Learning Path | Grades 6-12: Standardized Test Prep Learn 5 strategies that will improve your students scores on reading assessments. Discover simple ways to prepare students for the type of academic vocabulary they will encounter on tests. Find out how to show...
Learning Path | Grades 3-5: Guided Reading After launching your reading block and literacy stations are up and running, begin working with small groups for guided reading. Learn the procedures and best practices to manage differentiated small-group guided reading...
Learning Path | Grades 3-5: Literacy Stations Learn how to introduce literacy stations within your reading block. Discover how to build stamina with the Classroom Library station and how to introduce new stations with procedures that keep your classroom running...
Learning Path | Grades 3-5: Comprehension Mini-Lessons Learn how to teach students the comprehension strategies they need to be successful readers. Watch as Kristina Smekens shows you how to introduce the comprehension strategies at the beginning of the year and then...
Learning Path | Grades 3-5: Vocabulary Learn how to teach vocabulary to support acquisition of words as well as understanding of academic vocabulary that students will find in standardized assessments. Duration: 60 minutes | Grades...
Learning Path | Grades 3-5: Rigorous Reading Learn how to ramp up the rigor in your reading while honoring the gradual release of responsibility. Find out how to immerse students in complex text and achieve a close reading while they learn how to synthesize their...
How do you model the Distracting Voice? Many teachers have been making the reading process more visible for students by introducing the Reading Voice and Thinking Voice during whole-class mini-lessons. When teachers use anchor text to...
How do I effectively teach students to Turn & Talk? Whether you’re teaching in person or virtually, the challenge of getting every student involved in the learning is not a new one. The fact of the matter is, some students don’t have the desire, the...
How can I keep my kids focused during whole-class lessons? Even under ideal circumstances, capturing the focus of students during whole-class instruction takes some edutaining. When executing that instruction remotely, the challenge is even greater and the...
How can I create a classroom that represents the lives of all my students? If we want every student to feel a sense of belonging, our physical classroom environment should reflect the diversity of our class roster. When a student sees a representation of himself, he...
How do I teach remotely when students don’t have the internet? Remote learning poses a unique challenge for most schools, but for those whose students don’t have devices and/or reliable internet, that technology gap makes learning from home especially challenging. But...
How do I take my favorite Smekens strategies and make them digital and interactive? As teachers cross the digital divide, they are wanting their favorite Smekens resources to be digitized in order to meet the new constraints of in-person social distancing and at-home...
How can I use Flipgrid to practice retelling? Educators have been bombarded with all types of online resources designed to make teaching during a pandemic more manageable. But one tool that has emerged as a consistent favorite is Flipgrid by Microsoft. Duration: 3:04...
Learning Path | Grades 3-5: Reading Block Launch your reading block, including whole-class mini-lessons, literacy stations, and small-group guided reading. Learn the procedures and best practices to manage a reading block that honors the gradual release of...
Learning Path | Grades 3-5: Standardized Test Prep Learn 5 strategies that will improve your students scores on reading assessments. Discover simple ways to prepare students for the type of academic vocabulary they will encounter on tests. Find out how to show...
Learning Path | Grades 3-5: Constructed-Response Prompts Learn how to lead students through the process of crafting a well-written constructed response. Duration: 18 minutes | Grades...
Learning Path | Grades 3-5: Writing About Reading Learn how to teach your students to cite evidence as well as how to weave in the citations necessary to identify their sources. Duration: 96 minutes | Grades...
Learning Path | Grades 3-5: Informative Writing Learn how to provide everyday opportunities for research that can result in a variety of product options. Find ways to teach students how to organize their source information while avoiding plagiarism. Learn how to teach...
Learning Path | Grades 3-5: Persuasive Writing Learn how to teach your students to write persuasive pieces that include evidence. Watch as Kristina Smekens models how to help students discover how to align with the strongest position rather than just their own...
Learning Path | Grades 3-5: 6-Traits Rubrics Learn how to introduce the concept of a rubric to your writers. Then, build a kid-friendly rubric based on the 6 Traits. Create writing examples, being sure to include every level of ability represented in your class. As...
Learning Path | Grades 3-5: 6-Traits Mini-Lessons Learn how to teach a 6-Traits mini-lesson for daily writing instruction. Find out how to include all the right elements in each short 10-15 minute lesson as well as how to plan for multiple days of lessons to teach the...
Learning Path | Grades 3-5: 6-Traits Launch Learn how to take the six ingredients to good writing and share them with your students. You’ll learn how to recognize the traits within student writing and then learn how to communicate the six traits to your writers....
Learning Path | Grades K-2: Rigorous Reading Learn how to up the reading rigor required in the standards–even with young readers. Discover ways to bring complex text to the classroom while you guide students through the 5 steps to a close reading. Learn how to...
Learning Path | Grades K-2: Comprehension Mini-Lessons Learn how to plan and implement dynamic comprehension mini-lessons. Acquire mini-lesson ideas for how to introduce students to the different “voices” in their heads before rolling out lessons to...
Learning Path | Grades K-2: Guided Reading Learn how to differentiate instruction as you set up small-group guided reading groups. Discover tips for each level of reading ability as well as lesson planners suited to each. Duration: 238 minutes | Grades...
Learn more about this workshop Want to offer this workshop for the entire staff? Contact us. Session Content Introduction to the workshop Let’s get started! – Handout The Big Picture Workshop Logistics Deliver 3 types of instruction Execute 3 phases per...
Learning Path | Grades K-2: Literacy Stations Learn how to set procedures that will allow you to manage multiple literacy stations during your reading block. Discover ways to build student stamina, practice transitions, and prepare for small-group meetings while...
Learning Path | Grades K-2: Reading Block Launch your reading block, including whole-class mini-lessons, literacy stations, and small-group guided reading. Learn the procedures and best practices to manage a reading block that honors the graduate release of...
Learning Path | Grades K-2: 6-Traits Rubrics Learn how to introduce the concept of a rubric to your young writers. Then, build a kid-friendly rubric based on the 6 Traits. Use examples of developmental stages of writing, being sure to include every level of ability...
Learning Path | Grades K-2: Narrative Writing Learn how to teach pictorial writing skills to help students learn how to add more details to their drawings–and eventually to their writing. Discover how to adapt the Storyboard strategy to prewrite for all...
Learning Path | Grades K-2: Informative Writing Using the developmental stages of writing, teach students how to label and list on informative topics. Learn how to create labeling and list-writing units to complement your content-area learning or reading curriculum....
Learning Path | Grades K-2: Opinion Writing Even our youngest writers have opinions. Learn how to help your students share the WHAT and WHY of their opinion in drawing and writing. Learn strategies to help them align with the strongest position and how to distinguish...
