On Tuesday, I shared a visual intended to help teachers conceptualize the whole of a writing workshop year before sharing a unit framework that middle level teachers might use to investigate social justice beside their students. Today, I’d like to show you the dashboard behind this kind of unit design. Those who have worked with me inside of writing workshops and studios are sometimes surprised to learn that I’m a fan of standards and other clear…
It was empathy that drew me to design thinking. The notion that creative people might best begin their work by seeking to understand the needs of their audiences was compelling. And it got me thinking, once again: Why aren’t all young writers creating real stuff for real audiences about things that really matter? Some are, I know. Too many aren’t though, and I can’t help but wonder if the way we introduce the writing process…
Last week, a friend asked how I intended to spend my brief summer break, ahead of great travel for work and for pleasure, too. “Wandering,” I said, with a wistful smile. This is what I love most about summer: Long stretches of uninterrupted time to stroll around farmer’s markets, local parks, and the garden in my backyard. Time to think. Time to read. Time to write. A number of teachers that I support began building…
This post is the third in my organizational story writing series. In the first post, I defined the form and shared ten reasons why organizational story writing matters. Then, I introduced a current client, Jackie James Creedon, in my second post. Here, I included the interest survey that I ask most clients to complete ahead of our work as well as the approach and tools that I use when conducting my initial listening session. These first meetings…
Calling all Studio writers in grades 3-12: Join us over April break as we learn how to use our words to advocate for social justice and raise some money for a worthy cause. 100% of your registration fee will be donated to a charity chosen by our group. Writers in grades 3-5 may learn more and register here. We are writing for a full day on April 10th. Writers in grades 6-12 may learn more and…
When we redesign our writing workshops in to order to invite the dynamic use of far more diverse tools, we honor the way that today’s writers often need to generate, develop, and test new ideas. We honor our noblest purposes for teaching writing as well: We didn’t become teachers to help students become proficient. We became teachers to help our students become influential. We became teachers to help them leave a mighty mark on this…
Integrating making and writing experiences may not seem very difficult, but in my experience, making this marriage worthwhile requires some careful planning. It takes nothing to dump a pile of loose parts on a table and challenge kids to build, but I wonder: How many of them would build straight through an entire class without pausing to compose a single line, though? Those who are responsible for teaching writing are wise to consider this reality. Many…
In case you’ve missed it, Mark Barnes launched a pretty fabulous education app this month. Hack Learning puts solutions to some of our greatest classroom challenges right in the palm of our hands, and the best news is that the app is completely free. When you download Hack Learning, be sure to take advantage of my little giveaway as well: The Teach Kindness Project: 52 Ways to Make a Colleague’s Day. I was delighted when…
1. Is your relationship with quantitative data exclusive? 2. Are you unwilling to recognize flaws in your quantitative data or in your relationship? 3. Do you dress your quantitative data up and show it off to impress others, even though you don’t know it very well? 4. Do you blame quantitative data or the assessments that produced them for your own shortcomings or failures? 5. Does your relationship strip you of your confidence or leave…
Here’s a snapshot of the grid that some writers plan with at the WNY Young Writer’s Studio. And here’s another of a bulletin board near it, which provides new writers very basic approaches to try as they get acquainted with making writing in this way. These aren’t my ideas. Studio writers shared most of them. And here’s something that’s hard to portray in those photos or in sketchbook shots: the MOVEMENT of the sticky notes.…