It’s Time to Stop Making Writing Instruction So Messy
Brené Brown is well known for a simple yet powerful phrase: “clear is kind.” Although she’s mostly referring to arriving at clarity within organizations, this phrase can truly be applied…
Before You Hand Out That Writing Template…
There’s no question about it: writing is hard for kids. Which, let’s be honest, can make it hard to teach. Knowing this, teachers often begin with having kids use a…
The Workshop Model of Teaching: Misunderstood, Not Misaligned
Lately, the workshop model of teaching has been under heavy fire. Scroll social media and you’ll see plenty of posts claiming it’s not explicit, not evidence-based, or not aligned with…
Teaching Sentence Writing That Actually Sticks
With the resurgent focus on foundational literacy skills, coupled with the dismal results of national writing assessments, teachers see an increasing need to teach sentence writing. It’s a big topic…
Sentence Writing: First Step or Side-by-Side Skill?
There is an ongoing back-and-forth argument about writing instruction. Some say that before students are ever ready to write a full page, story, essay, or even paragraph, they must master…