Learning Path | Grades K-2: 6-Traits Mini-Lessons Learn how to teach a 6-Traits mini-lesson for daily writing instruction. Find out how to include all the right elements in each short 10-15 minute lesson as well as how to plan for multiple days of lessons to teach the...
Learning Path | Grades K-2: 6-Traits Launch Learn how to take the six ingredients to good writing and share them with your students—even though they may not even know their letters yet. You’ll learn how to recognize the traits within the developmental stages of...
Learn more about this workshop Want to offer this workshop for the entire staff? Contact us. Session Content Introduction to the workshop Let’s get started! – Handout Workshop Overview Yearlong Vision Teach the three major writing modes “Mother...
Learn more about this workshop Want to offer this workshop for the entire staff? Contact us. Session Content Introduction to the workshop Let’s get started! – Handout Now it’s Your Turn – Articles 1 & 2 Now it’s Your Turn –...
Learn more about this workshop Want to offer this workshop for the entire staff? Contact us. Session Content Introduction to the workshop Let’s get started! – Handout Workshop Overview First 2-6 Weeks Yearlong Vision Rest of the Year Synthesis and...
Learn more about this workshop Want to offer this workshop for the entire staff? Contact us. Session Content Introduction to the workshop Let’s get started! – Handout See the Big Picture Prepare for an effective reading block Utilize the three types of...
Learn more about this workshop Want to offer this workshop for the entire staff? Contact us. Session Content Introduction to the workshop Let’s get started! – Handout Yearlong Vision Overview of Sections Teach three major modes of writing Compare...
Revise Ideas with Spider-Leg Sentences Learn how to encourage students to revise their writing with a strategy that makes revision fun. Included in this video is a full length mini-lesson from a kindergarten classroom where Kristina demonstrates how to add spider-leg...
Re-Introducing the 6 Traits in 6 Days with 1 Text Observe how Kristina Smekens re-introduces the Six Traits to a class that learned them the previous year. Duration: 105:48 | Grades...
Live Coaching Call: Align With the Strongest Position In this live coaching call, Smekens Remote Coach Bridget Longmeier will provide implementation strategies to support the webPD video, “Align with the Strongest Position.” Bridget will review key points...
Live Coaching Call: Prioritize Persuasive Reasons In this live coaching call, Smekens Remote Coach Bridget Longmeier will provide implementation strategies to support the webPD video, “Prioritize Persuasive Reasons.” Bridget will review key points from the...
Prompt Readers When Their Inferences are Off Track To infer, readers figure out bigger ideas implied by an author by combining multiple details from the text with their own background knowledge. However, sometimes students draw conclusions about the text...
Activate Background Knowledge When Inferring When making inferences, readers analyze textual details and apply their background knowledge to determine how they go together. Although this follows the process of Text Clues + Background = Inference, it’s not that...
Identify “Relevant” Textual Details per Reading Standard It’s well established that combining text clues with background knowledge is what leads to an inference. It’s understood that the Reading Voice “speaks” the text details and the background knowledge is...
Tie Every Comprehension Lesson to the Inference Silhouette Regardless of whether students have to make a prediction, analyze a character trait, determine the main idea, or identify the theme–they will arrive at the answer by executing the exact...
Adjust the Writing Process for Digital Devices For many teachers, engaging students during the writing process often includes a variety of paper, pens, highlighters, sticky notes, etc. However, these are all paper-based writing tools. Students also need to know how to...
Learn more about this workshop Want to offer this workshop for the entire staff? Contact us. Session Content Introduction to the workshop Let’s get started! – Handout Workshop Overview Yearlong Vision Dissect the anchor standards for comprehension...
Teach Explicitly–I do, You Watch & Listen The most important part of any lesson is the teacher’s explicit instruction. Teachers must reveal how to execute a new skill as plainly, clearly, and precisely as possible. Although this term explicit is often...
Start and End Persuasive Pieces Most students know that their book reviews, persuasive letters, and argumentative essays need to have an introduction. The problem is–they struggle to write one that isn’t literal. Hello, I’m writing to persuade...
Reteach Grammar Skills in Maintenance Mini-Lessons When planning any writing unit, teachers determine how long it will last, how many skills can reasonably be taught, what skills those will be, and how those skills will be revealed within an end...
Teach Conventions in Context Literacy experts agree that grammar and mechanics should be taught in context. And while this concept is not unfamiliar to teachers, the logistics to pulling it off in the everyday classroom might be. Duration: 5:16 | Grades...
Clarify Summary Versus Synthesis Synthesizing is often loosely defined as thinking beyond the text or having an aha. Although these are accurate explanations, many question how a synthesis differs from a summary or inference. Duration: 5:19 | Grades...
Make Notes During Writer Conferences There is a variety of information teachers may want to record during a writer conference, but it should be noted that the form is not the focus. Rather, the teacher’s top priority is to have more conversations with...
Generate Narratives in Response to Reading For most states, the writing portions of standardized assessments are now all rooted in reading. Students aren’t writing about finding a secret door in the classroom or thinking of embarrassing moments that happened in...
Target Grammar Skills within Writing Units When moving through your ELA curriculum, be purposeful when determining which convention skill to teach when. Recognize that the order that skills appear in the language book is tied to categorization (e.g.,...
Use Songs to Introduce Comprehension Strategies When preparing for yearlong reading instruction, it’s important to establish an understanding of the seven comprehension strategies. An intentional introduction of the comprehension strategies can be achieved using...
Mark New and Contradictory Information Annotation strategies improve reader comprehension. They provide a place for the reader to track his thinking in the margins using arrows, symbols, and other notes. However, when reading multiple texts, students need annotation...
Weave the What, Which, & Where into Textual Citations Teaching students to cite details to support their inferences is not new. However, be sure your instruction includes more than just what the details are. Students also need to...
Vary Time Spent in the Writing Process Teachers already know they are to provide students with a wide range of writing experiences. This includes writing about various topics, for different purposes, to diverse audiences, and in numerous genres. However, there is...
Vary Text Types Imagine a significant event occurs locally or somewhere in the world. Consider how you gather information about that topic. Duration: 3:22 | Grades...
Use a Six-Traits Rubric for Efficient Assessment Providing feedback for student writers is essential for their growth. However, the feedback cycle is often dreaded by teachers because it can be time consuming. Duration: 5:24 | Grades...
Tweak the Six-Traits Rubric for Different Units While it’s true that the writer’s purpose and presentation may look very different depending on the genre, all good writing possesses the same basic ingredients–the Six Traits. Duration: 3:40 | Grades...
