Like all other districts in California, and many across the nation, we started this school year in a remote learning environment. I am the assistant principal at a year-round school. Our teachers and students began the school year, before most of the country had even made any kind of decision about how to open schools. Continue reading “COVID: Lessons to Start the Year”
Category Archives: Writing
Opinion Essay Rubrics
“What rubric should I use?”
Donalyn Miller: The Hero that Liberated Me
A couple of years ago, I was validated and inspired by Ms. Donalyn Miller’s The Book Whisperer. If you have not yet read this book, it is a must. Immediately after turning the last page, I went straight to my computer and tried to format and create an effective and explicit way to begin aContinue reading “Donalyn Miller: The Hero that Liberated Me”
SIFTing Poems
I hope all of you lovely teachers are taking advantage of the free and wonderful videos of The Teaching Channel. If you haven’t gone to the website already, you MUST use this incredible resource. While searching the site one day, I came across a lesson called Using the SIFT Method to Analyze Literature. Continue reading “SIFTing Poems”
40 Book Challenge
Writing Rubrics…ugh
I think we can all agree that grading our students’ writing assignments is a daunting task. In the past, I’ve put it off for so long that grading it at all seems worthless because, in order to be useful, the feedback needs to be immediate–we all know that. So why is this task so difficult?Continue reading “Writing Rubrics…ugh”
Teaching Narrative with Crazy Pictures
Prior to beginning our writing unit on narrative text, I like to get the creative juices flowing! My students use a composition book for their year long journal. Mini-writing prompts, debates of the week, and any other informal writing is done in their journal. The purpose of the journal and the activities I choose areContinue reading “Teaching Narrative with Crazy Pictures”
Writing Rubrics, finally!
I don’t know about anybody else, but it took me FOREVER to create a writing rubric that worked for me. My district uses a particular writing program called “Step Up to Writing” which is really helpful, but I was not satisfied with the rubrics. I was more drawn to rubrics that assessed each of theContinue reading “Writing Rubrics, finally!”
Cortez Corner 