Let me help you plan a writing celebration!

Are you looking for a fast way to plan a formal writing celebration?

Sometimes at the end of the year, it can feel overwhelming to plan one more thing. The truth of the matter is you have time to make a plan for a meaningful writing celebration.

I know because I've helped lots of teachers make quick plans for powerful writing celebrations.

Last weekend I found myself with a little extra time, so I began imagining ways I could help more teachers plan an end of the year writing celebration.

By the end of the weekend, I created a new mini-course. It's designed to be a fast guide to help you plan a writing celebration. I pretended that we had time to grab a cup of coffee and chat through a celebration for your classroom. I created a few videos inspired by the conversations I've been having with teachers in my neck of the woods.

Then I thought about the things I would offer to print for your students. I created a handful of PDFs and added them to the mini-course.

In just an hour or two, you'll have a meaningful writing celebration planned for your students.

Check out the Fast Guide to Writing Celebrations. Because I'm trained in education and not in business, there's an insane early bird price for the mini-course.

For just a few dollars, you'll learn:

• Celebration messages to anchor your celebration
• The three components to a genuine celebration -- 
  • Response
  • Reflection
  • Rejoicing
• A process for planning a meaningful writing celebration

And you'll get:

• 5 video lessons (each around 5 minutes)
• A printable PDF of the Celebration Messages
• A Response Sheet for primary grades
• A Comment Sheet for upper grades
• A list of Interview Questions for Writers to use as a reflection
• A template to guide you in planning a formal celebration

Leave a comment and let me know about your plans to celebrate your students as writers. Happy teaching, everyone!

The Ed Collab {CELEBRATE This Week: 187}

I'm glad you are here to celebrate! 

Share a link to your blog post below and/or use #celebratelu to share celebrations on Twitter. Check out the details here. Celebrate This Week goes live on Friday night around 10(ish). Consider it as a weekend celebration. Whenever it fits in your life, add your link. 

Please leave a little comment love for the person who links before you.

*******

Today I get to talk about ENTICING HARD-TO-REACH WRITERS as part of the The Ed Collaborative Spring Gathering. All day long, The Ed Collaborative is offering cutting edge sessions free for educators. Check out the agenda here. I am so excited to be a part of the generosity and learning of The Ed Collaborative. 

Thank you, Chris Lehman and The Ed Collab team. You are what is good and right about our profession.

Also, make sure to scroll to the bottom of the agenda page. You will find the adopted charities for the day. As a way to say thank you to The Ed Collab, feel free to donate to one of the day's charities.

I'm looking forward to sharing the way my storylines as a momma, teacher and writer intersect to help kids -- all kids -- write their stories and use their voices to make the world a better place. The information I'm sharing is straight from my heart and straight from the pages of my new book, which is in production now. 

If you want to join me at 1:00 (EST), I'll be sharing how to get past the behaviors of kids who don't want to write and instead meet them in their hearts and help them to know their voices matter.

Share your celebrations below.

****

Spring Break Word Count [CELEBRATE This Week: 186]

I'm glad you are here to celebrate! 

Share a link to your blog post below and/or use #celebratelu to share celebrations on Twitter. Check out the details here. Celebrate This Week goes live on Friday night around 10(ish). Consider it as a weekend celebration. Whenever it fits in your life, add your link. 

Please leave a little comment love for the person who links before you.

*****

This year I've had the special treat to meet with two fifth grade girls who love writing. We meet weekly(ish), talk about working the words, write, and share. They each are working on fiction stories.

They remind me of how simple it is to invest in the lives of others.

I issued a spring break word count challenge. If they can write more words than I do over spring break, then I'll buy them lunch. They bargained to add their words together to beat me. We made plans for writing time and determined the parameters for what words count (notebook writing, story writing, random scenes, articles, and long letters to mail) and what words don't count (text messages, grocery lists, or typing from notebook to Google Docs).

I plan to write 1000 words each day. There will be notebook work, articles, blog posts, and short stories for a new book idea I'm toying with. I also must write acknowledgements and work out the closing thoughts for The Next Book (which is in production). 

Oh! It has a title that is closer to being official -- Enticing Hard-to-Reach Writers.