Troubleshoot Evidence Errors in Reading Responses Students’ early attempts at evidence-based responses often require some fine-tuning. Specifically, there are three common “evidence errors” that should be addressed within your reading instruction....
Translate Technical Symbols to Words It’s common knowledge that fluency is an essential ingredient in achieving reading comprehension. However, a student who is fluent when reading literature is not necessarily fluent when reading math and other technical texts....
Track Main Ideas and Details within a Dissected Web Using a Storyboard to pre-write the chronological details of a story works well. However, this same graphic organizer won’t work for every writing task. In fact, the web graphic organizer is...
Track Individual Ideas to Analyze Their Influences Students tend to do well when asked to retell what happened on a particular page or summarize what a portion of a text was all about. Where they struggle is looking at the evolution or development of a single...
Tempt Readers with Booktalks Teachers are always looking for ways to motivate students to want to read more. Booktalks might be a powerful strategy to add to your toolbox. Duration: 1:37 | Grades...
Teach Readers How to Skim Long Texts In anticipation of long reading passages on standardized tests, some teachers are naturally concerned with how their lower, slower, and/or unmotivated readers will perform. One simple strategy to support these students is to teach...
Teach One Skill Across 3+ Days Students don’t learn everything in one 15-minute mini-lesson. Consequently, plan multiple mini-lessons to teach a specific skill. This will require teachers to slow down to allow students a chance to recognize the skill and try the skill...
Take Advantage of Root-Word Instruction Teaching students every word in the English language is impossible. But teaching students how words work leads students to unlock many other words. Duration: 1:33 | Grades...
Synthesize & Cite Evidence from Multiple Sources Synthesizing information from many sources is a common component within large-scale research writing projects. However, students need to be able to execute this same process during a simulated research task...
Support Writers When They Need Help The term “independent writing time” can seem like an oxymoron when your writer’s workshop is void of the right procedures. While it’s natural for students to have specific questions and need individualized...
Support Main Idea with Textual Evidence Standardized tests often ask students to identify evidence for a particular main idea. To teach students how to do this, first clarify three key terms. Duration: 4:58 | Grades...
Strengthen the Organization of Nonfiction Notebooks As you teach any content-area unit, you are guiding students through the research and study of a particular topic or concept. Students acquire deeper understanding of a topic through reading, discussions, videos,...
Skim and Slim Portions of a Novel Standards require teaching comprehension skills and strategies—not just reading texts and asking questions. However, when a curriculum includes numerous novels, making time for teaching can be difficult when we are...
Simulate Research-Writing Tasks During E-Learning For school districts building e-learning days into their calendars, one way to design powerful learning is with a simulated research task like those that appear on standardized assessments. Duration: 2:53 | Grades...
Separate Information by Source & Perspective When writing a persuasive or argumentative piece, the writing process always begins with the collection of information on a T-Chart. Students build a list of facts, quotes, and other details in support of both sides in...
Scaffold Writing Experiences Many teachers presume that students should always generate pieces that they wrote all by themselves. However, when just learning a new genre or a type of writing, it may not be appropriate to expect such a large and complete product in the...
Rework the Prompt to Serve as an Introduction An extended reading response requires a 3-5 paragraph essay. This merits a longer introductory paragraph that identifies the purpose, addresses the topic, and includes a thesis statement. You can show students how to build...
Return to Annotations After Reading All of the marks, codes, and symbols readers make during reading serve as the raw material to answer questions after reading–whether in discussion or in writing. Duration: 1:14 | Grades...
Restate the Question in a Constructed Response A common expectation of standardized assessments is for students to write brief constructed responses that articulate their thinking about the reading. To support students in writing a succinct yet complete response,...
Require WHAT & WHY in Primary Opinion Writing K-2 teachers often wonder how to address the argumentative writing standard. With our youngest writers, we work on the lowest form of argument–opinion writing. Duration: 3:05 | Grades...
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....
Remain Neutral When Asking How do you know? The teacher has a couple jobs during text-based conversations, two of which are probing for evidence and staying neutral. Regarding the first “job,” teachers can no longer be satisfied with right answers. It’s...
Reflect, Don’t Revise, Before Standardized Tests As standardized assessments approach, there is great power in having students reflect on their writing without actually revising it. Reflecting allows students to reread a previous writing and question what they would...
Recognize Cursor Symbols to Improve On-Screen Reading Print texts and digital texts are different. Not every skill, strategy, or habit applied when reading a print text automatically transfers onto a screen. Students who can read a print text easily and independently...
Provide Frequent Opportunities to Read Visuals & Videos Children spend a lot of their leisure time “reading” visuals and videos off devices. This passive reading often leads to ill-informed consumers, blindly accepting all information. If that’s their everyday...
Provide a Listening Purpose During Author’s Chair The writer’s workshop should end with an Author’s Chair. This 3-5-minute all-class meeting is intended to highlight some of the great writing generated that day. However, if you’re not intentional,...
Prove Reader Curiosity with the Right Text Demonstrate to students that they do ask questions–lots of questions–about texts. They are curious about texts and motivated to read for answers. Prove this with the following activity. Duration: 3:18 | Grades...
Plan Problems into Narrative Pieces A story typically begins with a main character in a setting who faces a challenge that he overcomes by the end. With this premise in mind, many teachers begin a narrative writing unit by having the students generate a detailed...
Practice Punctuation with Conversation If you’re still struggling to get students to utilize punctuation marks, then you’ll love this idea by sixth grade teacher Jane Strayer from Thomas Jefferson Middle School (Valparaiso, IN)! She has her students focus on their...
Plan & Ask Text-Dependent Questions To teach the K-12 college and career-ready standards in reading comprehension, we have to make sure that we’re asking the right questions about the texts we’re assigning. Duration: 4:46 | Grades...
Piece Together Informative Introductions When writing an informative introduction, students could include many different pieces in that first paragraph. Rather than giving students a recipe, teach them optional ingredients to build into their introductions. Think of a...
Paraphrase Author Ideas The secret to writing an original paraphrase lies in reading comprehension. We have to make sure that students truly understand the content before they attempt to paraphrase it. To help students achieve this, reveal a 4-step process that...
Parallel Summary Writing with ESPN SportsCenter A retelling is like a paraphrase. When you compare a retelling to the original text, it’s about the same length. A retelling includes a lot of the information found in the text. However, a summary is going to be a...
Organize Information Collected from Sources Utilizing information from sources is a common expectation across the K-12 spectrum. And while many teachers spend ample time teaching students to identify and cite credible sources, organizing the information collected is...
Omit Examples from Core Vocabulary Lists Some teachers struggle to identify the 30 core terms to target in any given content area. Watch this video to find out why. Duration: 2:34 | Grades...
