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Connect with educators around the world!

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Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.

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tonya@erinkentconsulting.com

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Tweets by Mrs_Gilchrist

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From Readers'/Writers' Workshop to Reggio to UDL to IB, Tonya works with schools to tailor professional learning just for their specific contexts and their unique needs.

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Conferring to Amplify Inquiry and Honor Agency

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Conferring to Amplify Inquiry and Honor Agency

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EKC

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EKC

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Hammond (2015) based on Kleinfeld (1975)

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from Promoting Preschoolers’ Emergent Writing by Teresa A. Byington and Yaebin Kim

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Possible Reasons for Scribbling and Ways to Support Writers

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Possible Reasons for Scribbling and Ways to Support Writers

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Kelsey Carter

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Kelsey Sorum

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The classic scribble:

The lonely scribble:

The multi-crayon scribble:

The scribble scribe:

The abstract scribble:

The portal scribble:

All scribble jokes aside, these are (just a few) of the scribbles I discovered while looking through kindergarten writing folders on week two of writing workshop.

Following frequent sessions of interactive writing, demonstrations of drawing clear pictures, and handwriting practice, it can feel discouraging to see children scribbling during writing workshop. In the absence of representational drawings, it's important to remember what is there:

understanding that writing is made up of print on pages.

completion of writing on every page.

growing stamina for writing independently.

exploration of straight and curvy lines.

strengthening of fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination.

development of meaning-making.

Scribbling IS Writing

In these foundational moments where children are forming identities as readers and writers, it's important to remember that scribbling is a stage of emergent writing. Just as we wouldn't want to say to a child who is approximating reading by pointing to text, "That isn't reading," we wouldn't say to a child who is scribbling, "That isn't writing." Labels convey messages to even the youngest of children, which is why I've stopped using the term "scribble-scrabble" to identify or ban any kind of writing. Instead, the focus is on fostering an understanding and develeopment of using lines to make writing that can be read and enjoyed by others.

From Promoting Preschoolers' Emergent Writing, by Teresa A. Byington and Yaebin Kim. Click image for the link to the article on NAEYC.

While the above chart focuses on scribbling as a form of text, scribbling also evolves pictorially:

Uncontrolled scribbling: large muscle movements, may go beyond boundaries of page, looks away while drawing.

Controlled scribbling: repeated motions, smaller marks, multiple colors, watches while drawing.

Representational scribbling: purposeful placement of print and blank space, intention of print is named before, during, or after drawing.

You can find information about the subsequent stages of artistic development here.

New research shows that there is more to scribbling than just motor activity. Longobardi, Quaglia, and Iotti highlighted the results their recent study:

We analyzed scribbling and discovered a clear intention behind young children's gestures.

We reassessed scribbling as a vital part of cognitive and emotional development.

We traced the evolution of the line as a tool that is used to communicate feelings and intentions.

Supporting Writers Who Scribble

Before supporting a writer's transition from scribbling to more representational pictures and letters, it's important to determine why they are scribbling. To do so,

1. Look across several pieces of the child's writing.

2. Observe the child writing during independent writing time and at other times of the day when drawing is an option.

3. Have a conference with the child, leading with genuine interest and excitement (i.e. "Tell me about your writing.").

Click image for link to document.

No matter the reason, we can share excitement with children as they approximate representational writing by:

Putting a book that has scribbles side-by-side with a book that has representational drawings and celebrating the visible growth with the child (as shown in the image below).

Naming the importance that a child's writing (pictures or words) can be read by others (and allowing the child to read their book to others or the class).

Highlighting the elements of clear pictures and words in a child's book as a mentor during a lesson or as a focus for a share session.

Until then, as you look with love (and optimism) at children's writing, remember: scribbling is writing too...and it's worth a closer look.

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The classic scribble: The lonely scribble: The multi-crayon scribble: The scribble scribe: The abstract scribble: The portal scribble: All scribble jokes aside, these are (just a few) of the scribbles I discovered while looking through kindergarten writing folders on week two of writing workshop.