I'll be writing in the early morning hours, sneaking in mid-afternoon articles, and writing before bed. I think this is a good way to spend Spring Break 2017.

Happy writing!

Conferring Notes 101 LITE

My son Jay L.O.V.E.S. football. He is a hardcore football player. We love this about Jay, because he spent more than 7 years of his childhood bumping around the foster care system. So many kids from hard places don’t know how to follow their passions. Not Jay, though -- he has football.

Last summer Jay went to football camp for the first time. At football camp, Jay participated in many drills. In fact, most of the time at camp was spent in drills. Jay came home with a series of drills to practice. (He still practices them, in fact.)

I’ve never seen Jay run a drill during a game. The drills aren’t part of the game plan, but they are essential to becoming a better football player.

I’ve been putting together a course to help teachers lift the level of their conferences. It is called Conferring Notes 101. I am so excited about this course, that I wanted to share it. So I’m taking some of the best content and putting together a three session Conferring Notes 101 LITE version.

What does this have to do about Jay's football drills?

You can think of Conferring Notes 101 LITE as an intense camp to lift the level of your conferring. Just like Jay ran lots of drills at football camp, we’re going to set up a simple paper system so we can “run some practice drills” as teachers of writers.  I offer a step-by-step guide to setting up a trusty go-to conferring note system.

Will you do two things?

1. Sign up for the CONFERRING NOTES 101 LITE course. It is free and some of my best work in supporting teachers to lift the level of their conferring. Just fill out the form above.
2. Tell a friend! Share this with the teachers across the hall or in your department or in your school. Or post about it on social media -- Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, SnapChat (whatever your preference). Here is the link: http://bit.ly/con101LITE and the hashtag is #conferringnotes101. Feel free to tag me, just get the R before the E in my last name! [@ruth_ayres]
   
   

Click to Tweet

Once you sign up, you’ll be on the list to get the Conferring Notes 101 LITE sessions as they release. You don’t want to  wait too long, though, because they are only available for a short amount of time. I’d hate for you to miss it!

Dreaming Big {CELEBRATE This Week: 179}

I'm glad you are here to celebrate! 

Share a link to your blog post below and/or use #celebratelu to share celebrations on Twitter. Check out the details here. Celebrate This Week goes live on Friday night around 10(ish). Consider it as a weekend celebration. Whenever it fits in your life, add your link. 

Please leave a little comment love for the person who links before you.

***

Oh boy!
Have you ever had news that feels so big that you're a little nervous to say it out loud?
I think this is a sign of a dream coming true.

It only makes since that I whisper the news to you, this sweet community of people who celebrate.

It's been a big dream of mine to offer online course for teachers to help make teaching writers manageable. I've been dreaming this dream for awhile. Sometimes dreams feel more like wishes. Sometimes dreams feel impossible.

And every now and then dreams come close to coming true.

Lean in, my friends. I'm not sure I can say it above a whisper yet.

I'm getting ready to launch my first online course from Discover. Play. Build. 

The heart of writing workshop is conferring. Not surprisingly, the hardest part of writing workshop is conferring. If we want to make teaching writers more manageable, then we tackle conferring.

I've walked alongside hundreds of teachers who have learned and refined the art of conferring with writers. Strengthening conferring skills transforms writing instruction from vague ideas to clear teaching points and precise differentiation.

The fastest way to make this transformation is to learn to keep solid conferring notes. Conferring notes expedite the process because they hold us accountable to lifting the level of conferences, and they support more growth in students as writers.

Soon I plan to open a free 3 session mini-course to give a taste of the bigger course, Conferring Notes 101. It's been super fun to put together. For the free mini-course videos, I'm wearing some of my favorite writer shirts and sharing the best content from the course. I want it to have the feel and mindset of Saturday morning. No hurries and time to reflect. (We can ignore Andy who says if I really want to look like a writer, I'd be in yoga pants, a worn sweatshirt, a ball cap and wrapped in a quilt. That Andy -- he *thinks* he's funny.)