Navigate the Internet Several writing standards (CCSS W.6, W.7, W.8, IAS W.5) outline that we need to teach students how to build knowledge about a topic by conducting research—and this means using the Internet. Duration: 2:55 | Grades...
Measure a Text’s Complexity Assessing a text’s complexity sometimes seems like guesswork. Besides the reading level of the passage, what else should we consider? To make the task more concrete and tangible, Kristina Smekens has created a rubric that helps...
Maximize On-Screen Reading Time On-screen reading is becoming a frequent facet of standardized testing and daily classroom instruction. However, supporting students in reading digital texts will require more than just spending more time on a digital device. There are...
Master the 10 Anchor Reading Standards with a Cheat Sheet Reading comprehension instruction must be rooted in the standards. This is not new information. However, to achieve this expectation, it’s important to recognize that text selection is secondary. Teachers first...
Maintain Control During Mini-Lessons If lessons are running long, first evaluate the content being presented. Often teachers attempt to deliver too much information within a single mini-lesson. The concept of a mini-lesson is not just that it’s mini in time; it’s mini...
Locate Test-Prep Resources Help your students get ready for game day with texts and passages that feature questions and prompts just like the ones they are going to see on standardized reading assessments. Duration: 7:37 | Grades...
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...
Introduce Reading Voice and Thinking Voice In many respects, reading is harder to teach than writing, mainly because it’s invisible. Writing has a product. After a student writes, the teacher has something to look at, point out, and talk about...
Integrate Mentor Text within Writing Instruction Mentor text is a common facet of writing instruction. It’s the portion of a mini-lesson where the teacher guides students through the reading of strong examples. In order to integrate mentor text, teachers need to...
Integrate Information Across Diverse Media Formats Digital devices, Internet access, and technology in general have broadened the text types students encounter every day. Within a typical unit, students may read various print texts, audio texts, visual texts, and...
Integrate Excerpts into Comprehension Instruction State and national reading assessments don’t ask students questions about entire novels. Rather, they typically provide excerpts from longer texts. Students are presented these texts with a minimal book introduction...
Infer Perspective with TV Commercials Commercials provide terrific content for assessing author perspective. An easy way to view lots of commercials in one place is to visit iSpot.tv. Duration: 1:24 | Grades...
Increase Writing Fluency in Primary Grades For the primary student, ELL, and special education student, the school year often starts with a focus on pictorial writing and labeling. Students learn to think in details and draw them. Then they use their phonics skills to...
Increase Test Success with Academic Vocabulary A lot of attention is often focused on exposing students to more complex reading passages. But don’t neglect preparing them for more complex words within the questions they will be asked. Phrases like “evaluate relevant...
Incorporate Persuasive, Informative, & Narrative Writing in PK-1 When primary students write opinion pieces, expect them to include a beginning, middle, and end. However, like any other writing expectation, plan to scaffold instruction to help them achieve that...
Improve Comprehension of Math Word Problems It’s easy to see how literacy instruction fits within language arts, science, and social studies. But it’s also vital in our math instruction. According to research, “Students do anywhere from 10-30 percent worse on word...
Identify the Skill First & the Text Second The reading standards outline the skills students need to master, but they do not require that certain texts be read in order to teach them. Likewise, state assessments measure a student’s mastery of reading skills;...
Identify the Best Answers It’s not uncommon for students to rush through multiple-choice assessments without selecting the very best responses. For this reason, teachers need to provide explicit instruction on how to choose the best answer,...
Identify the Beginning, Middle, End of PK-1 Opinion Writing When primary students write opinion pieces, expect them to include a beginning, middle, and end. However, like any other writing expectation, plan to scaffold instruction to help them achieve that goal. Start...
Identify Text Worthy of a Close Reading Complex texts are not defined solely by their reading level. In fact, the text can be on-level. However, what earns it the “complexity” label is that its meaning cannot be completely inferred in a single, simple...
Identify and Evaluate an Author’s Ideas Many students are under the impression when reading informational text that all the ideas and information presented must be true. Wrong! A lot of informational texts are based on an author’s ideas, beliefs, or opinions....
Identify 10-15 General Academic Words per Grade Level Standardized tests measure students’ reading comprehension—however it’s not just their understanding of the passage(s) that is being assessed. Eighty-five percent of achievement on these tests is based...
Hold Writer-Process Conferences Daily Literacy expert Carl Anderson has done extensive work in the area of writer conferencing. He claims that conferring with students is a teacher’s most crucial writer’s workshop role. This type of formative assessment...
Go Beyond Highlighting—Expect Why-Lighting Readers increase comprehension by tracking their thinking while reading a text. This may include taking notes or annotating the text. Duration: 3:00 | Grades...
Go Beyond a Model; Reveal a Think Aloud When introducing any literacy skill, teachers typically tell students what it is and show them some examples. However, teaching goes beyond telling. It reveals more than just what to do; it reveals the...
Generate More First Drafts Than Final Drafts We should walk students through the entire writing process three to four times throughout the school year. However, this response usually generates more questions and requires additional clarification. Duration: 2:10 |...
Follow Explicit Instruction with Close-Reading Experiences Close reading is one type of reading experience. It serves a different purpose than interactive read-alouds, small-group guided readings, partner readings, independent readings, etc. Consequently, it...
Follow 5 Steps to Make an Inference Making an inference is a result of a process. It requires reading a text, noting specific details, and then putting those details together to achieve a new understanding. In other words, inferences are not created in a vacuum....
Follow 4-Step Predictions in Science Science reading involves questioning and predicting, wondering what will happen when certain elements are mixed or when force is applied. In order to cultivate this type of curiosity during reading, it’s important to get students...
Focus on the Little Words in Math Story Problems When teaching math, content-specific vocabulary is a vital aspect. But beyond typical math terms, students also need instruction on the little words sprinkled throughout math word problems. Words like on, off, of, have,...
Find the Story Within the Problem Students who are the most successful with story problems are able to construct an accurate mental representation of the story. In fact, if students don’t understand the context or situation, then they cannot identify...
Find Common Ground When Comparing Texts The secret to comparing two texts is to find common ground. However, categories of comparison vary depending on the text types in question. Duration: 4:05 | 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...
Explain the Value of Multiple Sources Most teachers integrate multiple texts within a unit or concept of study. However, most students do not understand the bigger purpose behind this practice. In fact, many question Why do we have to read MORE about...
Expect Students to Build Their Own Background Knowledge There’s a lot of information out there on the necessity of building students’ background knowledge as a precursor for comprehension or learning anything new. However, at some point teachers have to teach students...
