Workshop Technology

My colleagues have been providing positive feedback about implementing workshop philosophy into their classrooms this year at the k-8 levels. The last couple of years I thought that an iPad might be perfect for conferring anecdotal records. An iPod Touch was too small and at times a laptop was too cumbersome. I was thrilled to find out that the teachers were going to get iPads, and shortly after I found out I heard about the Confer App from Jen Munnerlyn. I couldn't get my email open fast enough to share the idea with the teachers.

So much potential...

Teachers were also excited about the paper versions of Fountas and Pinnell's Prompting Guides in English and Spanish. One teacher realized that both are available through the App store as well (English and Spanish). I instantly loved the idea knowing that rather than carrying around the prompting guide teachers would be able to utilize the iPad both to record notes and access the prompting guide when needed. The school will still have the paper copies for instructional assistants who do not have access to iPads. With technology there is always so much to explore.

Workshop Round 2

Recently I found out that other teachers at my school who were not able to attend the summer reading and writing workshop course were interested after hearing everyone else talking about it, so I will be doing a second round of the training in the next couple weeks. We also invited the other teachers from another rural school who had a participant in the summer. The rest of their teachers will also be attending.

During the start of the year preparation days, teachers talked frequently about how excited they were for the workshop ideas. Those who have a partner teacher who they alternate with by week (an English teacher and a Spanish teacher) started talking about what they wanted to implement. Now they are a couple of weeks into the school year, and they are still excited.

They have been able to implement at different ranges, depending on individual classroom time frames and what the students needed most at the start of the year but all have plans for how they are going to continually implement. In addition, they have been telling me about different meetings that they have been having with each other to continually support each other, as well as to troubleshoot. I couldn't be more happy that they are continuing to collaborate.

It is so fulfilling to see their excitement and to hear how the workshop philosophy has been positively impacting their classrooms, just as I have noticed in my classroom. On a professional level, I am excited to have the opportunity to teach another round so close to the first in order to adjust and improve. When I original wrote my reflections, I had no idea that I would have another round so soon.

Reading and Writing Workshop Training: Other Possibilities

Earlier I mentioned a little bit about the schedule for my workshop training and how I decided which components to include. When it was complete, I reflected on how it all went. For future trainings I will definitely start with a getting to know you (or you as a reader and writer) activity, as well as background about the current context of literacy and workshop philosophy. I will also make sure to include time for teachers to collaborate and plan. However, I may organize it a little bit differently.

I am thinking that after the morning of the first day would be very much the same, but then I would shift to planning and collaborating for either reading or writing workshop (whichever one I focused on in the morning) for the afternoon. Then on the second day I would start by focusing on the whichever I did not highlight on the first day before shifting over to planning and collaboration.

I am weighing advantages and disadvantages of both the way the training was set up and this alternate idea, thinking about which would be most beneficial, which would provide a better blend of introducing concepts, reflecting, thinking, processing, and planning.

Another aspect that I would emphasize more would be encouraging teachers to set up a plan for focusing on themselves as writers or providing a scaffold for a long term teachers as writers community. Many of us already participate in a book club (and here), which has been so fulfilling and a great learning experience for me. It would be nice to also have a writing component.

There's always so many possibilities with teaching and growing as professionals...

Reading and Writing Workshop Training: Collaboration

For the past three years I have taught in a small, rural charter school, being the only teacher of certain subjects at my grade level. I loved the close-knit environment that reminded me of the community where I grew up; yet, at times I also missed having other teachers at my same grade level teaching the same content that I was used to in the larger school districts where I had previously worked. In addition, workshop teaching is fairly rare in my community. Instead, I was thankful to have the blogosphere, as well as conversational style books written by teachers for teachers as I navigated my way with workshop teaching. 

Nonetheless, there is always something special about being able to collaborate with other teachers face-to-face. I was thrilled when it worked out that another teacher from a nearby K-8 rural charter school was able to attend the reading and writing workshop training. It provided the teacher who will be teaching in my position next year with an opportunity to collaborate with another local teacher who also integrates workshop teaching into her classroom. While both teachers have unique contexts, one who will juggle two languages in a dual immersion setting and another who will be teaching all subjects in a 6th-8th grade blend, they will be able to learn so much from each other. 

