What if, instead of complaining about the possibility of certain writers using text messaging language in their academic writing, we expected them to text with a purpose and even include it in multi-genre writing? What if we expected them to investigate, define, and honor the conventionality of text messaging language? What if, instead of teaching conventions from the front of the room, we invited writers to study how punctuation, mechanics, and usage function differently…
“I miss my house,” she told me. “I came here from Puerto Rico with my family, after the storm.” I nodded and laid my eyes on her build. “I never thought my house was that nice,” she said. “I thought it was really ugly. I never thought it was anything I’d miss.” She’d built herself standing next to her home. She’d built the hurricane, crushing down around her. She’d built her broken heart, her healing…
This year found me recommitting to the work of daily documentation as a writer, a writing teacher, and a professional learning facilitator. This was a challenging and even overwhelming endeavor at times, but so very much worth the effort that I made. In fact, this project was so rewarding that I’ve already created new intentions for my documentation practice in 2019. These were my greatest moments of professional learning, and I wonder: If you were…
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…
This was one of the first provocations that emerged from our morning conversations at the Loris Malaguzzi Center on that very first day in Reggio Emilia: How might we help learners create compositions that depend less on the hand and more on the power of conceptual understanding? Composition: The word and how they used it struck me. Like so many others, it assumed a richer and far more complex meaning in that space. I know…
Two weeks ago, Laurie Schultz invited me to coach in her kindergarten writing workshop at John T. Waugh Elementary School in Lake Shore. I’m always grateful to work with Laurie. Her energy is incredible, and she sustains her compassion for even the most challenging kids in her care. She also maintains a high bar for her students, regardless of any label that’s been imposed on them. My Rationale: When we met to discuss the mini-unit…
Last week, I had the great fortune to coach research and information writing in Melanie Jones’s kindergarten class at John T. Waugh Elementary School in Lake Shore, New York. We were most interested in taking the Next Generation English Language Arts Standards for a drive by diving into play-based learning and exploring the effect that it had on rigor. First things came first, though: we needed an audience for students’ work! Thanks to my vibrant…
When I’m asked to get specific about what it means to MAKE writing, I often find myself sharing stories that underpin four of the largest lessons I learned from watching young writers: When we take the time to learn more about what kids love to build, paint, code, engineer, craft, create, and make we no longer have to define writing topics for them. They’re often thrilled to write about what they are making, for other…
This month, I’ll be celebrating the second birthday of Make Writing, the little book that could. When I wrote it, I never imagined that I would get to meet and learn from so many of you who I’ve come to call my colleagues and friends over the last two years. This has been a rewarding journey, and each bend in the road has surfaced new and important questions about making and writing and the relationship…
In recent years, I’ve learned that it’s not enough to have vision. In order to make it a reality, we must define the learning targets that will help us achieve it with our students. This can be daunting work, as vision is often sourced from diverse places and the volume of aligned targets can be great. Sticky notes offer a solution, though. I can explain. This was a piece of today’s work with teachers in…