Execute the 3 Parts of a Writer’s Workshop The term “writer’s workshop” describes how the writing block or class period is organized. It’s a management system that comprises three components–each with a specific purpose. Duration: 2:37 | Grades...
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...
Evaluate When to Introduce a Digital Writer’s Notebook The first few weeks of the writing year revolve around establishing workshop procedures and identifying writer expectations. This includes introducing and explaining the writers’ notebook. For many, this may...
Evaluate Text Features for Their Added Value Text features aid the reader in finding information. However, instruction must go beyond teaching text-feature types. Students need to be able to assess the information that text features provide. Duration: 3:31 | Grades...
Evaluate 4 Factors in Argument Analysis How do you teach students to analyze an argument? Let’s first acknowledge one of the hardest parts of this task—staying focused on the purpose. Students are to evaluate someone else’s argument; they are NOT to include their own...
Writing After a Close Reading A close-reading experience should culminate with an after-reading writing task. Kristina Smekens first defines three common task types. Then she provides strategies to develop complex tasks that could follow the reading of any complex...
Using the Classroom Library to Build Stamina Launching literacy stations starts by building K-5 students’ stamina to work independently within The Classroom Library. In this session, Kristi McCullough explains how to implement the 10 steps of independence while...
Refining Literacy Stations for the Rest of the Year Once stations are introduced, the rest of the year focuses on skill development. In this session, Kristi McCullough explains how to manage the classroom when multiple stations are in action, including how to rotate...
Establish a “Done” List Effective writing mini-lessons always end with a Now-It’s-Your-Turn writing time. But no matter how long a teacher thinks the task will take, there are always students who finish and announce “DONE!” in far less time than...
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...
Engage Every Student with ESR’s Classroom discussions often follow a pattern: The teacher poses a question, and the same seven students raise their hands every time. This scenario reveals one of the biggest challenges in current classroom practices: single...
End a Constructed Response with an Explanation Teaching students to write an efficient and effective constructed response often includes an acronym or formula. Each of the following acronyms includes the same essential pieces: Repeat key words from the question and...
Introducing the 6 Traits in 6 Days with 1 Text: Grades 6-12 Watch how Kristina Smekens utilizes the same mentor text to introduce the Six Traits over six lessons. Duration: 89:16 | Grades...
Introducing the 6 Traits in 6 Days with 6 Texts: Grades 3-5 Observe actual classroom footage of Kristina Smekens introducing the Six Traits with six picture books over six days. Duration: 89:20 | Grades...
Introducing the 6 Traits in 6 Days with 6 Texts: Grades K-2 Watch six mini-lessons where Kristina Smekens introduces the Six Traits with six different picture books. Duration: 119:20 | Grades...
“Emphasize the “Trump” Traits” While all six traits are ingredients to strong writing, they are not equally important when it comes to planning mini-lesson instruction. Writing teachers should not spend equal time teaching each trait...
Distinguish “Reasons” from “Evidence” When preparing to write an opinion, persuasive, or argumentative piece, teachers often ask students to generate a list of reasons to support a position. However, the lists students typically generate are not of reasons, but rather...
Discern 3 Types of Syntheses Often teachers identify a synthesis as an aha readers experience after combining multiple thoughts and thinking beyond the text. And this is accurate. However, the concept of an “aha” may be misinterpreted as including only...
Differentiate Between Themes and Topics Ever wondered how to teach theme? Most would agree that a theme reveals a universal truth the author believes about people or a life lesson the reader should learn. Duration: 7:14 | Grades...
Introducing Characters that Correspond with the 6 Traits Observe Kristina Smekens introduce a writing trait a day using the Six Traits with hand-drawn characters. Duration: 01:41:17 | Grades...
Incorporating Labeling & List-Writing Lessons Once students know their phonics, move them from pictorial writing to labeling and then onto listing. This video features numerous activities and lesson concepts to support students in these early writing stages. In...
Immersing Students in Complex Text In this video led by Kristina Smekens, learn best-practice strategies for integrating complex text into every subject. After providing an overview of “text complexity,” Kristina gives practical strategies for how to assess a text’s...
Develop Independent First-Draft Spellers An imperative facet of the writer’s workshop is the independent writing time that follows the daily mini-lesson. This is where students experiment with new skills, face challenges, and learn to persevere through them....
Define What Makes a Source “Relevant” The literacy standards state that students should gather information from “relevant” sources. This requires explicit instruction. In particular, students need a concrete definition of the qualities that make a source relevant....
Define Visual Evidence as Observable Details Evidence to support answers, ideas or inferences usually comes from print text. However, powerful support can also come from a related visual, such as a photograph or illustration. But for students to use this type of media...
Fit the Writer’s Workshop into your Schedule If you struggle to find time for teaching writing, check out this recorded webinar led by Kristina Smekens, author of “Launching the Writer’s Workshop.” During this engaging 60-minute session,...
Define the Purpose of Every Grammar Skill Resources that support grammar and mechanics instruction typically focus on the what. They define what the skill is, what the rule is, what it looks like when done correctly,...
Fine-Tuning Sentences: Grades 5-12 Kristina Smekens shares several lesson ideas to improve students’ sentence fluency, including, varying their sentence beginnings, lengths, and structures. This session also includes two mini-lessons from actual classrooms where...
Define Evidence Versus Just a Detail When asked to cite evidence for their thinking, many students simply pluck out miscellaneous words and phrases from the text thinking they are citing evidence. However, often these details are just that—details. They...
Culminate Research with a Timeline A key facet to research involves answering questions based on expert sources. Look for opportunities to practice such fact-finding skills without it always culminating in a long research product. Rather, integrate smaller...
Fine-Tuning Sentences: Grades 2-4 Helping elementary students revise their sentences to create more fluent writing is the focus of this session. Aside from revealing several practical strategies for achieving sentence fluency, Kristina Smekens also models two separate...
Culminate a Close Reading with a Writing Task Students’ reading comprehension is often assessed through their writing. Thus, after pouring over a passage, digging into its deeper meanings, and engaging in a close reading, conclude the experience with a writing...
Developing Pictorial Writing Skills Writing instruction in the youngest grades begins with pictorial writing. With an emphasis on the trait of ideas, Kristina Smekens identifies numerous writing skills to teach early in the school year. In addition, view two...
Cross the Bridge of Fluency Fluency sometimes moves down the priority list in reading instruction. However, with a true and deep understanding of its impact on comprehension, it is clearly a pivotal and essential facet of reading instruction. Duration:...
Differentiating Small-Group Instruction for Early/Beginning Readers Kristi McCullough shares strategies to target high-frequency words and phonics skills while also increasing phrasing and expression in fluency. She also demonstrates how to assess reading...