I saw other collaborations with teachers within my school, such as primary teachers watching more of the Calkins' clips and talking about how their literacy instruction would work, determining what already aligned with workshop, as well as aspects they would like to change or fine-tune. They also created anecdotal records forms together and talked about organization. 

All participants know that they can check in with me for further clarification or support, but they also know that they have a valuable resource in each other. They will be able to have conversations about what is working well and areas where they would still like to grow. Whether it is on-line, through professional development books, face-to-face (or a combination of all three), I am learning that fostering collaboration and relationships for long-term mutual support are so beneficial.

Reading and Writing Workshop Training: Resources - Where to Start?

When I was preparing the resources that I would have available for the second day that was set aside for collaborating and planning, I was unsure of how many to include. I did not want to overwhelm teachers by having too many, yet I also wanted to have whatever was most helpful at the time. I observed during that day and noticed that not surprisingly, there was not one or two resources that everyone wanted. Instead, different teachers were drawn to different resources as their initial starting points, making me realize that I was glad I had various options available.

For writing workshop the Calkins and Atwell curriculum was a definite given as being highly useful for teachers. The Daily Five, The CAFE Book, Aimee Buckner resources, Conferring, and The Continuum of Literacy Learning were also among the top choices.

In combination with the resources I was also available to answer questions. It was ideal that the training was at my school because I was able to pull up documents that I used with my students to share as examples. Teachers were able to move flexibly around the room with different resources or to lean in on others' conversations when they overheard something that seemed to be relevant to them.

Workshop teaching is about flexibility and drawing on multiple resources to continually build capacity about reading, writing, thinking, and teaching, so it was only appropriate that having various resources ended up being the right fit. However, I did talk to teachers about trying to set goals and layer in different aspects. I mentioned that some of the resources would be helpful but they would decide that they were not ready for them yet. We discussed how they could utilize the resources most aligned with where they are right now and what they would like to implement in the fall. Then as they start to feel that they are ready to further explore a specific aspect they can seek out resources that fit those needs.

Reading and Writing Workshop Training: The Power of Seeing

By and far one of the most powerful aspects of the training was sharing video clips of workshop teaching.  I think that and being able to experience workshop first hand were the most helpful and influential for teachers. One teachers even commented that she loved the writing style for the Calkins' units of study resource, which really paints the picture of what is happening, but that she would much rather prefer to just watch it. She talked about how she is a visual learner. Even though I don't necessarily consider myself a visual learner, I can relate to the power of being able to actually see it. I loved the DVD component of Penny Kittle's Write Beside Them and was thrilled to see the Atwell resources after reading so many of her ideas.

I could tell every time I showed a video clip that it really helped to solidify the concepts we were talking about or to open up a whole other avenue of possibilities. I shared clips from Atwell's resources for reading and writing workshop, and clips from Calkins' videos for writing workshop. It really helped to have the Calkins' resources to show how it looks k-5, while having the Atwell resources to show what it looks like at the middle school level. Teachers could get ideas that they could adapt to their grade level from every video clip, yet there was also the added value of seeing how workshop teaching can progress and the foundation that the younger years can provide for the older years being even more powerful.

I will be watching for more video resources. I was excited to see that Stenhouse has a new Patrick Allen resource coming out focusing on reading conferring. I'm sure that would be an amazing one to add to any workshop resource library!

Reading and Writing Workshop Training: Launching the Workshop

I gave the teachers in my Reading and Writing Workshop a taste of what workshop is like similar to the way that I launch workshop each year - with a narrative genre study. Because of the compact nature of the time allotted, I did have to explain what I would do in a regular classroom in some stages, while having them try it out in other portions.

Influenced by Aimee Buckner, I explained that I start the year with stories, reading books that I think have universal themes or experiences with which my students can connect in order to prompt their own thinking about stories they have to share. I showed them one of my favorite start of the year texts, Marianthe's Story: Painted Words and Spoken Memories. I shared with teachers how it is a perfect fit for our community of dual immersion students since all students have stories of learning a new language.

