Today, I’m thrilled to welcome teacher-librarian Melanie Mulcaster to my little corner of the web. Melanie has made a home at Hillside Public School in Mississauga, Ontario. I had the great fortune to meet her in person last summer, and we became fast friends. I’m honored to feature her reflections about making, reading, writing, and documentation here today. Please follow her on Twitter and drop by her blog to get to know her better. Making…
How often do you invite the writers you support to reflect, and for what purposes? In my experience, it’s common for teachers to place reflective work at the end of the process, when drafts are complete. It makes sense to ask writers to look back at their work and their processes in order to define critical learning moments and set new goals. This is a great way to help writers develop a relationship with reflection,…
Many say that the mini-lesson is the heart of writer’s workshop. I’ve always felt that reflection is equally important, though. Perhaps more so. Coaching writers to reflect is tough stuff, but I find that when I prompt writers well and provide them the time to do so, they discover very important things about themselves, their needs, and how we can work together to meet them. They also identify their strengths, and this helps me position…