Crescendo to the Strongest Persuasive Reason Persuasive writing requires students to provide reasons to back up their opinion/thesis. Those reasons belong in the middle of the writing and follow an intentional order. Duration: 1:37 | Grades...
Developing Ideas Watch how Kristina Smekens demonstrates innovative and memorable strategies for students to add depth and detail within their own writing. Featuring two full-length mini-lessons executed in second and fourth grade classrooms, this video offers ways to...
Delivering Trait-Based Mini-Lessons in Writing: Grades 6-12 Learn how to build a yearlong vision for teaching writing under the umbrella of the Six Traits. Then watch as Kristina Smekens shares fun and engaging strategies for teaching some of the unique skills...
Learn more about this workshop Want to offer this workshop for the entire staff? Contact us. Session Content Introduction to the workshop Let’s get started! – Handout Workshop Overview Prepare Data Utilize data to drive instruction Step 1: Collect data...
Delivering Trait-Based Mini-Lessons in Writing: Grades 2-5 Learn how to build a yearlong vision for teaching writing under the umbrella of the Six Traits. Then watch as Kristina Smekens shares fun and engaging strategies for teaching some of the unique skills...
Delivering Trait-Based Mini-Lessons in Writing: Grades K-1 Learn how to build a yearlong vision for teaching writing under the umbrella of the Six Traits. Then watch as Kristina Smekens shares fun and engaging strategies for teaching some of the unique skills...
Delivering Dynamic Comprehension Lessons Solidify your understanding of the College & Career Ready comprehension standards in this “aha!” session for teachers. Kristina Smekens provides engaging mini-lesson strategies for helping readers retell/summarize,...
Create Group Products with Think, Ink, Pair, Square The dynamics of a typical group product often include one or two students doing the work, and the other two or three letting them. This is when the Think, Ink, Pair, Square strategy works well. It...
Create a Writing Curriculum of Mini-Units Writing curriculums must include units that teach persuasive/argumentative, informative, and narrative writing. However, the individual teacher determines how the units are structured throughout the year. Duration:...
Craft Informative Conclusions After students have written an introduction and the body of an informative piece, they often move right into their LAST STEP OR REASON. And then they’re done. They simply conclude at the end of the middle. That is to be expected at...
Convey Tone & Mood with Sentence Length Before expecting students to vary their sentence lengths, we first have to define what constitutes different lengths. Explain that short sentences include 1-3 words, medium sentences include 4-9 words, and long sentences...
Convert Rubric Scores to Grades If you’re using the 6 Traits to teach students what good writing looks like, you’ll want to assess their writing using the traits as well. Typically, teachers use an analytic-rubric that lists the criteria associated within 4-5 levels...
Connect Writing Lessons to Concrete Triggers Physical objects can make your writing lessons more powerful. Not only do they ramp up the level of student engagement, but they also help students remember the purpose and function of specific writing skills. Duration:...
Connect Modes of Writing to Author’s Purpose Introduce students to the modes of writing in tandem with author’s purpose. This shows an important reading-writing connection. Create a foldable with the acronym P.E.N. or P.I.E. to solidify this connection and set a...
Connect Ideas Within Paragraphs When explaining transitions to students, we often focus on how they connect or link paragraphs within a piece. Then, we typically introduce the words first, next, then, last. Those transition words work when describing an event,...
Communicate Feedback within the Writing Rubric Contrary to popular belief, providing precise feedback to student writers does not have to involve an all-encompassing critique with the red pen. Instead, lean on a well-crafted rubric to pinpoint strengths...
Compare Vocabulary Study to Dating When introducing students to an essential vocabulary word, a couple definition activities and a matching exercise aren’t enough. To truly master the term, students require repeated exposure to the word over time. This...
Compare a Book to its Movie Version While most of us may be guilty of showing students an entire movie version after we’ve finished a book, let’s consider a more powerful option for using this multi-modal text. Instead, provide students the same opportunity to...
Clarify the Role of Wikipedia Conversations among teachers regarding research-writing units inevitably include a few minutes about Wikipedia. This dialogue often consists of a list of reasons why students should not be utilizing the website. Common rationale...
Clarify Purpose versus Point of View versus Perspective Students often confuse three “P” words— purpose, point of view, and perspective. This misunderstanding is perpetuated when assessment questions and curriculum resources interchange these terms. To combat this...
Clarify “Developed” Versus “Details” “Developed” writing includes ideas that are elaborated and supported. Developed writing includes reasons or ideas backed up with specifics, proof, and evidence revealed in additional sentences. Duration: 1:58 | Grades...
Clarify Character Traits Versus Feelings Inquiring about character traits is a typical reading comprehension question. However, students often respond with comments like I think she’s mad or I think he’s glad or I think they’re sad. They offer...
Clarify That Voice is a Choice Teachers often approach the trait of voice with a little apprehension. Although some students write with voice naturally, all students can be taught how to include it in their own writing. Duration: 1:36 | Grades...
Broaden the Meaning of Text-to-World Connections When readers connect something new to something known, they are more apt to understand and remember it. Consequently, teachers commonly have students reflect on their own prior knowledge as it relates to...
Break Down Large Units into Small-Dose Writing Experiences Rather than tackle all of the components of a large expository research project with one enormous assignment, consider rolling out a couple of skills at a time to be executed within an initial smaller product....
Break Down Comprehension Strategies by Subskills Reading comprehension instruction targets six ways to think about texts. However, NONE of these comprehension strategies is taught in a single mini-lesson. Duration: 6:00 | Grades...
Balance On-paper and On-screen Experiences FAQ: If we have devices for all students, should we phase out the use of paper in the ELA classroom? Duration: 2:52 | Grades...
Balance Evidence v. Elaboration in Reading Responses After reading multiple texts on a standardized assessment, students are asked to synthesize ideas and generate a long, extended response. Each idea or reason needs to be developed into its own paragraph with...
Achieving a Close Reading in 5 Steps Kristina Smekens shares an in-depth explanation of close reading, followed by strategies for introducing the concept to students. In addition, learn the five steps required for planning and facilitating a close-reading experience...
Citing Textual Evidence In this video, Kristina Smekens reveals practical strategies for citing textual evidence in written responses. View two authentic classroom mini-lessons where Kristina teaches students how to structure a constructed-response and how to...
Building Kid-Friendly Writing Rubrics: Grades PK-1 Learn how to build an initial rubric with young writers that is kid-friendly and age-appropriate. Then learn strategies to adjust the same rubric to represent students’ growing skills as they advance from drawing...
Assess Vocabulary with Cloze Passages After teaching a new concept, it’s necessary to assess students’ overall understanding and comprehension. When the instruction includes a heavy dose of new vocabulary, a cloze strategy works well. Duration: 5:04 |...
