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Jen is the NY Times Bestselling author of The Reading Strategies Book and The Writing Strategies Book, both of which have been translated into French, Chinese, and Spanish. Her newest professional books include Teaching Writing in Small Groups (Heinemann, 2021), Connecting with Students Online, Understanding Texts & Readers and A Teacher's Guide to Reading Conferences. Complete Comprehension for Fiction and Nonfiction are revised and reimagined whole book assessments and teaching resources based on an award-winning previous publication. She is a sought-after speaker and leader of professional learning.

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Jen is the NY Times Bestselling author of The Reading Strategies Book and The Writing Strategies Book, both of which have been translated into French, Chinese, and Spanish. Her newest professional books include Teaching Writing in Small Groups (Heinemann, 2021), Connecting with Students Online, Understanding Texts & Readers and A Teacher's Guide to Reading Conferences.

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Reading Strategies and Writing Strategies

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Reading Strategies and Writing Strategies

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Podcast

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Kelly interviews author, speaker, and educator, Jennifer Serravallo in this 63rd episode of The Wired Educator Podcast.

Jennifer is the author of several awesome books on education including: The Literacy Teacher's Playbook, The Reading Strategies Book and her upcoming Writing Strategies Book. Kelly and Jennifer talk about her writing, and great reading and writing practices.

Remember, all educators are teachers of reading and writing.

Jennifer was a teacher in Title I Schools in NYC, and later a Senior Staff Developer at the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project at Columbia University. She is now a national consultant and speaker who helps urban, suburban, and rural schools implement exceptional literacy instruction. She is the author of numerous books on the teaching of reading and writing including the New York Times bestseller, The Reading Strategies Book and the two-time award-winning Independent Reading Assessment series. Her latest book, The Writing Strategies Book, will be released in February 2017. Check out her blog at www.jenniferserravallo.com and tweet her @jserravallo.

Mentioned in this podcast:
The Reading Strategies Book by Jennifer Serravalle.

Pre-Order The Writing Strategies Book NOW! And be one of the first to receive it when it ships!

The Art of Teaching Writing by Lucy McCormick Calkins.

In the Middle, Third Edition: A Lifetime of Learning About Writing, Reading, and Adolescents by Nancy Atwell.

Jennifer's podcast: Teachers Ask Jen Serravallo!

Jennifer's Facebook group connected to Reading and Writing Strategies:

Scrivener: The best writing software for everyone!

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are "affiliate links." This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

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WEP 0063: Jennifer Serravallo on Reading Strategies and Writing Strategies

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Kelly interviews author, speaker, and educator, Jennifer Serravallo in this 63rd episode of The Wired Educator Podcast. Jennifer is the author of several awesome books on education including: The Literacy Teacher's Playbook, The Reading Strategies Book and her upcoming Writing Strategies Book. Kelly and Jennifer talk about her writing, and great reading and writing practices.

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Start Here

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10_What advice do you have for teachers as they begin planning instruction?

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Анастасия Рябова

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CGI Animated Short Film HD The Present Short Film by Jacob Frey

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Article

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By Jennifer Serravallo
Quick! Think about one of your favorite books of all time. Are you picturing it? Good. Now, think about what made it one of your all-time favorites.

Maybe it was the plot, so suspenseful that you just couldn't put it down and you stayed up through the night to finish it. Maybe it was the characters - characters who still feel more like real life friends than figments of an author's imagination. Or maybe it was the language the author used-beautiful and descriptive-that transported you to another time and place.

Possibly, it may have been the themes of the book that cut you to the core and forever changed the way you see the world. Or maybe it was a different reason entirely, such as reading it with friends in a book club and being able to discuss it along the way. Whatever the reason, that book has stayed with you.

Getting books they'll love into kids' hands

As teachers of reading, I believe our number one priority is getting books kids will love into their hands. And as we know, that task is incredibly hard at times! But if this year is going to be the year for our students to discover their all-time favorite books and have positive experiences reading them, then it can help to have some strategies in our back pockets. Here are 10!

1. Ask, "What kind of reader are you?" and then listen, really listen, when they tell you their answer. Listen as they tell you they are a reader who loves reading or doesn't love reading. Then ask yourself, Why? See if you can figure out the conditions that made reading exciting or dreaded. Recreate the positive conditions this year and make sure to never repeat the conditions that diminished their identity as a reader.

2. Observe your students in and out of reading workshop. Listen as they settle in during the morning and unpack their backpacks. Watch them as they talk to friends and giggle at recess. Pay attention to what they do after school for fun. Notice the times of day they're most engaged and the least engaged. All of this information is a window into interests that will let you know what kinds of topics and characters should fill the baskets of your classroom library!

3. Figure out which lenses your students read through. Is it plot? Character? Theme? Vocabulary and figurative language? Then help them do that work even deeper. For example, if they are "plot hungry" then help them see all the work there is to do related to plot and setting such as noticing all the important events, how they're connected, and how the ending of the book links back to the main problem. In following their lead, you can help them see the depth of the work they are already approximating.

4. Buzz about books! Select a title that you think might intrigue your least engaged readers and then make a huge deal about it during class or Morning Meeting. Mention how you loved reading it, stayed up all night to finish it, and that you're going to leave a few copies in a bin labeled Buzz Worthy if they care to check it out for themselves. Give value and social currency to the books you think will be a good match for your students and, before you know it, those books will fly off the shelves.