I often talked to students about my own list of possible experiences, such as the first time riding alone in a taxi cab in Mexico when I paid the driver a 50 cent piece (thinking they only had pesos) and being confused when the driver was waiting for more money, rather than getting me my change. I talk about trying to express my confusion and the driver eventually having to take another 50 cent piece out of my hand, holding the two together to say "un peso" and my embarrassment of realizing that I had only given him half of a peso. As such, my students and I would laugh together about experiences learning languages - the joys, the challenges, the laughter...

I mentioned to teachers that I would not necessarily use this book as a start of the year writing workshop launch if I was teaching in my hometown community where most students have not yet experienced learning another language. In that context I would choose another book that would closely connect to my rural community's experience. I shared with teachers how depending on the age and stories students have to tell, it might be that students start writing on the first day or it is just fine to have successive days reading and orally sharing stories, as oral rehearsing is a vital portion of the process, waiting as Buckner says until the day when it seems that everyone in the class has a story to tell.

Then I transitioned into a narrative just for them, Penny Kittle's "of frog legs, crickets, and Superman's cape", one that I first heard when she read it out loud at the Boothbay Literacy Retreat. Just as I imagined I saw teachers smiling and laughing as I read it aloud, and after they were able to think of their own memorable moments with teaching. I guided them through listing, partner sharing, and then writing quick writes, again highlighting the importance of oral rehearsing with the sharing portion in between listing and quick writes. Then they did a whip-around share, each sharing a small portion of their quick write in order to model a different way of sharing.

Next teachers "sat in" on a mini-lesson with Lucy Calkins in her Units of Study for Teaching Writing, Grades 3-5, and I had teachers go back and experiment with their quick write with Calkins' lesson in mind. Then teachers shared with partners again. I heard them respond naturally to each other's writing, as well as noting what stood out to them. They were getting a sense of what it is like to be a part of a community of writers, of what they could foster in their own classrooms.

Reading and Workshop Training: Teachers as Writers

One aspect of workshop philosophy that I wanted to make sure and highlight was the importance of focusing on teachers as writers, a subtle difference from writing teachers, emphasizing that teachers should be exploring, experimenting, and developing as writers right alongside their students. Based on our team builder, most teachers were more comfortable with teaching reading or read more in their personal lives vs. writing. Other teachers mentioned that they know they are more passionate about other subjects and know it is apparent for their students and would like to develop a stronger passion for writing, which will spill over into their classrooms. This seemed to be consistent with many of the teachers when I experienced this activity as a student in a writing course for educators.

Inspired by Penny Kittle, I shared with teachers about how they can serve as powerful mentors of process, while also reading like writers as a class with mentors of product (published texts). I also talked to them about supports to grow as a writer, such as Two Writing Teachers, Ruth Ayres Writes, and Laurie Halse Anderson's Write Fifteen Minutes a Day. I mentioned Donald Murray's philosophy that when it comes to writing, it is not limited to those who naturally have talent, a message that is important for both teachers and students to know.

Thus, teachers had chances to write, share, and celebrate. I would love to have something more sustained to have teachers continue to write and share their writing with peers. In this specific context where many did not have established routines of writing regularly, it would be a nice scaffold to build routines in a community.

Reading and Writing Workshop Training: Setting the Tone

The workshop training had five participants, so it was a small group, working out well for discussions. To start the training, I decided to use a team builder that one of my professors at Boise State University used for a writing course. I started out with a ball of yarn and talked about myself as a reader and writer - sharing glimpses into my journey, areas in which I am confident, areas in which I want to grow. Then I tossed the ball of yarn to a colleague while still holding on to my piece. After each person shares, the yarn has made a web, which can be linked to the classroom community and sense of supporting each other that is vital in classrooms. Participants pull back on the yarn until it is taut to show that there needs to be a strong undergirding of support, both teacher to student and student to student.

I enjoyed starting the training with this activity. Though I knew each of the participants and already knew some of what they said, I also learned a lot. I bet they learned something new about me as well. Hearing them talk energized me as well as provided insights into what they might need to feel successful during the training.