You might want to pick up my free training, 3 Secrets to Powerful Conferences, by filling out the form below. (This is different than Conferring Notes 101.) It's a good taste for how the sessions will go. Plus, we'll be Email Pals (if we aren't already), and you'll be among the first to know when the mini-course goes live!

Thanks for showing up each week and celebrating. It's nice to know that no matter the week, we can find reasons to celebrate.

Right Beside Writers {CELEBRATE This Week: 177}

I'm glad you are here to celebrate! 

Share a link to your blog post below and/or use #celebratelu to share celebrations on Twitter. Check out the details here. Celebrate This Week goes live on Friday night around 10(ish). Consider it as a weekend celebration. Whenever it fits in your life, add your link. 

Please leave a little comment love for the person who links before you.

***

This place, 

right beside writers,

is where I 

watch 

and 

notice.

This place 

is where I 

celebrate 

and 

nudge 

growth.

This place, 

usually on my knees 

and 

always with a servant's heart

is the

one 

place 

where I always feel 

like I'm doing what 

I was made to do.

Helping others write 

what 

matters 

most. 

I'm pretty sure, 

in some small way, 

I will 

change 

the 

world.

I posted this picture and some of these words on Instagram. A former student left me a comment: I still hear your questions echo in my ear as I write. Sometimes it feels like you are right there next to me.

Her words have followed me around all day. It's been a dozen years since she sat on the floor of my 7th grade classroom, under the chalkboard, back against the wall with her notebook balanced on her knees.

I didn't know then that I spent my days in a sanctuary. We wrote in our notebooks. We read books cover to cover. We talked and laughed and teased and tried and failed. And in the end, we all became writers. 

I dedicated my first book to them. 

Because the truth is, sometimes when I kneel next to another writer, I still feel like they are right there next to me. 

*********

9 Reasons I Keep Conference Notes

I'm putting the finishing touches on my new online self-paced workshop about establishing and using a record keeping system for writing conferences with students. (I really need a good name for it. Let me know if you have an idea. I'm terrible at naming things.)

I decided to collect some fresh conferences to use in the course, so I emailed a handful of teachers. Whenever I decide to invite myself into a classroom, I have two prerequisites --

1. The teacher won't panic and flip out and spend extra time getting ready for me.
2. The teacher will be honest with me about their writing workshop habits and thoughts.

Today, two of the three teachers pushed me about the point of keeping conference notes. Both said a version of this:

I know where my students are as writers, so why should I write it down?

My inbox is filled with questions in the same vein. 

How can I make a system that makes sense?

I have a hard time getting to my notes.

I forget to write down notes.

How do I take notes that are relevant?

How do I convince teachers notes really matter?

How do I know what's important to note?

(I have the best Email Pals who hit reply to this week's note and let me know their questions about keeping conference notes. If you have a question, leave it in the comments.)

I might have had a moment today when I thought, Is it important to keep conference notes?

After spending lots of time thinking (I drove more than 5 hours today), I feel the same way about conference notes tonight as I did when I woke up this morning.

Conference

notes

are

essential.

1. They help me make sure I meet with every kid. Not just the ones who need me, but all of them. Regularly.
2. They keep me intentional and purposeful. They hold me to affirming and teaching in all conferences.
3. They prevent me from going in blind to a conference. After a couple of weeks, I've noted needs for every kid. Before a conference, I just look at the previous notes and I have an idea of what I'll teach.
4. Let's face it, no matter how great we think our memories are, they fail. I go into the grocery store for three items, grab two things and can't  remember the third item I needed. I don't remember where I put my car keys. I forget to turn in my mileage. We are human. We are teachers. Our brains are filled to the brim. There is no reason to use storage space on something I can write down.

Those are just the reasons that make me a stronger writing teacher. My real motivation for keeping conference notes is because they allow students to become stronger writers.