5. Read your own library! Consider starting with the most popular authors and series in your collection. Ask students to recommend books that you should read next. Make a pile of books next to your chair in the classroom that are "on deck" so students can catch a glimpse of your reading life.

6. Then, get to know what makes some books easier and some books harder for your readers. Familiarize yourself with the work that readers need to do in order to deepen their comprehension. You might even create a continuum of books at a range of levels so that you can reflect on what makes the work challenging for your students as they read harder texts.

7. Invite students into the work of goal-setting. You might have an idea of what they could work on as readers this year, but they probably have an idea too. Every few weeks, engage students in conversations about what they want to become better at and then find a series of strategies to help them get there.

8. Make reading social. Whether it's being part of a book club where students decide what to read, by when, and what's most important to discuss, or whether it's having "reading buddies" they can check in with on a daily or weekly basis, students should be talking about their reading.

Books connect us and unite us. Students should use that shared experience of reading the same book or just talking about what they're doing as readers in order to strengthen their identities as readers. And like most of us, students will probably find their next favorite title after having it recommended to them by a peer!

9. If a student wants to read a book that may be a bit challenging for her, support her! Students don't live within reading levels, and there are many factors that impact what is "just right." If a child is eager to read a text that at first appears a little too hard for her, find a way to teach into the text complexities, genre, vocabulary (or whatever may make it challenging) so that she has some scaffolds while reading it.

Consider matching the teaching methods you use as well-strategy lessons, guided reading groups, book clubs, or individual conferences, for example-so that you also find the setting and structure that enables the reader to deepen her comprehension in a book she may have once put down because it wasn't "her level."

10. Invite students to create the bins in your library, labeled with things they love: strong girl characters, books like Wimpy Kid, books that will gross you out. Ask your students if there are titles that are missing, people/identities/families that are underrepresented in the library, topics they want to read more about. This way, they are invested in their library, will know what books are on the shelves and where to find them - factors that are key in getting books into kids' hands!

Fitting the strategies into your classroom

Maybe you shook your head a few times while reading this list, thinking, "Yes! I do that!" and maybe you found a new idea or two along the way. Just like we don't ask kids to try a bunch of strategies all at once, I wouldn't suggested that you should either. Perhaps try one new idea for a bit, then come back to the blog for another once that's underway.

Please comment below with other top ideas/strategies to help kids find books and love the books once they are in their hands.
__________________________________

Jennifer Serravallo is a literacy consultant, speaker, and the author of several popular titles including the New York Times bestselling The Reading Strategies Book and The Writing Strategies Book.

Jen's new book, Understanding Texts & Readers, connects comprehension goals to text levels and readers' responses and can offer you advice on the best ways to make sure students are matched well to books and are getting the most from their reading.

Her upcoming publications include A Teacher's Guide to Reading Conferences (early 2019) and Complete Comprehension, which is a revised and reimagined whole book assessment and teaching resource based on the award-winning Independent Reading Assessment (due out in Spring 2019). Jen was a Senior Staff Developer at the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project and taught in Title I schools in NYC. Tweet her @jserravallo and visit her website.

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Great Ways to Match Kids Up with Stories They'll Love

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By Jennifer Serravallo Quick! Think about one of your favorite books of all time. Are you picturing it? Good. Now, think about what made it one of your all-time favorites. Maybe it was the plot, so suspenseful that you just couldn't put it down and you stayed up through the night to finish it.

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Fun, informative and captivating talks to inspire young minds.

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Index

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Article

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Guided Reading, Read Aloud, Video Aloud, and Minilesson

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Guided Reading, Read Aloud, Video Aloud, and Minilesson

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Forms

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Parent questions about engagement, screen-based reading, supporting students as writers as much as we do readers

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Parent questions about engagement, screen-based reading, supporting students as writers as much as we do readers

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Podcast

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Welcome to Episode 13 of The Book Love Foundation Podcast! And thank you for joining us in this celebration of teaching and the joy of learning.

And the winners are... Ep 13 of the Book Love Foundation Podcast kevin carlson

Episode 13 Show notes
This episode, the last of our first season, is a celebration of teachers who are changing the reading lives of teenagers one kid and one book at a time.

The 2016 grant winners join the Book Love Foundation family, which stretches across 24 states and 3 Canadian provinces. They teach in public and private schools. They teach honors students as well as students who have always struggled with reading.

Books matter. In every classroom, high interest books matter.

I am so excited for you to meet these teachers.

Thanks so much for joining us today.

Congratulations to the 2016 Book Love Foundation Full-Library Grant Recipients:

Jill Cooper

Kelsey Curlett

Jake Eismeier

Colin Flynn

Wendy Gassaway

Austin Hall

Michael Simental

Dawn Taylor

Shondra Walker

The Teacher Learning Sessions is offering a free summer study session around the Book Love Foundation Podcast .

This free study session will run for 4 weeks, starting on July 18. Each week will focus on a different episode of the show, and teachers who join will receive show transcripts and other resources, pre- and post- listening thinking points and conversation starters, and have access to a private Facebook group as well as teacher reflections as people share their thinking.

We think it will be a great free summer resource for teachers to learn together from each other, build their on-line network, and gather and share resources. (Did I mention the free part?)

Please sign up at teacherlearningsessions.com/booklove-summer

It has been a pleasure bringing you Season 1 of The Book Love Foundation Podcast.

Thank you very much for listening.