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Choice Words: How Our Language Affects Children's Learning

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Choice Words: How Our Language Affects Children's Learning

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Peter H. Johnston

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In productive classrooms, teachers don't just teach children skills: they build emotionally and relationally healthy learning communities. Teachers create intellectual environments that produce not only technically competent students, but also caring, secure, actively literate human beings.

Choice Words shows how teachers accomplish this using their most powerful teaching tool: language. Throughout, Peter Johnston provides examples of apparently ordinary words, phrases, and uses of language that are pivotal in the orchestration of the classroom. Grounded in a study by accomplished literacy teachers, the book demonstrates how the things we say (and don't say) have surprising consequences for what children learn and for who they become as literate people. Through language, children learn how to become strategic thinkers, not merely learning the literacy strategies. In addition, Johnston examines the complex learning that teachers produce in classrooms that is hard to name and thus is not recognized by tests, by policy-makers, by the general public, and often by teachers themselves, yet is vitally important.

This book will be enlightening for any teacher who wishes to be more conscious of the many ways their language helps children acquire literacy skills and view the world, their peers, and themselves in new ways.
eBook Available Through Major Retailers
We offer ebook editions for most of our print titles so you can access on your computer, tablet, or e-reader from several major retailers including Amazon, Barnes and Noble, OverDrive, and ebooks.com. View the full list of retailers here. For eBook purchases of 10+ please email us for a quote. Purchases of 20+ qualify for a bulk discount.

If you previously purchased an ebook from Stenhouse.com, they will remain available in your digital library.

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In productive classrooms, teachers don't just teach children skills: they build emotionally and relationally healthy learning communities. Teachers create intellectual environments that produce not only technically competent students, but also caring, secure, actively literate human beings.Choice Words shows how teachers accomplish this using their most powerful teaching tool:

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Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain

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Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain

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Zaretta Hammond

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From math, literacy, equity, multilingual learners, and SEL, to assessment, school counseling, and education leadership, our books are research-based and authored by experts on topics most relevant to what educators are facing today.

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Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain

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In this book, Zaretta Hammond draws on cutting-edge neuroscience research to offer an innovative approach for designing and implementing brain-compatible culturally responsive instruction.

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Dr. Katie Egan Cunningham

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Children come to school to become better readers, writers, and thinkers, but they also walk into classrooms hoping to be happy. Katie Cunningham argues that happiness must be as much of a priority in teaching as proficiency or achievement. When teachers intentionally design curriculum with joy at it…

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Teach Writing Well: How to Assess Writing, Invigorate Instruction, and Rethink Revision!

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Teach Writing Well: How to Assess Writing, Invigorate Instruction, and Rethink Revision!

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Ruth Culham

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Any successful writer will tell you that the key to writing well is revision. Any elementary school teacher will tell you that the real challenge of writing instruction is teaching kids how to revise. Ruth Culham is both a successful writer and a writing teacher, and she's discovered how to teach writing and revision in a way that's accessible to both teacher and students: First read the writing, assess it using the traits of writing, then teach the writers and guide revision decisions using traits as a common language and map.

This book shows you how to assess and teach writing in a way that's practical and doable-and best of all, see results.

Part 1 walks you through the traits of writing and their key qualities, showing step by step how to read students' writing and offer feedback that nudges them forward through the revision process. Chapters will help you address challenges students face within each mode of writing (narrative, expository, persuasive), and provide tools young writers can use to evaluate their own writing and make revision decisions accordingly.

Part 2 dives into instruction, offering specific guidance for how to use what you've learned from reading student writing to design lessons that scaffold students toward making their own craft decisions and revisions. In addition, there's an entire chapter devoted to mentor texts that you can use to model traits and key qualities for your students.

