Raise your hand if you have students coming up to you or sitting and staring or raising their hands during independent writing time!

There are so many reasons why students are not fully independent writers, and this episode provides a variety of ideas and strategies for creating a classroom full of writers who are!

Melissa shares four ideas for supporting independence during writing time:

• Implement procedures
• Expect It!
• Give it time and have patience!
• Prevent obstacles
• Find out the true reason for lack of independence

Whether you are teaching Kindergarten or 8th grade, if you are looking for ways for your student writing time to be more self-sufficient and effective, this is the episode for you!

About Melissa:

Melissa is an enthusiastic educator and continuous learner with over 19 years' experience in education. Her passion and expertise is transforming writing programs so that teachers are confident in writing instruction and student writers thrive! She strongly believes teachers are the key to effective instruction and their writers are their best resources.

Melissa knows that too often, explicit writing instruction is pushed aside in elementary education, and she feels it is her calling to help schools make it front and center, providing teachers with the knowledge and support necessary to implement effective and engaging writing instruction.

Teaching to Transform, LLC was started by Melissa in 2018 and partners with school districts to provide professional development in writing instruction.

If you would like to refer Melissa to your district, check out her website below!

Website and Blog Read the latest blog posts and find out more about services provided by Melissa

Instagram Follow Melissa for tips and support with writing instruction!

YouTube Find out more about teaching writing as you watch webinars and model lessons taught by Melissa

LinkedIn Connect with Melissa!

Welcome to the first episode in the Conferring Series!

This series will discuss a variety of conference types for writing to help you feel more confident in meeting one-on-one with your writers in order to meet their needs.

This first conference, the Writer's Inquiry Conference is all about getting to know your writers.

It is extremely helpful for students to feel at ease and accepted in their writing community, and building a relationship with you is the way to start.

Melissa will share the components of the conference as well as specific questions to include in your discussion.

Bonus: Ideas for how to administer a Writer's Survey for an additional and efficient way to get to know your writers.

This episode will help you set the foundation not only for implementing writing conferences with your students, but for successful writing instruction overall.

Additional Professional Development on Writing Conferences:

A Teacher's Guide to Writing Conferences by Carl Anderson, Katie Wood

How's It Going; A Practical Guide to Conferring with Student Writers by Carl Anderson

Teaching Writing by Lucy Calkins

About Melissa:

Melissa is an enthusiastic educator and continuous learner with over 19 years' experience in education. Her passion and expertise is transforming writing programs so that teachers are confident in writing instruction and student writers thrive! She strongly believes teachers are the key to effective instruction and their writers are their best resources.

Melissa knows that too often, explicit writing instruction is pushed aside in elementary education, and she feels it is her calling to help schools make it front and center, providing teachers with the knowledge and support necessary to implement effective and engaging writing instruction.

Teaching to Transform, LLC was started by Melissa in 2018 and partners with school districts to provide professional development in writing instruction.

If you would like to refer Melissa to your district, check out her website below!

Website and Blog Read the latest blog posts and find out more about services provided by Melissa

Instagram Follow Melissa for tips and support with writing instruction!

YouTube Find out more about teaching writing as you watch webinars and model lessons taught by Melissa

LinkedIn Connect with Melissa!

This episode is the beginning of the Writing Strategies Series and is all about supporting students with the most foundational aspect of writing- Engagement!

Just as with any learning-academic to athletic-learners must be engaged in order to progress.

Drawing from educational research and expert Jennifer Serravallo, I discuss the multi-dimensional construct of writing engagement, including affective, behavioral, cognitive, and social components.

After sharing key practices for your writing classroom that set the tone for engaged writing, I offer various practical strategies to improve student engagement such as:

• choosing meaningful topics
• setting goals
• utilizing tools
• positive talk
• collaborating with peers
• and more!

If you are wondering how to help students who do not want to write or students who are not engaged in writing, this episode is for you!

Sources:

Research Article Students' Writing Engagement S. Ives, S. Parsons, J. Marine, P. Rogers, A. Horton, C. Young 2022

The Writing Strategies Book-J. Serravallo

About Melissa:

Melissa is an enthusiastic educator and continuous learner with over 19 years' experience in education. Her passion and expertise is transforming writing programs so that teachers are confident in writing instruction and student writers thrive! She strongly believes teachers are the key to effective instruction and their writers are their best resources.

Melissa knows that too often, explicit writing instruction is pushed aside in elementary education, and she feels it is her calling to help schools make it front and center, providing teachers with the knowledge and support necessary to implement effective and engaging writing instruction.

Teaching to Transform, LLC was started by Melissa in 2018 and partners with school districts to provide professional development in writing instruction.

If you would like to refer Melissa to your district, check out her website below!

Website and Blog Read the latest blog posts and find out more about services provided by Melissa

Instagram Follow Melissa for tips and support with writing instruction!

YouTube Find out more about teaching writing as you watch webinars and model lessons taught by Melissa

LinkedIn Connect with Melissa!

This episode shares the understandings needed in order to get the most out of the two upcoming series:

Strategies for Writing and All About Conferring

There are a variety of common struggles for our writers and I hope to help you by sharing specific strategies for each of them in the upcoming podcast series.