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And the winners are... Ep 13 of the Book Love Foundation Podcast - Teacher Learning Sessions -

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Welcome to Episode 13 of The Book Love Foundation Podcast! And thank you for joining us in this celebration of teaching and the joy of learning. Subscribe in iTunes Donate to the Book Love Foundation Episode 13 Show notes This episode, the last of our first season, is a celebration of teachers who are changing ...

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Video cast

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Session 4, Workshop 15 - Jennifer Serravallo

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As the school year comes to a close, many of the schools I work with are launching into a week or so of in-service, summer institutes, and other professional development. It's "curriculum season" in many places around the country. For many writing teachers, that means diving into the Units of Study for Opinion, Information, and Narrative Writing by Lucy Calkins and colleagues. (Click here and here if you've never heard of them!) I'd like to share some tricks for reading the units, whether this will be your first experience with the Units of Study, or you've been using the units for many years.

Full disclosure: I coauthored one of the units, and work very closely with all the authors. Also, my work requires that I teach all the units K-8. The advice below has been gathered from my experience working with teachers in schools across the country.

Step 1: Keep an open mind. Seriously. You might think that you are willing to try anything, but then by Session 4 you're starting to think, "Well I could just change that..." By Session 10 you're thinking, "Well I could just do this session the way I did it last year..." Then you'll decide to use a different kind of paper, and you'll skip this and add that... and by the end of the unit, you've actually told yourself that you're not going to do very much of the unit at all-even though you thought you were being completely open-minded the whole time. Instead, I recommend reading each session with the intention of teaching the session as it is. Then, during the school year, you'll adapt your teaching to the KIDS, rather that preemptively adapting all the sessions before you've even given them a try. Resist the temptation to try to squeeze the new ideas to fit with what you already know, or what you've always done in the past.

Step 2: It's not a script. Okay, that's not really a step so much as it is a fact. 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. This might at first seem contradictory to Step 1 above, but actually it's not. The sessions make it pretty explicit that you can substitute your own examples, your own stories, connections, and ideas. The books are overflowing with advice for how to make each unit your own.

Step 3: Think long-term. As authors, we knew that our audience would be rereading the series year after year and we knew that we needed to pack the books chock full of advice about teaching writing, and about teaching in general. With that in mind, each year you might pick a lens with which to read. Maybe your first year, you'll read just to figure out how to teach the minilessons. Then in Year 2, maybe you'll read to pay more attention to the coaching notes in the sidebars. In Year 3, you might dive into the suggestions for conferring and small group work, and the charts in the second half of the If...Then Curriculum books (charts you might not have even known existed the first year).

Step 4: Read each minilesson. Take notes. This is what I do: I read the minilessons in parts. First I take the "Connection," and I distill the main point. "What am I doing here?" I think to myself. Then I do the same for the "Teach," the "Active Engagement" and the "Link." I 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. Reading this way helps me figure out what I'm going to be doing, and then I don't have to read directly from the minilesson like a script while I'm teaching!

Step 5: Do the work that the kids will do. I cannot even imagine reading the units without trying out some of the writing that the kids will be doing. First of all: It's fun! Second of all: I don't think I could really digest the sessions without trying them out on myself (and sometimes on my husband, or my daughter, or my nieces and nephews...)

However you decide to go about reading the units (or any professional texts) this summer, it's always better with friends. Recruit some of your colleagues to read the units with you. Maybe you'll divide up units and then report back to one another. Maybe you'll all pick one unit to read together. If you can't get friends to read with you, tell as many people as you can that you're going to be reading. That way, you've committed to it and you can feel great when you've accomplished what you set out to do.

Happy summer, everybody! May you write lots, read a ton, and come back to school energized and inspired.

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As the school year comes to a close, many of the schools I work with are launching into a week or so of in-service, summer institutes, and other professional development. It's "curriculum season" in many places around the country. For many writing teachers, that means diving into the Units of Study for Opinion, Information, and Narrative Writing by Lucy...

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Upper Elementary Slideshow

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At youcubed, we inspire, educate and empower teachers of mathematics, transforming the latest research on mathematics learning into accessible and practical forms.

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The Rituals and Routines of a Writing workshop in grades 4-5

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Ruth Parker & Cathy Humphreys: MAKING NUMBER TALKS MATTER

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For Ideas

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Blog

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Write at the Start: No More Morning Worksheets

Imagine you get to work and right after you sign in, you are given a packet of work to do. The packet includes an editing sheet of sentences where there are mistakes in capitalization and punctuation. It also includes an article to read with comprehension questions. You've been given no context for the article or time to talk with anyone to activate any background knowledge you have on the subject. It's Monday morning and you are desperate to talk to your colleagues about something that happened over the weekend, but your principal says, "No talking- start your work!" and you have to sit in your chair and begin completing these worksheets. Would you feel welcomed? Would you feel joyful about the day and week ahead? Would your curiosity be sparked? Would this be how you choose to start your day of work?

For many students, school begins this way. After unpacking, they are given morning work to do and it is expected to be done in silence. Some students have multiple morning worksheets to do. These are not authentic tasks based on students interests or passion. There is no choice involved in this work. No one sees it but the teacher who may or may not even check it.

I realize that I'm most likely preaching to the choir here, that those of you who read teaching blogs each day most likely are not beginning your day like this. But you may have a colleague who has always done it this way and doesn't see the harm in this type of morning work. Or you may have a child in your life who goes to school and is given a packet of work each day to complete. My hope is this post can be shared with educators who begin the day with worksheets to help them envision a different way the day can begin.

