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Kate and Maggie are literacy consultants, authors, and speakers. They are known for their concrete solutions to tough situations, their humor, and their strong curricular, pedagogical and personal support of teachers, administrators, and students.

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If...Then... books in the Units of Study

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If...Then... books in the Units of Study

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- conferring scenarios charts are AMAZING

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Confusing Main Idea and Supporting Details?

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Confusing Main Idea and Supporting Details?

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I recently went to a workshop at the TCRWP reunion called Toolkits Can Make your Teaching More Ambitious, Memorable and Efficient. Celena Larkey the presenter began her talk holding a big binder, loaded with goodies. Throughout the presentation, Celena shared how she goes about using different tools to teach writers in her primary class. A toolkit is a collection of various types of tools to help meet the learning needs of all of your students. The toolkit below is something I plan to use when I conference with students during writing workshop.

Although Celena shared her toolkit and my initial reaction was to copy everything she shared, I know a toolkit will be more powerful for me if I am the one who creates it over time and takes and add to it when needed.
What I love about a toolkit is that when working with students, everything you need is in just one place. Celena's toolkit was a binder that can easily be carried; I have also seen teachers make toolkits out of huge sketchbooks.
STEP ONE:
Celena had her toolkit broken down into categories with a pocket folder for each category:
* Gather Ideas, Plan and write
* Revise, Fancy Up and Publish
* Qualities Tools
* Strategy Reminders
* Inquiry
Inside the pockets she shared:
* Mini-Anchor charts
* Post-its to leave with students to remind them of what they are working on
* Mini-word wall
* White off board
* Boo Boo tape
* Samples of writing by students
* An example of writing by an adult but written like a five-year-old
* Mentor text
* Checklist modified by cutting up parts
* Rubric from TC
* A blank checklist
When creating a toolkit, it is best to take small steps by asking, "What do my writers need?"

Currently, I am working on a section for where writers gather ideas:

Below are some of the things that I plan to put in my toolkit to help primary writers.
If a child is stuck on what to write, they can take out their THINGS I KNOW AND CARE ABOUT SHEET. Click here for TOPICS I CAN WRITE ABOUT sheet.

Take a picture of your anchor charts or bulletin boards. The picture below is a bulletin board that we made about topic ideas. If someone is stuck, we can look at some of the class suggestions.

A student can get a topic idea from a favorite book.

Put mentor text that you use with your students.

If student's made HEART MAPS they can look to them for writing ideas.

In closing, if you do plan to create your own toolkit (which I think you should) what would be important to have in your toolkit?

Coming soon...part two of Toolkits!

Joyful yours in creating toolkits to teach beginning writers,
Melissa

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I recently went to a workshop at the TCRWP reunion called Toolkits Can Make your Teaching More Ambitious, Memorable and Efficient. Celena Larkey the presenter began her talk holding a big binder, loaded with goodies. Throughout the presentation, Celena shared how she goes about using different tools to teach writers in her primary class.

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- include the full set for you
- cut up into individual strips as "leave-behinds" for students
- make microprogressions for the 3-5 focus strands for the unit

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- anchor charts
- get access to other grade levels
- Learning Progressions

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- FULL of student exemplars - copy them all!
- look at your grade level
- look at previous grade level same/similar genre
- consider the Guide to the Reading Workshop (K-5), Reading Pathways (3-5), Writing Pathways (3-5), Guide to the Writing Workshop (K-5)

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- use your focus (reading fiction, writing information, etc.) and TCRWP in your search - for example: "reading fiction toolkits TCRWP"
- click "Images"
- search "demonstration notebooks"

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- each elementary building has a set of 5 new editions
- all teachers should have a copy of the first edition (check your BAS kit)

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toolkit - reading fiction - prediction microprogression

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"Teaching Toolkits: Making Instruction Visible" from Two Writing Teachers

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"Teaching Toolkits: Making Instruction Visible" from Two Writing Teachers

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Teaching Toolkits: Making Instruction Visible

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My husband and I are in the midst of home renovation. Not a small renovation, but a big, capital-R Renovation, in which we are redoing every room in a 100-year old apartment. We began this undertaking innocently enough, saying things to each other like: "How hard can it be?

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"This Is the Year I'm Going to Make Writing Toolkits" from Two Writing Teachers

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"This Is the Year I'm Going to Make Writing Toolkits" from Two Writing Teachers

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This is the Year I'm Going to Make Writing Toolkits

Renters with homeowner mentalities (a must when living in NYC), Brett and I enjoy filling our Sundays with projects.

Our projects vary, as do the tools Brett needs. Last Sunday, we installed a new hook for a hanging plant that was too close to the window in the living room, attached brackets to the wall of the office for a writing desk, and added a shelf to the linen closet.

For each project, Brett made trips back and forth to get another tool. Sometimes, he stopped, mid-project, to go to Home Depot for something new or a tool he could not find.

You can imagine all of the time wasted and the headaches that ensued after sifting through the toolboxes to find each tool.

Brett knew he needed a better system.

