This article seeks to empower teachers to create a literacy environment in which children begin to identify as writers: confident, willing to take risks, engaged, excited, persistent, resilient, resourceful, and self-starting. The teaching methods provided in the article are centered around the writer's workshop model, applied in a Kindergarten…

In this article, the authors share what they learned from their study of writing communities, which they refer to as writing groups, during the 2017-18 school year. The authors propose a conceptual framework for writing groups that engages students in the process of designing and participating as writers with their peers. The framework emphasizes…

In the article "No Need to Reinvent the Wheel: Reading Instruction in a Time of Change" published in "English in Texas" in 2017, the authors, Ann D. David and Katrina Jansky, viewed reading instruction through five touchstones: time, choice, relevance, talk, and routines and rituals. This article expands on those touchstones by…

Teaching and learning literacy in the early years can be a joyful, explorative and meaningful experience. This accessible book will give teachers and practitioners the practical and theoretical skills and knowledge they require to successfully and confidently teach reading, writing and oral skills in the early years classroom. Foregrounding the…

This article is a resource for educators looking to offer personal instruction and literacy opportunities to secondary students. It provides a thoughtful and in-depth look at the workshop model in a high school setting. It offers methods and suggestions for setting up the workshop model to methods and strategies for diverse learners. The…

As teachers work to move their writing workshop into the 21st century and to help students meet new standards expectations, they are ramping up their use of technology. This article lays out a set of guiding principles (E-BEST) to help teachers make reflective choices, so that the digital technologies in their workshops will enhance and extend…

In attempting to align all that we do as English teachers with current standards, expectations, standardized tests, and other educational stressors, we have overlooked one crucial element: developing our students as writers, not just because it is beneficial, but because it is good for their souls, their confidence, and their overall evaluation of…

Now in a fully revised and extended second edition, "How to Teach Poetry Writing: Workshops for Ages 8-13" is a practical and activity based resource of writing workshops to help you teach poetry in the primary classroom. Designed to help build writing, speaking and listening skills, this book contains a wide selection of workshops exemplifying a…

Good literacy instruction begins with immersing children in diverse texts--educators need to marinate students in literature so that, over time, it soaks into their consciousness and, eventually, into their writing. In this article, the author describes her experiences with a writing workshop for the 5- and 6-year-old children in her class. She…

The author discusses how FitLit, children's literature that spotlights the multiple aspects of health and well-being, offers a vehicle for integrating reading and fitness into existing classroom routines such as guided reading, read-alouds, independent reading, and reading and writing workshop. Sample FitLit titles are provided as well as a…

The author cuts through the pressurized, strategy-overloaded, fluency-crazed atmosphere surrounding reading instruction to lay out the reading and writing workshop practices that are most effective in developing readers in the primary grades. She shares the daily how-tos needed to sustain a literacy block that engages children in authentic reading…

Kissel focuses on 4-year-olds reenvisioning their writing in discussing his observations of pre-K children's writing during a two-year study. In a writers' workshop each day, children started with a clean sheet of paper. The teacher read aloud, then offered a minilesson, crafting a written piece--always with a picture--in front of the class. As…

In the writer's workshop, teachers are highly challenged after the minilesson during the independent writing time. In that segment, teachers are confronted by the demands of conferencing with numerous students and responding to writing in a limited amount of time. Writing partnerships link students in long-term pairs, resulting in two valuable…

The nation's focus on the literacy skills of students--especially boys--has produced many notions of reform. School districts reorganized and changed curricula to meet the needs of struggling readers and writers. In New York City, where this author was teaching, "Balanced Literacy" (a reading and writing workshop) had been implemented in…

In the year 2000, what started as an isolated pedagogical gambit at Glendale Community College (GCC) in Southern California has evolved into a program-wide initiative to revise the developmental composition curriculum and boost student learning outcomes. One instructor, frustrated with poor student motivation and success in his precollegiate…