In the book, The Curious Classroom, by Harvey "Smokey" Daniels, he writes, "When we begin handing out worksheets or spewing information the second kids walk through our door, are we contributing to what Stanford psychologist, Emma Seppala (2016) calls "toxic stress"? It's worth considering what is really the best way for kids to begin their school day"(60). Daniels also states, "We don't have to teach the whole class from the opening bell. The first chunk of the day/class can be personal choice time- quiet, industrious, and maybe even shoeless. When we let kids find their own way into the day, we activate their curiosity and sense of self-direction, mind-sets that serve learners well in the formal inquiries that follow" (59).

Beginning the day with student-directed choices has become known as "soft starts." Chapter 4 in The Curious Classroom is dedicated to this topic of beginning the day with "not rigid, but gentle, individualized, and peaceful beginnings, driven by personal choice, not ordained by someone else's agenda or requirements" (61). Aliza Werner, a friend and fellow third grade teacher in Wisconsin, has dubbed her soft start as "Spark and Shine." Her students begin the day with many different options including building, painting, reading, writing, and creating. Aliza has shared with me that she will never go back to any other start to the day. Our conversations have helped me think through how I can implement more of a soft start in my classroom with creative options for students.

While there are many reading and STEAM possibilities for a soft start without worksheets, I will focus here on ways to use writing to ease your students into the day, while exciting them about their learning and sparking creativity. Not a worksheet in sight!

Card-making station: Students often come into the classroom, letting me know it's a parent's birthday or a sibling's special day. Sometimes they talk about a wedding they went to or they let me know someone in their family is sick. Making cards for people in your life is an authentic and purposeful way to begin the day with writing. There is a real audience and a real need to get the message right, to punctuate, to spell words correctly. It also encourages kindness and thoughtfulness.

Digital writing: My students love Buncee and enjoy writing poems, stories, and sharing information on this platform. Students can also share their ideas via Google Docs and Slides.

Free writing: Paper and pencils are sometimes all that is needed for a student's creativity to shine! Last year, one of my students created a character that he featured in over 20 books he wrote over the course of the year. Giving students the time and materials is sometimes all that is needed for a student to develop a stronger writing identity.

Wonder Journal: Each day, my class shares a fact of the day. I find most of these facts on the Snapple website. Students can use the fact of the day to inspire questions or they can write about anything they are wondering about in a Wonder Journal. (This could be digital or a real notebook).

Inspiring Quotes: In addition to a fact of the day, one of our class jobs is the Chief Inspiration Officer (CIO) who selects the quote for the day. Students can read through inspiring quotes and copy down one that inspires them. They can illustrate it and create their own quote collection. I have the 365 Days of Wonder: Mr. Browne's Precepts by R.J. Palacio and have printed some motivational quotes and placed them in a binder. We share them each day here.

Word play games: Growing up, I loved games like Boggle and Scattergories. Students don't always have experience playing board games. This could be a fun option to build vocabulary and also learn the social skills involved with taking turns and winning and losing.

Book reviews: Students can write a script for a book review and then create a video review. This can be shared on Buncee, Flipgrid, or Padlet. Other digital options for book reviews could be a class Google Slides, a Padlet, or a blog post. If digital options aren't readily available, you can have students create a review on paper and place them in a binder near your classroom library.

Blogging: Many teachers worry that blogging will take a lot of class time. The truth is, blogging doesn't really take much instructional time after it is initially taught and launched. For me, blogs are a place for students to share their stories whenever they can. This can be outside of school or during free moments in the classroom. Morning time is the perfect chance to share a story from your weekend or something on your mind by blogging about it. For more resources on blogging with your students, check out posts I've written about blogging: Diving into Kidblogs and Make your Mark By Blogging.

I think presenting many different options over time and allowing students to follow their interests is key. This is not about assigning students to a specific station and forcing them do the work there. It's showing possibilities and then allowing students choices in what they select. It's fostering self-identity as a writer by allowing students the opportunities to write what is meaningful for them at the start of the day.

Smokey Daniels posits, "Looked at over a whole day of school, a fifteen-minute soft start is an investment in the overall seven hour outcome. Kids will accomplish more 'net learning' if they start that day in the driver's seat." (77). Imagine how different you would feel starting your day writing something of your choosing, for a purpose that mattered to you. Imagine how collaborating with others on a project might energize you.

Teachers, give up the old worksheets! Save yourselves hours of photocopying and checking papers where kids joylessly fix errors in punctuation and capitalization. Drudgery has no place in our classrooms. Let kids write and create for real reasons and purposes and let it begin at the start of the day!
Some more resources on Soft Starts:
Our new co-author, Kelsey Corter, wrote Please Stop the Morning Work on her personal blog, Small Steps.

Last week, I wrote What Does Morning Work Look Like? on my personal blog Courage Doesn't Always Roar. (You can see this topic has been on my mind!) The comments were helpful and full of good ideas.

How have you used writing to create a soft start for your students? Please share your ideas in the comments!

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Write at the Start: No More Morning Worksheets

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Imagine you get to work and right after you sign in, you are given a packet of work to do. The packet includes an editing sheet of sentences where there are mistakes in capitalization and punctuation. It also includes an article to read with comprehension questions.

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Blog

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The Joys, Wonders, and Challenges of On-Demand Writing: Assessment Strengthens Writers Blog Series

Many classrooms have recently ended their first unit of study and lots of teachers are thinking about on-demand assessments.
What are on-demand assessments, you wonder?
At the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project several years ago, I was part of a study group working to develop potential district and state level writing assessments. We were finding that processed, published pieces alone frequently presented a skewed view of student progress. We needed a way to really see what students could do on their own. After some amount of trial and error, and lots and lots of experimentation and field testing and various iterations for different purposes, the TCRWP on-demand writing assessments were born.

