What’s Culture Got To Do With It? Our academic explorations of writers and how they write tend to be framed from two different perspectives: the neuropsychological perspective, which focuses on learning and brain development, and another that is socio-cultural. While some might choose to draw battle lines between the two, I believe that we have much to gain by assuming each vantage point and considering what it might illuminate about the writers that we serve.…
This week, I had the opportunity to make and write personal narratives with writers and teachers from Fieldstone Middle School in North Rockland, New York. And I thought I’d share that process with you, so that you may iterate on it and share your own ideas and work back with the rest of us. We’ve been talking about narrative writing all month in my Facebook group, Building Better Writers, and I know that at least…
October found me in classrooms in and around New York State, facilitating lesson studies for writing teachers at the elementary and middle levels. This is some of the most rewarding work that I do, because the learning that happens is the result of studying kids and teachers at work together. Everyone is a learner in the context of lesson study, and this makes a difference. Whenever I lead lesson studies, my intention is to design…