Living Life Twice

The following random writing thoughts are gleaned from various sources connected to my writing life- my notebooks, blogs, Twitter, Facebook. They represent some of my recent writing related activity in these places. I share them to demonstrate the broad and enduring influences upon those of us who choose to be, teachers who write: _______________________________________ When young writers doubt their abilities they often set low goals, choose easy tasks and conduct little or no planning. When they hold strong beliefs in their own capacity to write, they generally engage more readily, focus their attention and choose to engage. This is why developing a sense of agency within student writers is so important. We must champion independence and a sense of belonging to achieve this important goal. It is central to performance. Teachers don't just teach student learners skills. The word choices teachers make determine the health of that learning community. When teachers create sa...

The Stenhouse Blog: Quick Tip Tuesday: Nudging kids to make a choice  'Nonfiction reading, research, and reporting is hard work. For students to maximize their inquiry experience, they should choose a topic they care about, know something about, and wonder about,' writes Stephanie Harvey in her book Nonfiction Matters: Reading, Writing, and Reseach in Grades 3-8. But some students find it difficult to pick a topic or they think that their hobbies and interests are not suitable for school. In this Quick Tip, we get a quick glimpse into a conversation between a student, Thomas, and his teacher, Mary, as they talk about Thomas’ interest in football and how that will make a great topic for his research paper. Some students struggle with topic selection. On the eve of the topic deadline, Thomas had not come up with a single idea for research. His mother rang Mary first thing in the morning and described a family in turmoil. Thomas had been up all night fraught with anxiety ov...