In Writing Pathways, the assessment tool that is part of the Units of Study for Teaching Opinion, Informational, and Narrative Writing, K-8 Series we conceptualized on-demand writing as an opportunity for teachers to observe kids working completely independently, without conferring or partner work.
The Basics of Administering an On-Demand Writing Assessment

Distribute paper and/or booklets that are the same as the paper students will be using during writing workshop. There may be a variety of paper choices for students to use.

Read an open-ended prompt (see example below) to the students clearly and expressively. Be sure that every student heard the prompt. Display the prompt in the room where students can see it easily, and provide visual support as needed.

During the assessment time, circulate among the students and take notes on their work habits and behaviors.

Students may reread, use as much paper as they wish, make changes at any point, but they may not talk with each other during this time. You might find it necessary to change your usual seating arrangement if students are used to talking with their writing partner during writing workshop.

Students may use charts, word walls, and other tools that have been previously introduced. Observe them using these tools and make note of it.

You may need to remind students that every word does not need to be spelled perfectly and to give challenging words their best try and move on. Classrooms with lots of experience with writing workshop usually do not need this reminder, but occasionally the change to On-Demand causes some students to fear that a misspelled word might count against them.

Do not coach or confer in any way during the assessment time. This will allow you to find out what each student does on his/her own, without your support.

If a student is "stuck," give them ample time to think it through on their own. After five to ten minutes of no writing, you may give the student a more specific prompt so that you can assess how they do when given a prompt. Make a note that you prompted the student and they could not come up with a topic on their own. Plan to focus some future instruction for that student on gathering ideas on their own.

If after several minutes of writing it is clear that a student completely misunderstood the prompt, redirect the student by rereading the prompt one-one with the student and allowing him/her to start over. (For example, the student is writing in the wrong genre completely.)

If all or some student's handwriting is not legible, take a dictation of the illegible portions of student work on a separate sheet of paper or Post-it note and attach it to the student work after the assessment time is over.
(More information on how to administer the on-demand assessment can also be found in the Writing Pathways book, included in the Units of Study for Opinion, Information, and Narrative Writing, Grades K-8 Series by Lucy Calkins and Colleagues.)
THE JOYS

I'll be honest. I actually love on-demand writing assessments. I love the peacefulness of a full period of uninterrupted, sustained, independent writing. Kids write all by themselves for extended amounts of time - it reminds me of writing workshop was back in the days before Units of Study existed. On an on-demand day, it always feels to me like pressing the "reset" button on writing workshop.

I love having the luxury of time to observe each student carefully as they work, unencumbered by pressures to confer or coach. I just watch, read over their shoulders, and take notes, getting to know each one of them closely. I carry a little checklist around with me, reminding me of a few key things I hope to see in action: pencil grip and letter formation habits, using resources around the room, crossing out, making changes, rereading from time to time. I add to the list when I notice something that surprises me, or if I become curious about something I observe among a few kids.

I am always impressed with kids' stamina and volume during an on-demand assessment day. Kids often write much more than they do on a typical writing workshop day. At the end of the assessment period, kids often exclaim "Whew! I wrote a lot!" It isn't unusual for students to ask if we can do it again the next day. It's exhilarating for kids, to set out to write something and then sit down and just do it. Like climbing a mountain and reaching the summit. Or finishing an entire pepperoni pizza in one sitting.

THE WONDERS

I'm fascinated by students who write at a much higher level during an on-demand assessment than what their processed, published pieces display. I'm equally as curious about the kids who struggle with the on-demand writing, despite having achieved high levels of success in their processed, published pieces. Are we scaffolding too much during writing workshop? Did it just take until now for all the strategies to come together in one piece of writing? Are kids too distracted during a typical day? Are partners helping each other too much on regular writing days? Too little?

I also wonder about the students who get anxious despite the incredibly laid back prompts that I like to give. I'm fortunate enough to work in environments where I'm able to adapt the prompts, to field test different options. A typical on-demand prompt (in my world) goes like this:
"Today we will have a special writing workshop. Today you will be working all by yourself to write a narrative, or story you can write. You might write a true story from your own life, a small moment, or fiction. You will have this whole period, to plan, draft, revise, and edit your entire story. If you finish one story, you may start another. Write in a way that shows all that you know about narrative writing."
That's it. I never use the word test when it comes to this work. I never hint that this is at all different from a usual day of writing workshop - aside from a request not to talk to partners. I don't set a time limit. If kids really need more time, I give it to them.

Yet I occasionally come across students who become incredibly anxious despite my best efforts, and I continue to be puzzled about how to address this. Some students have experienced on-demand writing in the past as a high pressure test with a time limit, rather than an observation of their regular writing habits - and that explains the anxiety. How much of this is kids' healthy desire to do their best work? How much is undo stress?

THE CHALLENGES

After the kids have poured their hearts out onto the page for 45-60 minutes straight, the biggest challenge for many of us is... (drumroll please...)....

You guessed it.... Scoring!

It's a BIG challenge to analyze each child's writing, and then deliver that feedback to the child in a kid-friendly and timely manner. The struggle is REAL.

While rubrics are hugely helpful, they will inevitably be open to some amount of interpretation - it's a challenge that comes with the territory of teaching writing.

