a guide, a suggestion for how the unit might go.

No two groups of kids are the same, and no two teachers are the same, so you WILL need to make adjustments. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE THIS :)

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As a new fourth grade teacher a few years back and a new fifth grade teacher this year, I've always read the lessons as is and modified the lessons for my class as I go along. You need to know your audience first before you go off script.