Next we switched over to a discussion about current issues in literacy education, prompted by quotes excerpted from Richard Allington's third edition of What Really Matters for Struggling Readers. This opened up a lot of comments, prompted reflection, and gave us a chance to consider the big picture before zooming in to workshop teaching. While Allington does not specifically advocate for workshop teaching, I transitioned into a overview of workshop teaching by explaining that while reading the book, I noticed how many of his suggestions are apparent in workshop teaching, such as time to read, choice, focusing on building teacher capacity, and differentiated instruction. It helped create a stronger sense of the why behind workshop teaching.

I created a presentation about workshop teaching that had brief statements related to workshop philosophy. An adapted version of the presentation is below (the words are all the same, but I swapped out pictures of students because of permissions). I noticed that it sometimes takes a while to load up the full slide. If you click pause on the player until the present slide is fully loaded and then click play, it seems to run through all slides fully loaded.



The combination of a quick introduction of ourselves as readers and writers, followed by Allington's quotes that prompt thinking about the purpose of education, and an overview of workshop teaching seemed to work out well. At that point, I had participants pause to do a written reflection and have a chance to gather their thoughts before transitioning into thinking about themselves as writers.

Reading and Writing Workshop Training: Schedule and Posts to Come

Last week I taught a K-8 Reading and Writing Workshop course to some of my colleagues. While planning I thought back and forth about how to organize it and utilize the time available since workshop teaching encompasses a lot. I considered the time allotted (2 days) and the timing of the year (almost 2 weeks before teacher work days begin) and tried to decide what would be most helpful. I knew that it was essential to share the rationale behind workshop teaching, allow teachers to experience workshop, encourage them to focus on themselves as writers, and be able to differentiate to different grade levels. There were many ways that I could have organized the training, but this is what I decided:

Day 1:
Literacy Team Builder
Discussion of Current Issues in Literacy
Overview of Workshop Teaching
Writer's Workshop Focus (Experiencing as Learners)
Lunch
Writer's Workshop Conclusion
Reading Workshop Focus

Day 2:
Overview of Available Resources
Time to Plan/Collaborate with Grade-Level Teams

I debated back and forth about whether to have two "instructional" days or whether to have the second day be for planning and collaborating. I am glad that I decided to allow a portion of time, knowing how it feels to love ideas in a training but then feeling overwhelmed trying to plan to integrate the ideas while also juggling other aspects. While a day is not enough time to completely plan out the year or even the fall, it provided an opportunity to reflect, set up goals, and begin planning, as well as collaborating with peers. We will have follow up meetings in the fall to continue to check in and discuss successes and challenges as they implement their ideas.

I will be doing a series of posts reflecting on the workshop training. It was a valuable experience for me thinking about what is important when thinking about growing into a role of being a literacy leader beyond my own classroom. It was also important in thinking about my own journey as reader, writer, and workshop teacher.

Upcoming Posts:

• Wednesday: Setting the Tone
• Thursday: Teachers as Writers
• Friday: Launching the Workshop: Narrative Genre Study
• Saturday: Power of Seeing
• Sunday: Resources - Where to Start?
• Monday: Teacher Collaboration
• Tuesday: Other Possibilities

Reading and Writing Workshop Resources

Yesterday was the first part of the class that I am teaching on reading and writing workshop this week. I will post more on that later, but for now, I wanted to share the list of resources that I will be emailing to the teachers attending the class. They are some of my favorite resources related to literacy and workshop teaching (or that align with workshop teaching if not directly marketed as workshop resources).

There are so many valuable resources available, and more created all of the time, so this will in no way be a comprehensive list. I mentioned to the group and will reiterate tomorrow that with workshop teaching (and literacy teaching in general) that building capacity is an on-going process. I shared my journey of first reading and exploring as much as I could about workshop teaching and then moving into on-going areas that I wanted to understand more, such as writer's notebooks and conferring. The intent of this list is to have ideas for future areas of support since they will not be able to familiarize themselves with all resources at once.