A great way to deal with this challenge is by scoring together with others as often as possible. In my work at the Reading and Writing Project, we scored dozens and dozens, if not hundreds of pieces of student writing at all ages and stages together in study groups and leaderships groups. Working together to analyze writing is a powerful way to develop your sense of what to expect from your students, and how to name strengths and next steps.

Once a pile of writing has been scored, the next challenge is to use that information to help students set goals for their writing that will move them to new stages on a progression of learning. Conferring and small group work are a great way to do this. A round of conferring where the rubrics are shared and discussed with students can get students started working toward their goals. Kids with similar goals can be partnered together so that they can give each other reminders, coach each other, and cheer each other on.

In school, as in life, most things are simply better together.

To celebrate this series, we will be giving away a copy of Conferring with Young Writers: What to Do When You Don't Know What to Do.

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION:

This giveaway is for one copy of Conferring with Young Writers: What to Do When You Don't Know What to Do by Kristin Ackerman and Jennifer McDonough (https://www.stenhouse.com/content/conferring-young-writers). Many thanks to Stenhouse Publishers (https://www.stenhouse.com) for donating a copy of this book.

For a chance to win one copy of Ackerman and McDonough's Conferring with Young Writers: What to Do When You Don't Know What to Do (https://www.stenhouse.com/content/conferring-young-writers), please leave a reaction to any post in the blog series, including this one, by Sunday, November 6th at 11:59 p.m. ET. Dana Murphy will use a random number generator to pick the winners, whose names she will announce in our blog series' IN CASE YOU MISSED IT POST on Monday, November 7th.

You may leave one comment on every post in our Assessment Strengthens Writers blog series.

Please be sure to leave a valid e-mail address when you post your comment, so Dana can contact you to obtain your mailing address if you win. From there, our contact at Stenhouse will ship your book out to you. (NOTE: Your e-mail address will not be published online if you leave it in the e-mail field only.)

If you are the winner of the book, Dana will email you with the subject line of TWO WRITING TEACHERS - CONFERRING WITH YOUNG WRITERS. Please respond to her e-mail with your mailing address within five days of receipt. Unfortunately, a new winner will be chosen if a response isn't received within five days of the giveaway announcement.

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The Joys, Wonders, and Challenges of On-Demand Writing: Assessment Strengthens Writers Blog Series

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Many classrooms have recently ended their first unit of study and lots of teachers are thinking about on-demand assessments. What are on-demand assessments, you wonder? At the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project several years ago, I was part of a study group working to develop potential district and state level writing assessments.

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Blog

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Carl Anderson demystifies conferring in A Teacher's Guide to Writing Conferences: Grades K - 8. The book's content can initially be digested on a weekend afternoon thanks to its easy-to-navigate structure and beautiful design. Be prepared to read this book with sticky notes and a pen, rather than a highlighter, since every page has practical advice. To really dive deep, you'll want to set aside more time so you can view and take notes on the 25 videos that showcase Carl conferring with young writers at every grade level the book covers. After you've read the book and watched the videos, you'll have taken a master class on conferring with young writers.

A Teacher's Guide to Writing Conferences: Grades K - 8 begins by explaining what writing conferences and why conferring an essential part of writing workshop. The next three chapters help readers understand how to research, decide, and teach a child a new strategy that will help him/her become a stronger writer in every conference. And if that's not enough, there are dozens of possible teaching points (in chapter three) that serve as a menu, of sorts, to help you teach into writing process patterns (i.e., rehearsal, drafting and revising, editing, publishing) and qualities of writing patterns (i.e., focus, structure, detail, voice, conventions). As a result, Carl's new book is an enduring gift for writing workshop teachers.

I thought a Q&A with Carl would be the best way to show, rather than tell, you (See what I did there?!!?) how rich of a resource his newest book is. Read through Carl's responses to get a better sense of how his book can help you grow at conferring.

Stacey: How's It Going? was the book about conferring that influenced me most since I read it. What inspired you to write a new book about conferring?

Carl: I've wanted to write again about conferring for many years. Since How's It Going? was published nearly twenty years ago, I've given countless workshops on conferring, and visited many schools where I've demonstrated conferences, and coached teachers as they conferred. All of these experiences have helped me to get even better at explaining the how-to's of conferring-and have also helped me get much better at conferring myself. So when Heinemann suggested I write a Classroom Essentials book on writing conferences, the opportunity to update what I wrote about conferring years ago was too good to pass up. Also, teachers have continuously asked me if I have any conference videos available. While there are some that are part of my Heinemann firstHand series, Strategic Writing Conferences, they are all of fourth graders. A Teacher's Guide to Writing Conferences gave me the opportunity to include videos of writing conferences I had with students in every grade, K-8.

Stacey: I know your daughter, Anzia, was the illustrator for A Teacher's Guide to Writing Conferences, Grades K-8. Would you talk a bit about how you feel Anzia's illustrations enhance the reader's experience when interacting with this text?

Carl: When Heinemann described the new Classroom Essentials series to me, they explained that these books would be gorgeously designed in ways that would enhance the meaning of the text. I proposed that we dramatize the various conferring "moves" with illustrations of teachers talking with students. I felt this would be something readers would find visually pleasing, and would be much more accessible than written transcripts of the "moves." Fortunately, Anzia, who is an art and urban studies major at Brown University, was available to do the work. I think they're an amazing feature of the book-and I'm not just saying that as a proud dad!

Stacey: What advice can you offer to teachers who are new to conferring in a writing workshop who want to confer well, but feel overwhelmed by how much needs to be fit into a short 1:1 writing conference?

