Require Students to Listen During Conversations with Talk Moves When facilitating whole-class conversations, every student is not always engaged. When one student has the floor, typically the others—the ones who weren’t called on—will check out and tune out....
Juggle Reader & Writer Workshops in 50 Minutes How do you teach both reading and writing in just 50 minutes? Watch to find out. Duration: 3:08 | Grades...
Explore Bell-Ringer Options Many ELA classes begin with a bell-ringer task—a short exercise students complete in the first 3-5 minutes while the teacher takes care of attendance and other things. Journaling is a typical bell-work assignment. However, for the average...
Execute Mini-Lessons in 4 Steps All whole-class reading and writing skills should be executed in mini-lessons. Identify a single, small skill to teach within each short, 10 to 15-minute lesson. Lessons should be short or “mini” because students don’t get better...
Enhance Learning with Active Instruction Just because students are actively doing something, doesn’t mean they are engaged with the content. It’s possible they look engaged, when in reality, they are simply going through the motions. The opposite...