The grade levels are where resources most naturally fits, but I have learned a lot from resources not targeted at my age group. If I have already talked about a listed resource on my blog, then I linked it here. I will be talking about the resources in our face-to-face meeting.

Primary Grades
Units of Study for Primary Writing: A Yearlong Curriculum (from Heinemann)
Catching Readers Before They Fall, as well as the blog by the same name
A Place for Wonder
***I have not had a chance to read any of Katie Wood Ray's books, but I frequently hear her referenced when hearing about primary workshop teaching. I bet all of her resources are great.

Upper Grades
Units of Study for Teaching Writing, Grades 3-5 (from Heinemann)
When Writing Workshop Isn't Working
Intermediate CAFE in the Classroom DVD

Middle School

Reading Ladders

Middle School Readers

Nancie Atwell resources:
In the Middle (from Heinemann)
 The Reading Zone
Lessons that Change Writers
Reading in the Middle 
Writing in the Middle

Multi-Grade Resources

Comprehension Going Forward

Igniting a Passion for Reading

Conferring

The Book Whisperer

What Student Writing Teaches Us

The Common Core Reading & Writing Workshop Series

This new series created by Lucy Calkins and others at Columbia University's Teacher College Reading and Writing Project has an individual eDoc for kindergarten through 8th grade in reading and writing that is aligned to the new Common Core Standards. 

Day by Day *This book is an excellent resource for writing workshop once you already have a foundation and are looking to reflect and continually grow. The authors, Stacey Shubitz and Ruth Ayres created the Two Writing Teachers blog noted below, as well as Ayres' blog focusing on writing. I will be watching for Ayres' forthcoming book Celebrating Writers that will come out in 2012 from Stenhouse.

Fountas and Pinnell resources:
The Fountas & Pinnell Prompting Guide (and the Spanish version)
The Continuum of Literacy Learning Grades PreK-8 (and the PreK-2 Spanish version)


Aimee Buckner Resources:
Notebook Know-How: Strategies for the Writer's Notebook
Notebook Connections: Strategies for the Reader's Notebook


Jeff Anderson Resources:
Mechanically Inclined
Everyday Editing


"The Sisters" Resources:
The Daily Five
The CAFE Book

Resources to Focus on Yourself as a Writer (as well as a Teacher of Writing)
Two Writing Teachers blog
Ruth Ayres Writes blog
The Stenhouse Blog
Laurie Halse Anderson's blog (as well as other author sites and blogs)
The Essential Don Murray: Lessons from America's Greatest Writing Teacher (from Heinemann)
On Writing by Stephen King


Penny Kittle resources:
Write Beside Them
Public Teaching One Kid at a Time and The Greatest Catch

What are some of your favorite literacy or workshop resources? Please comment to share some of your favorites.

Continuo de adquisición de la lectoescritura

Yesterday I posted about Pinnell and Fountas' The Continuum of Literacy Learning Grades PreK-8 and mentioned that I am excited to share it with teachers at my school. However, hearing about great resources is always bitter sweet for Spanish side or bilingual teachers. While many aspects of resources/concepts can be directly translated over to Spanish, that involves time and effort, not to mention, carefully considering aspects that should not just be translated over. It will be so nice to introduce the English and Spanish Prompting Guides and the Continuo de adquisición de la lectoescritura: Grados PreK-2: Guía para la enseñanza, alongside the English continuum resource. I am hoping that eventually Pinnell and Fountas will have a full PreK-8 version available in Spanish.

Like the English PreK-8 version, this Spanish adaptation is neatly divided by card stock dividers with tabs, though the resource is much thinner since it only has a PreK-2 range. The tabs are also for grade levels, rather than type of continuum, with the exception of one guided reading tab; however, the same seven continuums are represented in the book. The introductory and background information about each of the continua is the same or almost exactly the same, but as marketed, there are differences in the continuums, specifically tailored to Spanish literacy development.