3 Test-Prep Power Strategies During this live webinar, Kristina Smekens highlighted three skills essential for success on standardized reading assessments: 1. Make inferences about complex texts. 2. Generate strong constructed responses. 3. Execute simulated...
Apply Transformation to Complex Concepts Technical courses require a different set of reading skills. A huge component of the reading that students do in science, social studies, math, and other technical courses involves being able to read about a concept in both...
Annotate Based on the Reading Purpose Giving students highlighters to identify important information can often lead to them marking nothing or painting everything. This is a typical problem when first teaching text annotation. Duration: 3:09 | Grades...
Align with the Strongest Position Persuasive and argumentative writing tasks typically begin with students announcing which side they agree with. This is before reading, researching, or even considering all possible perspectives. This might not be a problem...
Alert Readers to Subtle Misspellings in Fake Websites Creators of “fake news” rely on the lazy reader. They hope that hasty scanning, reader inattentiveness, and misplaced confidence will result in the consumption of their “information” as...
Adjust Writer’s Voice for Purpose & Audience When teaching voice, describe it as more than simply a student’s personality on paper. Voice is more accurately how the writer feels about the topic he is writing. Voice is the attitude or tone the writer wants to...
Adjust a T-Chart to Fit Various Text Structures Graphic organizers can aid readers and writers. However, when students are presented new and different graphic organizers all the time, it’s hard to foster masterful use of any of them....
5 Strategies to Increase Students’ Reading Assessment Test Scores Learn Smekens Education’s Top 5 strategies for preparing students to be successful on state reading assessments. Identifying main idea, developing constructed responses, and citing textual...
Add Editorial Cartoons to Science & Social Studies It’s advantageous to include editorial or political cartoons within a science or social studies unit. They are short, and thus can be read multiple times quickly. However, they also tend to have many layers of...
Add 6 Types of Supporting Details Teachers want more detail, more idea development, more elaboration. However, when we ask students to add more details, they often nod their heads in agreement and stare at us blankly. They know they need to add more… but they don’t...
Adapt Yes, MA’AM to Fit Longer Essays Many are familiar with the Smekens format for crafting short or brief constructed responses—Yes MA’AM. While working well for short written responses, this same structure can also be adapted to generate longer, extended reading...
Adapt the Storyboard to Fit All Chronological Texts When engaged in a narrative writing unit, the basic storyboard is a universal pre-writing tool. It accounts for beginning, middle, and end and goes in a chronological order, making it adaptable for multiple...
How do you prepare students to synthesize when reading off a screen? Once the basics of a synthesizing from multiple sources is mastered, taking students to other mediums can prove challenging. But the next growth step is for students to read from a screen,...
How do you explain main idea versus topic? Students often struggle to understand the difference between main idea and topic. For that reason, we need to provide direct instruction helps clarify the difference between the two. Duration: 1:05 | Grades...
What annotation expectations should I have for struggling readers? Teaching students how to annotate the text is an important reading comprehension strategy. However, for some students, annotation is just a task that the teacher makes them do. A starting point for...
How can I use role-playing to build cultural awareness? Role-play can be a fun and engaging activity, especially for those students who thrive on performing in front of an audience. But beyond its appeal to extroverts, role-play also provides an opportunity for...
How can I be intentional about building an inclusive learning environment? As fresh faces enter classrooms this year, teachers have a brand-new opportunity to make a positive impact on the children trusted to their care. And while teaching the academic standards will...
Deliver Effective Remote-Teaching Instruction During this 30-minute webinar, Kristina Smekens shared strategies to deliver whole-class reading and writing instruction within the parameters of today’s virtual classroom. Plus get a peek of our exciting Free...
Where can I find the texts and resources used within the free Literacy eLessons? If you’re one of the thousands of teachers who utilized the Literacy eLessons to support remote instruction last spring, we’re happy to report that this resource will continue to be...
Understanding Disciplinary Literacy Teaching students to employ discipline-specific reading strategies is the focus of this session featuring Kristina Smekens. This session is ideal for mixed departments of secondary content-area and English/language arts teachers who...
Teaching Persuasive Writing In this video, Kristina Smekens identifies six essential skills necessary for strong persuasive writing. For each skill, Kristina provides multiple mini-lesson ideas, including two full-length lessons targeting voice and word choice....
Teaching Informative Writing In this video, learn the six essential skills Kristina Smekens deems necessary for strong informative/expository writing. This includes developed and organized information sandwiched between an effective introduction and conclusion. Watch...
How can I make community building part of my regular routine? Community building in the classroom is not a one-and-done activity. It takes time and continuous effort to create a classroom climate where all students feel valued and respected. One technique that will...
Teaching Argumentative Writing Kristina Smekens identifies her six essential skills necessary for powerful argumentative writing, including a thorough knowledge of the issue and an acknowledgement of multiple perspectives. This video includes Kristina delivering two...
How do I launch a digital writer’s notebook? Before you jump into using digital writer’s notebooks, be sure that students have a clear understanding of the apps or software you plan to use. Whether it is a learning management system like Canvas or Google Classroom or...
How do I manage guided reading groups with live video? As elementary educators look for ways to teach reading remotely, platforms like Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams are becoming popular tools for leading both large and small-group instruction. When the...
Which assessment should I use to measure reading progress? Whether your students are five or in fifth grade, it’s important to listen to them read. This most-basic assessment could be as simple as asking a student to read a 100-200-word text with you at your...
Strategies for Teaching Vocabulary Applicable to virtually every teacher, this session provides universal strategies for teaching reading and writing across the curriculum. Kristina Smekens provides targeted classroom activities that are both practical and relevant....
Strategies for Teaching Content-Area Literacy Applicable to virtually every teacher, this session provides universal strategies for teaching reading and writing across the curriculum. Kristina Smekens provides targeted classroom activities that are both practical and...
Recognizing the Six Traits: Grades 6-12 Through grade-appropriate writing samples, physical “triggers,” and graphic icons, teachers learn to recognize and celebrate the six ingredients of all good writing — ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency,...
How do I teach my students to write effective emails? With the pivot to virtual and remote learning, teaching students how to craft a well-written email is more important than ever before. In order to cultivate this real-world skill with students, we must provide...
Where can I find sources for short videos for note-taking practice? Teachers at Laporte Community Schools (LaPorte, IN) are providing opportunities for their students to practice taking notes and citing information from multimodal texts such as videos. LaPorte data...
Recognizing the Six Traits: Grades 3-5 Through grade-appropriate writing samples, physical “triggers,” and graphic icons, teachers learn to recognize and celebrate the six ingredients of all good writing — ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and...