Carl: I think the trick to getting started with conferring is to not worry about getting better at every single aspect of conferring at once. For example, new teachers might first work on supporting students' talk in the beginning of conferences, which will help them figure out what students are trying to do as writers. To do so, they can try out some of the strategies I discuss in Chapter 2 of A Teacher's Guide to Writing Conferences. Once they feel comfortable supporting student talk, they might then work on improving their assessment skills, which I discuss in Chapter 3, and improving their conference teaching points, which is the focus of Chapter 4. I'm not saying this is the exact sequence that new teachers should follow, just one sequence. For example, after reading the book, and watching some of the videos, a teacher might decide that improving her conference teaching points is the best place to start.

Stacey: Speaking of new teachers, what are the most important classroom management principles they should have in place so conferring can happen without disruptions?

Carl: In general, I think it's critical that new teachers have a clear image in their minds about what happens in each part of writing workshop (mini-lesson, independent writing, and share session) and how they want things to unfold in each part-and that they explain these things to their students during the first few weeks of the school year. Once I was able to do this with my own students, years ago, I found that my workshops ran much better, because my students knew exactly what was expected of them. Specific to conferring, students should know that they shouldn't interrupt their teacher while he is conferring (unless there's an emergency). This needs to be an iron-clad rule, as interruptions break the flow of a conference, hurting both the teacher's and student's concentration. Finally, it helps for teachers to be proactive and explain how to do all of the things independently that could cause students to interrupt a conference. For example, students should know where writing supplies are kept, and how to sign out for the bathroom, so they don't need to ask the teacher about these kinds of needs while she's conferring.

Stacey: How can wait time work to a teacher's advantage in a writing conference?

Carl: After we ask the student "How's it going?" at the beginning of a conference (or a similar open-ended question that invites students to talk about what they're doing as writers), it's important to give students some wait time. Don Graves suggested we give students upwards of 10 to 15 seconds to consider what they're going to say! This wait time puts the responsibility on students to get involved in the conference. And it gives students an opportunity to think about what they might say. When we sit down next to them, students are in the world of their topics, and they often need some time to become present with us in the conference, and start to talk about what they're doing as writers.

Stacey: You talked about kids who respond to "How's it going?" by talking about what they're doing as writers (pg. 49). Would you provide some quick tips for teaching kids that conferring is about what they're working on as writers?

Carl: In Chapter Two, I describe five scenarios that we could face after we ask "How's it going?" In the first scenario, students are able to describe what they're doing as writers, and what they bring up is something we want to make the focus of the conference. In general, the best way to help kids become able to talk about what they're doing in conferences is to give mini-lessons on the student's role in a writing conference. Often, kids are confused about what they're supposed to do in response to the question, "How's it going?", and a class discussion can help clear this up. It can help to role-play conferences in these mini-lessons, and/or show some videos of conferences to the class (like those in A Teacher's Guide to Writing Conferences), so students can get a clear image of their role. Some teachers make a chart of things students might talk about in conferences, usually things that have been the focus of the current unit of study.

Stacey: In Scenario 2 (pg. 47), you talk about how to deal with things students tell you that you don't want to "get behind." Would you talk more about this so teachers know that even though students guide the first part of the conference, teachers can still steer a student in a different direction.

Carl: Scenario 2 is when a student talks about a kind of writing work he's doing as a writer, but we don't want to make that kind of work the focus of the conference, perhaps because we know there are other, more important aspects of writing that the student needs to learn about first, or because the work the student talks about is better left to a later stage in the writing process. When this happens, it's okay to steer the conversation towards something else that the student is doing as a writer that would be a better use of conference time. And there's a really simple strategy we can use to steer the conversation in another direction-we can ask, "What else are you doing as a writer?"

Stacey: You write about "patterns of approximation" (pgs. 66-67), and how recognizing patterns can help teachers decide what to teach in a writing conference. Could you discuss this?

Carl: Once we know what kind of work a student is doing in a writing conference, our next step is to read their writing to see how the student is approximating that kind of work. Since many students make similar approximations, we can call them "patterns of approximation", and being able to recognize these patterns in conferences helps us make quick and accurate teaching decisions. I think the best way to learn to recognize these patterns is to read student writing outside of writing workshop, preferably with colleagues, and ask these questions: "What kind of work do we see this student is trying to do?", "What does this student understand so far about doing this kind of work?" and "What does the student need to learn to be better at this kind of work?" I should also mention that Chapter 3 of A Teacher's Guide to Writing Conferences includes charts that list typical writing patterns, and possible teaching points that we can give in response.

Stacey: Voice is hard to teach. Would you share a few ways you've found successful to help students write with an authentic voice?

Carl: One way to teach voice is to explain to students that writers "code" texts in ways that cue readers to give texts voice when they read them aloud, or to themselves. Punctuation, for example, is used by writers to let readers know when to make their voice get louder or softer, or speed up or slow down, just like musical notations help musicians know how to play a piece. Various sentence structures also signal readers to do similar things. The best way I know of teaching voice is to look at mentor texts with students, and point out various voice techniques (e.g. punctuation marks such as the exclamation mark or ellipsis, or sentence structures such as short or long sentences), and discuss the effects that they have on readers.

Stacey: Would you talk about the importance of giving feedback about a student's emerging strengths?