Much like the Spanish Prompting Guide,  the vast majority of the book is actually in English. At first I was surprised with the amount of English, which shifts the target audience to teachers who have a high level of English proficiency, rather than monolingual Spanish literacy teachers or bilingual teachers with a high level of Spanish proficiency who prefer a resource in Spanish. I would have liked to have seen more Spanish, especially with literacy language, as there are some words that bilingual professionals, even if they grew up in a Spanish speaking country, might not know if they have received all of their teacher education/literacy background in a US English speaking context. When I started teaching in English and Spanish, there were a lot of words specific to talking about literature and writing that I had to look up. It would be nice to have those translations already available in this resource. In some cases it is, but it would be nice to have it consistently throughout.

However, I would rather see a resource such as this that truly examines what is relevant in both languages vs. what is unique to Spanish, rather than having a full English resource directly translated completely into Spanish without regards to differences in language development. I can also see the advantage of having the explanations and background information in English for teachers who may prefer to read the majority in English but have the specific Spanish language adaptations for the continuum, as presented.

I am excited about the potential for this resource to allow for common language for grade level English side and Spanish side teachers having conversations about literacy levels in two languages. It will really help to give a detailed picture of strengths, areas for support, and aspects that students are (or aren't) transferring between the two languages. The introduction says, "The basic descriptions of behaviors and understandings to notice, teach, and support for grades prekindergarten through 2 have been revised and adapted to meet the developmental literacy needs of Spanish-speaking children" (p. 1). I love the wording notice, teach, and support, as it so accurately highlights benefits of the tool. In dual immersion settings, the continuum actually has a farther reach than native Spanish-speaking children, as it will also provide valuable insights for students who were monolingual English speakers upon entering school who are emerging as bilingual learners.

I can see how this Spanish adaptation in conjunction with their Sistema de evaluación de la lectura would be very powerful because again, for the Spanish student books they did not just translate their English Benchmark Assessment System books. Instead, they created new, authentic books in Spanish that are responsive to the uniqueness of Spanish literacy development. I look forward to checking back later to see other resources that Pinnell and Fountas develop in Spanish.

*Copy provided

The Continuum of Literacy Learning Grades PreK-8

Earlier this summer I got a taste of Pinnell and Fountas' Continuum of Literacy Learning Grades PreK-8: A Guide to Teaching second edition through the section they included in Literacy Beginnings. As I was reading through the full book, I noticed that I was switching back and forth between reading like a mom and reading like a teacher. I often looked at the PreK to think about where my five year old is coming from and the kindergarten to see where she is heading this year, I looked at second grade thinking of my older daughter, and of course, I looked at the 6-8 thinking of my students.

I am impressed with the overall resource that is packaged much like Literacy Beginnings with the durable card stock and tab dividers for different sections. After a general introduction, the book is divided into a series of seven continuums, such as shared and performance reading, writing about reading, and oral, visual, and technological communication. Each continuum is detailed by grade level, with the exception of the final continuum Guided Reading (Level A-Z), which breaks it down by guided reading level. In addition, each continuum is broken down into further categories. Some are consistent through multiple continuums, such as thinking within text, thinking beyond text, and thinking about text. As such, the different continuums each have something unique to offer, while complementing each other well, forming a cohesive whole. Pinnell and Fountas took special care in the beginning and throughout the book that the stages are not exact as students progress at different rates, as well as the possibility of being at different places for different aspects.

I love that the resource gives teachers a chance to intentionally think about various aspects of individual students. For example, this would be a powerful resource to use with reading workshop to consider which support would be most appropriate for any given student, as well as really pinpointing strengths and areas of growth. I can see how there would be aspects on the continuum that teachers might not have thought of but upon skimming through, the information could give valuable insights, automatically making perfect sense once the continuum brings it to a surface level of awareness. Over time the resource would definitely be a valuable tool to continue building teacher capacity for meeting student literacy needs.

This is another resource that I am excited to share with teachers next week in our reading and writing workshop course, as well as keeping in mind as I talk with teachers about literacy. Tomorrow I will be posting about the Spanish version for PreK-2.

