"They already understood that reading and writing go hand in hand, we just needed to give them space and permission to try it out."

Maria Walther and Karen Biggs-Tucker are breaking tradition with their new book, The Literacy Workshop: Where Reading and Writing Converge. In this recent Teacher's Corner episode, they explain how they developed this idea, how it works in the classroom and remotely, and how their students responded.

In this One Thing You Might Try . . . post, teacher and parent, Grace Choi, gives us some creative ideas on how to help kids enjoy and succeed in reading at home.   

I wonder if Friends actor, David Schwimmer, knows that his character, Ross Geller’s “PIVOT!” scene has now become the anthem of educators. Across the country, school looks different, and teaching and learning has had to pivot in many ways. It’s either happening in physical school buildings with necessary measures and precautions to limit spread and exposure of COVID-19, or school is happening in people’s homes. Including mine.

Being a new teacher entering into the first year of teaching is always going to have its challenges. But this year? We're willing to bet that some trusted guidance is necessary. So since we can't be right there with you, we wanted to offer a list of new-teacher essentials that we think might help to have on your shelf for when you need advice from the experts. And while these books weren't written specifically for online instruction, the ideas can be applied in any setting should you find yourself teaching from home this fall.

Whether you’re headed into the classroom for the first time, or you’re finishing up your first year—you might find yourself looking for some trusted guidance from time to time. These Stenhouse authors have been where you are now, and since they can't be there in-person to answer your questions, they have done the next best thing and created these practical resources for you to reference when you need it.

Identifying a worthy text is often one of the biggest challenges to overcome when putting together a close-reading plan. Choosing a text that offers opportunities for multiple readings, as well as new, meaningful understandings can be difficult. So how do we know if a book or article will work for close reading?

Below is excerpted from the Introduction in Patterns of Power: Inviting Young Writers into the Conventions of Language (2017) by Jeff Anderson and Whitney La Rocca. It’s a wonderful description—in the authors’ words—of what makes this authentic grammar and conventions instruction through the process of invitation so successful and how it’s used to bridge the gap left by current reading and writing curriculums.

By now, your reading and writing workshops are up and running. But are you noticing  there's something missing in your instruction that would bridge the two together? Jeff Anderson and Whitney La Rocca noticed that in their own instruction and they figured out a way to close the gap!  

In this video, hear from Jeff and Whitney about how taking just 5 minutes from reading workshop and 5 minutes from writing workshop each day, you can use their process known as the Invitational Process, or Patterns of Power Process, to strengthen your students’ comprehension and composition skills. Find out why this process works and how you can use it to create a space where students notice the beauty and meaning of writer’s craft in the texts they read and in the world around them.

In a traditional primary classroom, spelling errors were looked upon as mistakes to be corrected. But to spelling expert Richard Gentry and reading researcher Gene Ouellette, the ways young students invent spelling of words provides key insights into their brain circuitry and their development as readers.

In this installment of the Teacher's Corner Podcast, we hear educator Trevor Bryan, read from his popular book, The Art of Comprehension: Exploring Visual Texts to Foster Comprehension, Conversation, and Confidence. Listen in to learn more about this exciting book and how it can help you get your students talking about their thinking through discussions about art, which they can carry over into discussions about text.

By Trevor A. Bryan