Traits-based revision lies at the heart of this book, as it's been at the heart of Ruth's career in writing instruction. Rethinking revision is what will ultimately help you to teach writing well.
Go Digital with Stenhouse
We offer ebook editions for most of our print titles so you can access on your computer, tablet, or e-reader from several major retailers including Amazon and ebooks.com. View the full list of retailers here.

If you previously purchased an ebook from Stenhouse.com, they will remain available in your digital library.

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Any successful writer will tell you that the key to writing well is revision. Any elementary school teacher will tell you that the real challenge of writing instruction is teaching kids how to revise.

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Story Workshop: New Possibilities for Young Writers

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Story Workshop: New Possibilities for Young Writers

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Susan Harris MacKay

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Even our youngest students have lots of stories to tell, whether real or imagined. How can we create entry points for writing, so that all writers feel confident and motivated to share their stories? How can we establish a classroom community of beginning writers where equity, empathy, and compassion become part of the process and vital by-products of story writing?

Enter story workshop, a structure for early literacy that amplifies the relationship between play, art, and writing. Children develop ideas and stories through choices of art materials. By creating images through play, story workshop invites children to explore the "amazingness" (Nisa, age 10) of their ideas in a variety of art forms. "Through their stories," Susan writes, "students share the meaning they make of their experiences in the world." Children in every classroom environment feel empowered to transition from play to pencil as they add words to their stories.

Story Workshop includes an abundance of classroom videos, photos, and student samples that illustrate what is possible when children use words, colors, textures, shapes and all kinds of materials to create the stories they want to tell. Watch how students' imaginations soar, their love of writing blossoms, and their connections with one another become the focal point of your classroom.

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How to create entry points for beginning writers by amplifying the relationship between play, art, and writing. - Heinemann

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Kelly Boswell

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Sometimes the hardest part about teaching writing is getting students to write at all. Kelly Boswell reminds us that every writer is reluctant to write

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Jennifer Serravallo

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Introduction
A Very Brief Introduction to Principles, Research, and Theory, and How to Use This Book
The idea for a book of writing strategies exists many times over. This one is possible only because of the great books that have come before it. There are books suggesting writing strategies meant for professional writers and college students, such as those by Noah Lukeman, Roy Peter Clark, and Janet Burroway, among others. There are countless examples of excellent compilations of writing strategies in books written for teachers of writing, such as Fletcher and Portalupi's Craft Lessons Series, Barry Lane's After "The End" (1993), Carl Anderson's Strategic Writing Conferences series (2008-2009), Donald Graves' many books, Katie Wood Ray's Wondrous Words (1999) and other titles, Katherine Bomer's books, Georgia Heard's books, Nancie Atwell's In the Middle (2014) and other resources, Lucy Calkins' Units of Study series, and many more. My aim in this book is to offer my favorite, most useful collection of strategies that span all aspects of the writing process, all genres and modes of writing, and that will work well with students in grades K-8. I want to offer you a little bit of everything. I streamlined the language and examples, and I present the strategies in a format that is organized so that the busy teacher can find just the right strategy at just the right moment. Of course, you'll elaborate on the streamlined language and make it your own.

But wait-before you dive in, I'm so glad you're taking the time to spend a few moments with this "Getting Started" introduction. In this introduction, you'll gain a helpful overview of the thinking that undergirds this book's ideas as well as an overview of its organization. You'll learn about strategies and all the aspects that I chose to include to elaborate on them-mentor texts, prompts, lesson language, teaching tips, and more. You'll learn how to navigate the pages of the book so you can find what you're looking for quickly and easily, for this is not a read-every-single-page kind of book (unless you want it to be). You'll get a quick crash course on some important terminology and concepts that will help you use this book to its fullest- thoughts about writing as a process, and modes and genres of writing, for example. And finally, you'll learn how to adapt what's in the book to fit your students' writing time in the classroom, no matter what form that time takes.
Click here to download more of the introduction of this book.
Goal 1: Composing with Pictures

Strategy Go back to your picture(s). Point to the part or picture that teaches something important about your topic. Touch or turn to the next part. Tell what new fact about your topic this part of the picture or this page teaches.