*Copy provided

Atwell Workshop DVDs

I have mentioned Nancie Atwell's Reading in the Middle and Writing in the Middle DVDs a few times but still have not done an official post of them as a resource. I highly recommend buying the DVDs as the bundle unless you only teach one of the two subjects. Each of the resources comes in a folder with a DVD, a CD with additional resources (including reproducible forms and student examples), and a facilitator's guide. The folder also outlines the titles and times of the different clips, ranging from around a minute to fifteen minutes in length. The reading set contains more than 20 resources on the CD, while the writing set contains more than 45. The facilitator's guide shows how the DVDs and CDs complement each other well, in addition to providing a sample organization and discussion questions.

Both DVDs start and end similarly, showing Atwell setting up her classroom and then reflecting on the end of the classroom. There is some common language in these introductory and concluding clips before shifting to the specific content. A large portion of the video footage is from the start of the school year when Atwell is establishing procedures, but there are also some features that show the progression later on. I love that it showed glimpses from different points in the school year.

Even though I watched the DVDs in the spring when I received them, I just viewed them again to take notes about each section as a future reference, as well as notes about when I might use the resources to supplement the facilitator's guide. With this next school year I will utilize this resource in various contexts. First, I will use it as support materials for a reading and writing workshop training that I will be doing in August. Additional clips will also be beneficial for my colleague that will be filling in for me next year, and I will also use them for the children's literature courses that I will be teaching next year for pre-service teachers. Last spring I showed one of the book talk clips to the children's lit class.

It is always nice to see concepts in action, especially when it is a teacher so highly regarded as Nancie Atwell. I appreciated seeing her calm, yet firm demeanor to set up the ideal workshop environment. This is a great resource to complement the other Atwell resources already available through Heinemann, as well as her Scholastic book, The Reading Zone. We are able to see how her years of experience, teaching intentionally and learning along with her students to determine how to continually improve, have fostered the respectful, stimulating environment of readers, writers, and thinkers shown in the DVDs. This is one of those resources that has value for a range of previous experience, from those who are just familiarizing themselves with workshop to those who are veterans.

One additional aspect is that all royalties from the sales of these resources goes toward tuition assistance for students at the school that Atwell founded in Edgecomb, Maine, the Center for Teaching and Learning. That of course made me happy!

Reading and Writing Workshop Training: Writer's Notebooks

Yesterday I shared which Heinemann resources I will use for an upcoming Reading and Writing Workshop Training. A huge portion of the workshop will focus on teachers as writers, as well as experiencing the workshop setting from the learner side. As such, I will be using writer's notebooks to model the process of gathering ideas, mirroring the process that I use with my students. 

Back in 2007 I went on a summer exchange for educators to Mexico (now located in Argentina) through AHA International and had a course with Dr. Marsha Riddle Buly. Through the class, I was introduced to writer's notebooks and am so thankful that I attended the course as it has definitely been a pivotal experience for me as a literacy teacher. I continue to value the power of writer's notebooks that she introduced to me.

After Dr. Riddle Buly sparked my interest in notebooks, I began to read more and more, as well as integrating them into my classes and learning through experience. Aimee Buckner's book was highly influential, as well as posts on Two Writing Teachers.

I also absolutely love Ruth Ayres new blog that focuses on her as a writer, giving frequent glimpses into her writer's notebooks. I will be highly recommending this site, as well as participating in Two Writing Teacher's Slice of Life Story Challenges.

Reading and Writing Workshop Training: Heinemann Resources

This summer my to-do list keeps on growing, but one of the items that I am most looking forward to is putting on a training for teachers at my school and potentially a couple from another school in the area focusing on k-8 reading and writing workshop. I will be posting about my planning, as well as how it goes, but for now I wanted to post some of the main Heinemann resources that I will be utilizing.

From Nancie Atwell:

Her DVD bundle Reading in the Middle and Writing in the Middle (I still need to post about these.)

Lessons that Change Writers

It looks like the school will end up being able to get Lucy Calkin's workshop resources. I am crossing my fingers and can't wait to actually preview these materials in preparation. I think Calkin's resources will be the perfect k-5 support, while the 6-8 teachers will be able to utilize Atwell's Lessons that Teach Writers that the school already has.

Units of Study for Primary Writing: A Yearlong Curriculum

Units of Study for Teaching Writing, Grades 3-5

Tomorrow I will be posting about writer's notebooks in relation to the training.