I have a confession to make. Sometimes it was easier to take cover in the classroom than it was to assume the role of an informal leader....

Over the past two decades we’ve been developing our tools as teachers of independent readers. We use them in classroom demonstrations all...

I am constantly amazed by how people view middle schoolers. When I meet people and it comes up that I am a teacher, the response often...

Photo credit: Belle Co Inside every writing conference, I have a favorite moment. It lives in those few seconds right after I’ve given...

(Pixabay: Mabel Amber) In my last blog (here) I shared my own slightly scandalous journey of being a young teacher trying to find...

Words matter, and English teachers use a lot of them. Most of us tend to (over) rely on our favorite catchphrases: the phrasings,...

“Readers let’s take a look at our anchor chart. Which conversational starter will you use in your discussions today? Choose one and jot...

When I was first hired as a teacher, I excitedly walked into my classroom to find… the “goods” had been pillaged. There was a teacher’s...

The day started unremarkably--and then something remarkable happened. I had just ended a conference with a young writer, and as I pushed...

My grade level colleague Becca and I huddled around a student’s desk during our lunch period. As we planned learning experiences to...

Our students, throughout their academic lives, have had every important adult they know tell them that they should read. Yet once they...

When I was growing up, there was no word study in schools. We had phonics, and then spelling, and then word of the day. My classmates and...

Like so many novice teachers, I recall spending hours before and after school in my second grade classroom while communing with Liz and...

Photo by Volker Stetter We've arrived at the end of our series on creating more meaningful math experiences for learners. We hope you...

I can still remember planning a math lesson after school during my second year teaching. I turned to look out the window, hoping to get a...

The other day while my children were playing with their cousins, I decided to watch some TV while I folded mountains of laundry. When I...

For years in my classroom, literacy was the “it girl” getting all the attention and beginning-of-the-year hoopla: inquiry-driven...

It’s summer, but you’re already planning for the year ahead. You envision last year’s students engaged in reading, or happily lost in...

“The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire.” ―...

We all have THAT book. The book that you couldn’t get enough of. That one book that when it ended, you were at a loss for what to do...