1. They allow me to select the most pressing need for every kid. It's not always the first thing I think of and it isn't always the way the conference is leading. Conference notes force me to think through students needs and goals as writers and then make a decision to teach the writer during every conference.
2. They offer evidence of growth. Through my conference notes, I know where students are in relationship to writing standards, as well as at different milestones in the year.
3. They allow me to have a single writing conversation with students across time. Conferences are connected. Previous teaching points guide me in reteaching or affirming new learning. Accomplishing goals allows me to see the new needs. Conferring moves from a whim to an intentional teaching move.
4. They provide patterns in the class. I can determine upcoming minilesson objectives or organize small groups for differentiated instruction. 
5. They become rich data sources for others in the school -- special education or high ability teachers; principals and RtI teams; as well as future teachers. We can work together instead of working harder to meet students' needs.

Leave a comment and let me know:

1. Why do you think conference notes are important?
2. What questions do you have about conference notes?
3. A stellar title for me new course!

Video Lesson: Be a Brave Speller

DISCOVER. PLAY. BUILD. YOUTUBE CHANNEL. Find more lessons!

Lesson: BE A BRAVE SPELLER
Playlists:

Conventions
Grades K-1
Grades 2-3
Writing Process
Launching Writing Workshop

Description: Our youngest writers can learn to courageously stretch rich words to make their writing meaningful. This lesson provides a chart and a concrete way to share brave spellings, as well as conventional spellings. 

Special Notes: This video is longer than usual. The reason is because it is two parts. The first portion is designed to be the minilesson. It explains the chart and models how to use it. The second part is to be used before the share session. It explains how to celebrate brave spellings and share the conventional spellings.

Extra Resources: This lesson was inspired by Lisa Cleveland and Katie Wood Ray in their book About the Authors. When I saw the chart they made like this, it changed the way I talked with young writers about the words they used. I love that we can celebrate their spelling choices, even when it isn't conventional. I also appreciate being able to post the conventional spelling alongside the brave spelling.

After I created this video, I was doing a little thinking about extra resources to share with this lesson. As I was staring at the chart, I realized I used a "brave spelling" for afraid. Yikes!

My first thought was to redo the chart and the video. However, I had already shot another video for an online course where I discussed the importance of valuing approximations. 

The irony was thick.

In that moment I had a choice. I could redo hours of work to get it right, or I could embrace imperfection and keep moving forward. I wish I could say it was an easy choice.

It's never easy to put less than perfection into the world. 

I took a deep breath, rolled my eyes, snapped a selfie and decided it is more important to put this lesson in the world than to be shackled by perfection. I'm sure you'll use conventional spelling in the title of the chart you create for your room. *smile*

what to do when students have nothing to write

We hear it all too often, usually from the same students, and almost always said with all caps.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO WRITE!

As writing teachers, we know the importance of choice, so we don't want to tell them what to write, but on some days we don't know what else to do.

I've come to realize that the young writers who lament I have nothing to write about really don't need a strategy to figure out a topic. They don't need one more list or another notebook entry or a magical graphic organizer.

They need validation.

Writing takes guts and perhaps the bravest decision is topic choice. More than anything else, students need us to validate their topics. This helps build confidence in young writers.

Many writers (kids and adults) put a lot of pressure on themselves to find the perfect topic. It is a myth to believe that if we just find a grand topic, we will produce grand writing. It doesn't work this way. In fact the most mundane topics often lead to mighty writing.

When students can learn that small and ordinary is worthy, then there's less pressure to determine the perfect topic. Our students need to know that a trip to Walmart is just as worthy a topic for a narrative as a trip to Greece. They need to know that a story from a secret hideout is just as valid as a story from Disney World. Students need to know that an opinion about kindness in the lunchroom is as important as a call to action about fighting homelessness.

As teachers, we can help students understand this truth by affirming their topic choices.

I think the best way to do this is to find ordinary topics ourselves, as teachers who write. When we use ordinary topics to model in writing workshop, we send the message that small is worthy.

In order to help you find ordinary topics, in a variety of types of writing (narrative, informational, opinion, and poetry), I've created Finding Topics: A Guide for Teachers. It will take you through questions to discover topics that are small, but mighty. You can get the free guide by signing up below. I also share a few video minilessons that use ordinary topics as mentors for students.

What to Say in a Writing Conference

Our days are full of predictable conversations. You can probably predict your first conversation of the day. You probably know how a conversation is going to go with a spouse, parent, or child after school. You might know how the conversation at lunch is going to go with your colleagues. You have a good idea of how your next conversation with a cashier is going to go.