Lesson Language If I wrote or drew to teach, then when I read my writing back I'm going to make it sound like a teaching book. I'm going to tell my reader the facts I wrote about. Let me show you. I drew a picture of a big T. rex. I know a lot about them so I added a lot of details in my picture. I'm going to touch one part and teach what that part says. "The T. rex had very large jaws with big sharp teeth." Now I'm going to touch a new part and teach what that part says. "The T. rex had very short arms. It would only run using its hind legs."

Goal 2: Engagement - Independence, Increasing Volume, and Developing a Writing Identity

Strategy First, identify the problem you're having. Then, check the spot in the room, a resource, or a friend that might help you solve the problem. Try a solution. If it doesn't work, try something else.

Teaching Tip This strategy, like "Use the Room" that appears earlier in this chapter, assumes that there are things in the room that can be helpful, and that you've taught children how to use them. For example, in a primary classroom a word wall may help a writer to spell high-frequency words. If you've introduced and used mentor texts, then having these available for children to reference on their own could help them. Sometimes the problem might be that they need to work in a new spot in the room because of the amount of distractions at their current spot. Brainstorm possible problems with your students, and come up with a list of resources and solutions. Or, this strategy can be like a culmination of past teaching from this and other chapters.

Goal 3: Generating and Collecting Ideas

Strategy Decide on a new place to visit. Go there with no more than a notebook and a set of listening ears and observing eyes. Let yourself pick up on conversation and details of the person. Jot down what you observe, and also what you imagine, about the people you see.

Teaching Tip This strategy will take you outside of the classroom, so it would work well as a whole-class lesson followed by a field trip, or as a suggestion to a student, group, or class for independent writing outside of the school day.

Goal 4: Focus/Meaning

Strategy Think about a memory and all the events that are part of that memory. Think about what's important about that memory, or the big idea the memory leaves you with. Identify the one part of the memory that feels the most important. Write some ideas about what's important about it, and why it's important. Try to write just that one smaller part of the larger moment. Tell it bit by bit.

Teaching Tip The amount a writer will be able to reflect on the overall significance of a small moment will depend on her maturity level and experience with writing. For younger children, you may want to suggest choosing a small moment that will make a good story, rather than one imbued with a deep or heavy significance, or simply encourage them to narrow down the window of time

Goal 5: Organization and Structure

Strategy Before beginning to draft, visualize the shape of what you're going to make. Create some sort of quick visual, in pictures or in words, to represent the overarching structure. As you write, check back to see where you are in your plan.

Teaching Tip This is going to be most helpful after students have learned a variety of ways to structure their pieces and have been introduced to a variety of graphic organizers that would help them to organize, or shape, the information into a structure.

Goal 6: Elaboration

Strategy Think about the subtopics for which you'll want to collect information. Write each of your subtopics as a heading on a notebook or booklet page. As you find new information for your topic, think, "What page in my notebook should this go on? Which subtopic does it provide details for?"

Lesson Language I just found this interesting fact: Ballerinas really wear out their shoes. Many go through as many as 2-3 pairs per week! I'm going to look across the pages of my booklet to see where this would best fit. Would it belong in the section called "Types of Ballet Positions?" No, that's not about the positions. Would it go in the section called "Famous Ballets?" No. "What Ballerinas Wear?" Well, I do talk about pointe shoes in this section, so it might be cool to add this fact about how many pairs of pointe shoes the average ballerina needs. I'll keep the fact here.

Goal 7: Word Choice

Strategy Find all the action verbs in your piece. Focus on any that you think aren't as clear, precise, or exact as they could be. List several options for what might replace that word (use a thesaurus if you need it!). Choose the word that best matches your meaning.