Carl: We preface our conference teaching points by giving students feedback. The best kind of feedback isn't about something random that we've noticed that the student is doing. Instead, it's a combination of naming what the student already understands about doing the writing work she's doing, and then what she needs to learn in order to do that work better. This kind of feedback gives the student the message that she's someone who has some strength as a writer, a strength that she can build on by trying out what we teach her in the rest of the conference. I think it's important to keep in mind that students learn better when they feel we see them as people with some strengths already!

Stacey: Could you talk about the four methods of teaching during a conference you discuss in Chapter 4 (pgs. 104-105)?

Carl: In the book, I name four ways we can teach in a conference. First, we can demonstrate a strategy e.g. we might read some of our writing aloud, and show a student how we listen for punctuation errors. Second, we might show a student our writing from a stage of the writing process, such as our writer's notebook, or one of our drafts with revisions, so that the student can see the kind of work they can do in that stage. Third, we can show a mentor text and use it to teach a student about one of the craft techniques the author of the text used. Or fourth, we can ask a child to study a mentor text, and describe what she notices about a craft technique, which, by reading the text "like a writer," she is able to teach herself. Once we decide what to teach in a conference, we choose one of these methods to use in our teaching point.

Stacey: In Chapter Four, you write, "many teachers don't include strategies in their teaching points." Would you explain why teaching strategies is crucial when conferring with student writers?

Carl: When we teach in a conference, we need to explain what the thing is we're teaching, as well as how to do it. For example, we first explain what dialogue is, and then a strategy for how to write it. Without a strategy, the student is left without the means to do what we've taught them. In my work in schools, I've noticed that coming up with these strategies is hard for a lot of teachers. That's not because the strategies are that complicated, but because, as adult writers, we're often not aware on a conscious level of what strategies we use when we write. To develop my own repertoire of writing strategies, I've had to study my own writing process and ask myself, "How exactly do I do each kind of writing work that I want to teach children?" I've also learned some strategies by reading about the ones other writers use (such as the members of The Beatles!), and by reading professional books on the teaching of writing (many of which I cite in A Teacher's Guide to Writing Conferences).

Stacey: How do you suggest teachers check in with students after conferences (pgs. 110-111)?

Carl: I think it's critical that we check in with students the same period we confer with them, usually after the following conference. Checking in gives students the message that they're responsible for following through on conferences, and also gives us a chance to see how students did in response to our teaching. If something went awry, then we can sit back down with the student and teach them some more. I don't think it's a good idea to check in with students a week later, or even the next day. I want to check-in with them when their thinking about what I taught them and how trying it went for them is freshest, and that means just 5-10 minutes after the conference is over.

Stacey: How do you recommend teachers analyze and study their writing conferences when they videotape or make a voice recording of their conferences?

Carl: First, read A Teacher's Guide to Writing Conferences, and watch several of the videos! Then, identify one aspect of conferring that they would like to analyze in their own conferences e.g. how well they support student talk, the quality of their feedback, the clarity of their teaching points, etc. Then, they should watch or listen to their video or voice recording with that one aspect of conferring in mind. Watching and listening like this should give teachers some ideas for how they can work on this aspect of conferring in subsequent conferences. Over time, teachers can analyze more video or voice recordings, with other aspects of conferring in mind, and gradually get better at navigating every part of writing conferences.

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Photos (used in this post) by permission of Heinemann Publishing 2018.
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Giveaway Information:

This giveaway is for a copy of A Teacher's Guide to Writing Conferences: Grades K - 8 . Many thanks to Heinemann for donating a copy for one reader.

For a chance to win this copy of A Teacher's Guide to Writing Conferences: Grades K - 8 , please leave a comment about this post by Friday, October 12th at 11:59 p.m. EDT. I'll use a random number generator to pick the winners, whose names I will announce at the bottom of this post , by Monday, October 15th.

Please be sure to leave a valid e-mail address when you post your comment, so I can contact you to obtain your mailing address if you win. From there, my contact at Heinemann will ship your book out to you. (NOTE: Your e-mail address will not be published online if you leave it in the e-mail field only.)

If you are the winner of the book, I will email you with the subject line of TWO WRITING TEACHERS - ANDERSON. Please respond to my e-mail with your mailing address within five days of receipt. Unfortunately, a new winner will be chosen if a response isn't received within five days of the giveaway announcement.

Comments are now closed.

Thank you to everyone who left a comment on this post. Andrea Willadsen's commenter number was chosen so she'll receive a copy of Carl Anderson's new book.

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Want to improve your conferring? Carl Anderson's new book, A Teacher's Guide to Writing Conferences, will help you learn the ins and outs of conferring well with young writers. Read the Q&A with Carl, then leave a comment on this blog post for a chance to win a copy of your own!

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Berkeley Unified School District

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Growing Extraordinary Writers:Leadership Decisions to Raise the Level of Writing Across a School and a District

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Growing Extraordinary Writers:Leadership Decisions to Raise the Level of Writing Across a School and a District

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Book Source

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Language Arts from Lumberton Township School District

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Language Arts from Lumberton Township School District

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Resource

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presented by mary ehrenworth “teach kids to see the text

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Presented by Mary Ehrenworth "teach kids to see the text, so the text can release the secrets" - ppt download

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Close Reading What does it look like? Close reading teaches readers to unlock the meaning in text. Activity Let's look at the poem, "To a daughter leaving home" When reading poem, think about these questions: What kind of mother is she? What are some elements that are being symbolized in the poem?

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TCRWP

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Sign in now to see your channels and recommendations!

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Danielson Observation Guide for Workshop

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Danielson Observation Guide for Workshop