How do you add more elaboration to Yes, MA’AM? The first step to improving students’ constructed-response writing is to make sure they can infer the answer as a reader. The second step is to teach them the basic structure of the Yes,...
Recognizing the Six Traits: Grades K-2 Through grade-appropriate writing samples, physical “triggers,” and graphic icons, teachers learn to recognize and celebrate the six ingredients of all good writing — ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and...
How do you draw the Silhouette Head on chart paper? When teaching students how to use their Reading and Thinking Voices to generate inferences, Roz Linder’s Silhouette Head is the perfect lesson tool. Duration: 1:09 | Grades...
Craft Productive Remote-Learning Literacy Tasks During this 30-minute webinar, Kristina Smekens shared strategies that will help you maintain a powerful literacy environment during this period of remote learning.After watching, you will: Learn the true meaning of...
How do you adjust the writing process for 2 weeks versus 2 days? When students are given two weeks to turn in a final, polished draft, they have the luxury of time. They can carefully pre-write, draft, and then take advantage of tools to revise and...
Delivering Dynamic Mini-Lessons in Writing: Grades 2-5 Learn the four steps of a powerful writing mini-lesson and how to execute those steps within a 10-15 minute whole-class presentation. Duration: 45:51 | Grades...
How do I balance long, traditional versus short research-writing tasks? Traditional research writing is a long process. It typically starts with days spent on topic selection. Then, several more school days pass as students surf online, click on websites, and print...
Delivering Dynamic Mini-Lessons in Writing: Grades K-1 Learn the four steps of a powerful writing mini-lesson and how to execute those steps within a 10-15 minute whole-class presentation. Duration: 43:26 | Grades...
How does Yes, MA’AM fit with RACE and CER? There are lots of acronyms used by teachers to help students remember the key components of a constructed response. And regardless of the acronym you may be using, a well-written constructed response always has three...
How do you make reading fun? When teaching reading, it’s important to not only educate but also entertain. In fact, an “edu-tainment” approach to teaching offers opportunities to increase engagement throughout the instructional process. Duration: 4:58 | Grades...
How do the 6 Traits fit within the state writing rubrics? The power of the Six-Traits writing framework is its universal application to all grade levels, writing genres, and writing assessments. Although ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and...
How should students incorporate evidence in a narrative response? When generating a narrative story in response to reading, students are still expected to cite details from the passages. Whether rewriting from a different perspective, continuing the story, inserting a...
Building Strong Paragraphs With scenes from intermediate and middle school classrooms, this video features Kristina Smekens identifying the purpose of a paragraph and revealing the six most common types of paragraphs. Two unique mini-lessons from actual classrooms...
Delivering Dynamic Mini-Lessons in Writing: Grades 6-12 Help students understand that every piece of writing needs a beginning, middle, and end, just like a train. This video features a full length mini-lesson from an actual first grade classroom where Kristina...
How do I plan a comprehension mini-lesson? Every reading or writing mini-lesson needs to include the four steps of explicit instruction: 1. Introduce the skill.2. Demonstrate the skill through teacher instruction (i.e., I do).3. Support students as they...
Should direct quotes be included in summary writing? There are times when direct quotes can pack a punch and make writing better. There are also times when this important writer tool is not a good fit. Duration: 1:43 | Grades...
Rolling Out the Trait Language to Students: Grades 2-5 Learn how to lay the foundation for a year of writing instruction as Kristina Smekens unveils a systematic approach for using icons and physical “triggers” to introduce students to the Six Traits of Writing....
Rolling Out the Trait Language to Students: Grades K-1 Learn how to lay the foundation for a year of writing instruction as Kristina Smekens unveils a systematic approach for using icons and physical “triggers” to introduce students to the Six Traits of Writing....
Building Kid-Friendly Writing Rubrics: Grades 2-12 Once the traits have been introduced, it’s time to build an everyday writing rubric with students. Learn the facets and functions of an analytic rubric, strategies to build and grow one throughout the year, and how to...
Launching the Writer’s Workshop Procedures In this practical video for K-12 teachers, educators learn the three parts of the writer’s workshop. Then, to facilitate a successful “launch” of the writer’s workshop, viewers learn how to...
Add Beginnings & Endings to Middles Help students understand that every piece of writing needs a beginning, middle, and end, just like a train. This video features a full length mini-lesson from an actual first grade classroom where Kristina presents how to add a...
Literacy Stations for Elementary Classrooms Learn the value and vision behind independent literacy stations in this overview session for all elementary teachers. Kristi McCullough reveals how literacy stations reinforce reading skills previously taught. Duration:...
Leading an Effective Reading Block Learn from Kristi McCullough as she shares best-practice strategies for leading a reading block that features a mix of whole-group mini-lessons, small-group guided instruction, and independent station practice. Duration: 49:48 |...
Implementing Literacy Stations for Word Work After introducing phonics and word study concepts to the whole class, Kristi McCullough reveals how the Word-Work Station can provide K-5 readers independent practice of skills previously taught. Once the station is up and...
Implementing Literacy Stations for Reading Response & Listening Listening and responding to audio text is an important skill for students at every level. In this session, Kristi McCullough shows K-5 teachers how to build Reading Response and Listening Stations...
Implementing Literacy Stations for Fluency Setting procedures for working with a partner is a foundational element of the Fluency Station. Kristi McCullough provides practical tips for selecting appropriate texts for K-5 students to use as they practice reading...
Differentiating Small-Group Instruction for Transitional Readers In this video, Kristi McCullough provides strategies to support readers who have already mastered a high number of high-frequency words. You will acquire strategies to teach students how to document...
Differentiating Small-Group Instruction for Pre-A/Emergent Readers In this video, Kristi McCullough targets how to teach specific skills for concepts of print, word study, fluency, and comprehension. Learn how to focus this instruction for Pre-A/ Emergent readers who...
Differentiating Small-Group Instruction for Fluent Readers Since Fluent Readers need less support to decode words, learn how to support their thinking with word-work opportunities that focus more on the meaning of vocabulary words. Kristi McCullough targets how to...
Creating & Conducting Differentiated Small Groups Recognize and examine the four different stages of reading and the characteristics of readers that fit each stage. After explaining the four stages, Kristi McCullough offers strategies for compiling data, planning...
What do you teach after introducing the Six Traits of Writing? An intentional, explicit introduction to the Six Traits of Writing should be part of the annual start-up to any writer’s workshop. Regardless if students know a lot or a little about these six ingredients...
How can I motivate my students to work together better? When we teach students to work together well in the classroom, we set the stage for them to be successful working with others their entire lives. That’s why establishing a strong classroom community is so...