Conversations are predictable.

Writing conferences are predictable conversations too. There are conversational moves teachers and students make in a writing conversation. When everyone knows the way a conference conversation goes, it becomes more powerful.

Because of this, I consider a minilesson about the structure of a writing conference to be essential. Students must know the way a conference conversation will go. This takes away anxiety and creates a safe place for students to learn how to be stronger writers. 

I created a video minilesson about What to Say in a Writing Conference for you to use with your students.

To simplify the conversation, consider a writing conference as having two parts.

Part 1: Figure out what students are doing as writers.

Part 2: Help them do it better!

Every time I have a conference, I navigate through these two parts. I ask an open-ended question to get students talking about their writing work, and then I look at the writing to see if the work lines up with the talk. (Part 1)

Then I affirm the work students are doing as writers, and teach them something they can use as a writer. (Part 2)

It won't take long for us to run into a student who doesn't have much to say in a conference. It's why we often want a list of questions to ask in a conference. I've learned that the right question is only part of the secret to getting kids to talk in conferences.

Don Graves said, "A student should have more energy for writing after a conference than before." The way to get kids to talk in conferences is to figure out how to increase their energy for writing during a conference.

I've created a mini-training video of 3 Secrets to Powerful Writing Conferences. Sign up below and also get a list of my go-to questions to ask during a writing conference.

Tired of Crazy Writing Time? Take Time to Pause.

Last weekend I went rollerskating. I love rollerskating, and I never worry about being on wheels. No matter how long it’s been since I’ve laced up skates, muscle memory kicks in and I’m flying around the rink. My kids are always impressed.

This time it was different. My wheels didn’t spin. My skates didn’t glide. The rink was pitted and sticky in places. Whenever I pushed off on my left skate, it stuck.

I stumbled. I ran into a wall to avoid a little girl. I pulled a muscle.

No matter what I did, I couldn’t make rollerskating work for me.

It reminded me of writing workshop in December.

Things shift in December. There are jingle bells and Santa cookies. There are music concerts and canned food drives. There are sing alongs and elves watching. All of these things are good things, but they can wreak havoc on a schedule.

Writing workshop sometimes becomes a place where things just aren’t working. (Click to tweet.)

What I should have done when I realized things weren’t working when I was rollerskating was paused. I should have exchanged my skates for a better pair. I should have considered the rink conditions and made mental notes of where it was not ideal.

I didn’t do these things.

I was too busy pressing through.

In writing workshop, when things become not ideal, it is best to pause. Take some time and remember the conditions matter to writers. Think through the purpose and the routines that are missing because of the shifts from the season.

Sometimes it seems like we don’t have time to pause.

I wish I would have paused and changed the conditions while roller skating.

Then I wouldn’t have slipped and flew and landed hard.

My daughters laughed. I did too. “You looked like a cartoon!” Martha giggled. They helped me up. The world was spinning. I couldn’t see straight. My head thumped. So did my shoulder and my hip and my knee.

We have time to pause and set the conditions necessary for writing workshop.

No matter how busy December becomes, we can pause and return to the basics.

1. Time to write.
2. Access to materials to write.
3. Choice in what to write.

Pause now and consider how to wrap strong arms around writing workshop and protect it from the busyness of the season! (Click to tweet.) I’d love to hear what you realized when you paused. Leave a comment and let us know!

Don’t forget to register for the free online workshop, Quick and Meaningful Writing Assessment. Join the 250+ other educators who are lightening their grading load!

A True Confession about Grading Student Writing

Here's a BIG FIRST...I created a vlog! I hope you enjoy it. Let me know in the comments one of your grading nightmares, I mean stories, or  your current status when it comes to grading student writing.

Also, I'm putting together a free mini-training called QUICK & MEANINGFUL WRITING ASSESSMENT for my Email Pals. If you don't get notes from me delivered to your inbox, sign up with the form below. Plus you can check out a lot other awesome resources I've created to help make teaching writers manageable and enjoyable. Don't worry, you'll only be added to the email list once, no matter how many great resources you grab.

Don't forget to comment with a grading story of your own!