Teaching Tip For this strategy to work, children will need to understand what an action verb is, so identification of verbs is a first step in this strategy. Many teachers weave in some instruction during other balanced literacy components such as word study, read-aloud, and/or shared reading. You could also plan to teach direct minilessons to the class or small groups for those who do not understand parts of speech.

Goal 8: Conventions - Spelling and Letter Formation

Strategy When trying to spell a word, try to visualize where you've seen it written and how you've seen it written before. It may help to close your eyes. Then, in a margin or on a piece of scrap paper, write how you think it's spelled. Try it a second or maybe even third way. Look back at what you've written and ask yourself, "Which of these tries looks right to me?"

Prompts

Check off the parts that look right to you.

Write the word as you think you've seen it before.

Which parts look right? Which part looks off?

Do you think there are some letters missing?

What part of that word is tricky for you?

The part you're trying to spell is also in the word _______. Does that help?

Goal 9: Conventions - Grammar and Punctuation

Strategy Find two sentences that talk about the same topic. Think about the relationship between those sentences. Choose a connector word and try combining the sentences into one. Reread and decide if you like the combined way or original way better.

Lesson Language Here's one spot in my draft where I have two sentences that I
think go well together. I wrote: "A dog is something that can keep you company. A dog
can cheer you up." What's the relationship between those two sentences? They both have
to do with something that is positive about owning a dog, so I think they are related. I'm
adding more information on. I'll try using and to combine those sentences: "A dog can
keep you company and cheer you up." Here's another spot: "I would love to have a dog.
My mom won't let me have a dog." What's the relationship between those two sentences?
The second sentence gives more information that feels in contrast to the first. I'll combine
them with however: "I would like to have a dog, however my mom won't let me." The
new sentence I made seems clearer and more to the point.

Goal 10: Collaborating with Writing Partners and Clubs

Strategy Talk with your partner about your goals (for the writing period, for the week, and/or for writing work to take place at home, and so on). Discuss together how you might get that work done. Write the goal, and make the promise...then check in with your partner soon.

Teaching Tip Reflect on your own life and goals you've set out to accomplish. Now think about how successful you've been and whether or not you made your goals public ahead of time. I know that when I share my goals with my partner, my friends, my colleagues, my editor, I am more likely to get things done. The built-in accountability, the opportunity to celebrate together, the lifeline of support in case something does not go according to plan-these are invaluable.

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Writing Strategies Book by Jennifer Serravallo.

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Collection of strategies that span all aspects of the writing process, all genres and modes of writing, and that will work well with students in grades K-8. Organized so the busy teacher can find just the right strategy at just the right moment.

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M. Colleen Cruz

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Real Strategies for the Real Classroom

Veteran teacher and author Colleen Cruz has seen it all and done it all in the writing classroom-and she's got something to admit: this is hard work. Real hard. In The Unstoppable Writing Teacher she takes on the common concerns, struggles, and roadblocks that we all face in writing instruction and helps us engage in the process of problem solving each one.

From dealing with writing workshop skeptics to working with students both gifted and challenged, and of course combating that eternal barrier-lack of time-Colleen offers tried-and-true strategies to address and overcome obstacles.

For
...
Special Offer: Save 30% off our list price automatically when you buy 15 or more.

Veteran teacher and author Colleen Cruz has seen it all and done it all in the writing classroom-and she's got something to admit: this is hard work. Real hard. In The Unstoppable Writing Teacher she takes on the common concerns, struggles, and roadblocks that we all face in writing instruction and helps us engage in the process of problem solving each one.

From dealing with writing workshop skeptics to working with students both gifted and challenged, and of course combating that eternal barrier-lack of time-Colleen offers tried-and-true strategies to address and overcome obstacles.

For the struggles unique to you, she includes a " Name Your Monster " section that helps you identify your own individual roadblocks and even offers sustainable support through her blog, colleencruz.com. "We can't solve all the problems we're faced with in writing instruction," Colleen promises, "but we can choose how to respond to them. And our responses will make all the difference."