My dad, our organizational guru, sent Brett a tool bag. Most of the time, this bag is a home for the essentials, the most frequented tools. Other times, it gets filled up for special projects. This little bag has made Brett's work a lot easier.

Much like the way Brett tends to our apartment, bringing his tool bag from room to room, we tend to our writers during writing workshop. Each day, we gather or create tools for strategy groups, minilessons, and conferences. I often find myself, like Brett, running back and forth to find, recreate, or make new tools. Brett's tool bag inspired me to make a writing toolkit. A home for writing workshop essentials, saving me time and stress, allowing me to maximize time with writers.

Like any organizational makeover, creating a toolkit might feel daunting. But setting aside a few hours will save countless more on daily preparation. If making a toolkit has been an item on your to-do list, or if your toolkit needs some revamping, let's get started (video tutorials and tool downloads below)!

What Is A Toolkit and Why Should I Have One?

Some people have toolkits specifically for conferring. Others make toolkits solely to house demonstration texts and exemplars, or even as a catalogue of charts. I'm the kind of person who needs everything in one place, so I have started making toolkits for teaching specific genres. This coming school year will be the year I make a toolkit for every genre. Whatever intention you set for your toolkit, it is meant to make your life more efficient and more organized and help you stay for any teachable moment

If You're Thinking, I've Wanted To Make a Toolkit For (insert time), But I Keep Putting it Off

It takes a lot of time to make.

Find a colleague, or better yet, your whole grade team. Toolkits make for a super-productive professional meeting time or a fun summer afternoon project with a buddy.

I am not organized.

Toolkits will be your organizational lifesaver!

This Will Be The Year

Start with the next unit of study you will teach. You can make additional toolkits throughout the year, ideally, one for each genre. After you make the first one, making the rest will be easier, as you can reuse many of the same categories and tools.

How To Make a Toolkit in 5 Steps: Video Tutorial with Narration

How To Make a Toolkit in 5 Steps: Condensed Video Version

Like Writers, Toolkits Grow and Change

In our home, new projects come up that require new tools. Brett's tool collection keeps growing, and with it, his tool bag grows and changes.

If you're making a toolkit in summer, you'll be anticipating the kinds of tools you'll need to support yourself with teaching a group of writers you haven't met yet. If you continue to make a new toolkit prior to teaching each genre, as I do this year, you'll also be anticipating the bumps and hurdles your writers will reach along the way. Continue to grow your toolkit while you are teaching a unit, and revise it after. What tools didn't you use? Could some tools be filed somewhere else? Pro Tip: Keep digital copies or photos in Google Drive folders of items in your toolkit for when things get lost or written on.

A Final Mantra

Tools don't teach. Whether it is a tool for yourself or a tool for writers, the power is not in the tool, rather it is in how it is used. Brett's tools aren't magic. They don't build our projects. Rather, they make the steps easier. They make the projects last. So will the tools in your toolkit.

Using tools will lift the level of your teaching, providing visuals and models for strategies.

Kids use tools as scaffolds and reminders to help teaching stick.

Keeping tools organized for planning and record-keeping will allow you to make more purposeful and responsive teaching decisions.

Having charts and tools for writers on-hand will help allow you to maximize teaching time during independent writing.

Put these tools together, and you've got yourself one powerful toolkit to make for a more efficient, more organized, and more prepared year of writing workshop.

Many thank you's to Gina Neumann and Shanna Schwartz, who taught me everything I know about making toolkits.

Articles, Downloads, and More Goodies

Toolkit Shopping List

Tools for Planning:

Tools for Teaching:

Tools for Gathering and Recording Data:

More on Toolkits:

Giveaway Information:

This giveaway is for a copy of Kids 1st from Day 1: A Teacher's Guide to Today's Classroom (Link to https://www.heinemann.com/products/e09250.aspx ). Thanks to Heinemann (Link to: https://www.heinemann.com ) for donating a copy for one reader. (You must have a U.S. mailing address to win a copy of this book.)

For a chance to win this copy of Kids 1st from Day 1: A Teacher's Guide to Today's Classroom, please leave a comment about this or any blog post in this blog series by Sunday, August 12th at 6:00 p.m. EDT. Melanie Meehan will use a random number generator to pick the winner's commenter number. His/her name will be announced in the ICYMI blog post for this series on Monday, August 13th.

Please leave a valid e-mail address when you post your comment so Melanie can contact you to obtain your mailing address if you win. From there, our contact at Heinemann will ship the book 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, Melanie will email you with the subject line of TWO WRITING TEACHERS - KIDS 1ST. Please respond to her e-mail with your mailing address within five days of receipt. A new winner will be chosen if a response isn't received within five days of the giveaway announcement.

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This is the Year I'm Going to Make Writing Toolkits

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Toolkits seem to be the thing that teachers want, yet keep putting off...but... This will be the year! Grab a colleague or be my virtual buddy and follow along with a video tutorial to finally make the toolkit of your organizational dreams.

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"What's In My Writing Conferring Toolkit?"

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"What's In My Writing Conferring Toolkit?"