What makes you unstoppable, or what's stopping you? Connect with Colleen on her blog at www.colleencruz.com/blog.htm or on Twitter, #unstoppablewritingteacher.

(click any section below to continue reading)

Contents

1. A Teaching Mindset

2. "I don't know what to teach this student. He's a much better writer than I am."

3. "I can't seem to get my students to stay writing unless I'm sitting beside them."

4. "I'm not sure how to work with students who are new to English."

5. "I'm finding some student writing repetitive and boring."

6. "I don't feel prepared to work with a student with such great challenges."

7. "I never have enough time."

8. "I need more resources."

9. "I teach grammar but my kids don't learn it."

10. "I feel alone in my work. No one else I know teaches using the writing workshop model."

11. "I have trouble getting families to understand writing workshop."

12. "I want students to write about what they care about, but so much of what they care about seems brainless and artificial to me."

13. Name Your Monster

14. Five Shockingly Easy Ways to Constantly Outgrow Yourself as a Teacher of Writing

Companion Resources

Reviews

"Writing is struggle. If we want our students to become strong writers, then they have to become brave ones. We have to model that bravery in how we teach writing by naming the monsters that challenge us and facing them. Once you finish this book, you'll be well-prepared. You'll know more about the teaching of writing. You'll be braver. You'll be unstoppable. &ldquo from the Foreword by Lucy Calkins

"Hold the phone! Colleen Cruz has given us much more than a writing book here. The Unstoppable Writing Teacher descends into the proverbial trenches and shines a realistic light on the daily life of teachers everywhere. Each chapter addresses universal questions that teachers ponder every day. In the end, teaching writing is rocket science. Read this book and you will learn a great deal about teaching writing, and even more about kids, teachers and life in general." Stephanie Harvey

"The beauty of Colleen Cruz's The Unstoppable Writing Teacher is that it anticipates and addresses the many barriers that writing teachers face and, in doing so, offers smart and practical steps to building strong, independent writers. I love Cruz's notion that good writing teachers are both scientists and artists. It is her mix of science and art that makes this an important book for anyone who teaches writing. I highly recommend it. Kelly Gallagher

Would you benefit from having a literacy coach on-call to help you solve pressing writing workshop-related problems? Colleen Cruz tackles teachers' most predictable workshop-related issues in The Unstoppable Writing Teacher. It's a must-read this summer so that you'll be the unstoppable writing teacher you want to be when school starts this fall. Stacey Shubitz for Two Writing Teachers

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Veteran teacher and author Colleen Cruz has seen it all and done it all in the writing classroom-and she's got something to admit: this is hard work. Real hard. In The Unstoppable Writing Teacher she takes on the common concerns, struggles, and roadblocks that we all face in writing instruction and helps us engage in the process of problem solving each one.

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EKC

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Loved the overall flow of the session, including the role of language in trust, thoughtful questioning and intentional teaching of process.

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I got affirmation in what I do in my classroom. Got ideas of what to do next in my lessons. Got specific language to use with my students.
Got positive vibes from my collaborative team!

I want example videos of what this looks like in practically.

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Some great new ideas for how to approach feedback (and feedforward).

How these approaches can transfer beyond 'just writing'.

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Got lots of new ideas to try out but would like.....

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Got lots of new ideas to try out but would like.....

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Ideas for our New to English students who have no English at all. Should they write in their mother tongue and if so how then do we give feedback?
Also ideas for limited English students who in their mother tongues are very literate but are unable to express themselves equally well in English and therefore feel inadequate.
Some of our students feel uncomfortable with compliments as they come from a culture where they are taught to be humble.

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Loved the discussions about positive presuppositions and how to frame questions to support learning.

Would love to see some models of writers workshops and effective conferencing.

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wonderful ideas to use in the classroom
LOVED the examples of giving more meaningful compliments
WANTS more practical examples and training on story writing and a video of sample writers workshop lesson