Conferring is a topic I have not yet thoroughly addressed so I will be alternating the strategies series with a conferring one as well.

Before sharing both series, I wanted to be sure to provide some helpful understandings that come along with meeting writers' needs with both writing strategies and writing conferences.

This episode discusses:

• Identifying the true needs of your writers
• Avoiding 'jumping to conclusions"
• Focusing on the writer
• Conferences as conversations

If you are looking to up your writing instruction in your classroom even further, listen in to this episode and be ready to get started!

About Melissa:

Melissa is an enthusiastic educator and continuous learner with over 19 years' experience in education. Her passion and expertise is transforming writing programs so that teachers are confident in writing instruction and student writers thrive! She strongly believes teachers are the key to effective instruction and their writers are their best resources.

Melissa knows that too often, explicit writing instruction is pushed aside in elementary education, and she feels it is her calling to help schools make it front and center, providing teachers with the knowledge and support necessary to implement effective and engaging writing instruction.

Teaching to Transform, LLC was started by Melissa in 2018 and partners with school districts to provide professional development in writing instruction.

If you would like to refer Melissa to your district, check out her website below!

Website and Blog Read the latest blog posts and find out more about services provided by Melissa

Instagram Follow Melissa for tips and support with writing instruction!

YouTube Find out more about teaching writing as you watch webinars and model lessons taught by Melissa

LinkedIn Connect with Melissa!

You've gotten to know your students as writers, and you've chosen goals for your class.

Now what?

It's time to find strategies for writing that your writers can use to meet their goals!

In this episode, Melissa shares four techniques for finding and choosing teaching points.

1. Leveraging Your Own Writing Experience
2. Mining Mentor Texts
3. Thinking Outside the Box
4. Utilizing Professional Texts

Listen in and feel more confident in your ability to teach your writers!

Professional Books Mentioned in the Episode"

Units of Study in Narrative, Opinion and Informational

Writing Pathways

The Writing Strategies Book

Projecting Possibilities

Lesson that Change Writers

The Unstoppable Writing Teacher

About Melissa:

Melissa is an enthusiastic educator and continuous learner with over 19 years' experience in education. Her passion and expertise is transforming writing programs so that teachers are confident in writing instruction and student writers thrive! She strongly believes teachers are the key to effective instruction and their writers are their best resources.

Melissa knows that too often, explicit writing instruction is pushed aside in elementary education, and she feels it is her calling to help schools make it front and center, providing teachers with the knowledge and support necessary to implement effective and engaging writing instruction.

Teaching to Transform, LLC was started by Melissa in 2018 and partners with school districts to provide professional development in writing instruction.

If you would like to refer Melissa to your district, check out her website below!

Part 2 with Dana Teague is here! Dana's energy is contagious, and she shares so many ideas for supporting your student writers.

Listen in to hear:

Why you don't need to be a perfect writer to teach your writers

Ways to get to know your writers

Free Writing Assessment

Helping writers use AI effectively

I hope you enjoy the episode!

About Melissa:

Melissa is an enthusiastic educator and continuous learner with over 19 years' experience in education. Her passion and expertise is transforming writing programs so that teachers are confident in writing instruction and student writers thrive! She strongly believes teachers are the key to effective instruction and their writers are their best resources.

Melissa knows that too often, explicit writing instruction is pushed aside in elementary education, and she feels it is her calling to help schools make it front and center, providing teachers with the knowledge and support necessary to implement effective and engaging writing instruction.

Teaching to Transform, LLC was started by Melissa in 2018 and partners with school districts to provide professional development in writing instruction.

If you would like to refer Melissa to your district, check out her website below!

Website and Blog Read the latest blog posts and find out more about services provided by Melissa

Instagram Follow Melissa for tips and support with writing instruction!

YouTube Find out more about teaching writing as you watch webinars and model lessons taught by Melissa

LinkedIn Connect with Melissa!

I know this episode (and its sequel) will have you nodding your head in agreement again and again!

Ms. Dana Teaque is an experienced and passionate educator who will make you feel seen and inspire you to do what is best for your students.

Listen in to hear:

• Dana's educational journey
• Writing strategies for diverse learners
• Fostering student growth
• Embracing flexibility

About Melissa:

Melissa is an enthusiastic educator and continuous learner with over 19 years' experience in education. Her passion and expertise is transforming writing programs so that teachers are confident in writing instruction and student writers thrive! She strongly believes teachers are the key to effective instruction and their writers are their best resources.

Melissa knows that too often, explicit writing instruction is pushed aside in elementary education, and she feels it is her calling to help schools make it front and center, providing teachers with the knowledge and support necessary to implement effective and engaging writing instruction.

Teaching to Transform, LLC was started by Melissa in 2018 and partners with school districts to provide professional development in writing instruction.

If you would like to refer Melissa to your district, check out her website below!

Website and Blog Read the latest blog posts and find out more about services provided by Melissa

Instagram Follow Melissa for tips and support with writing instruction!

YouTube Find out more about teaching writing as you watch webinars and model lessons taught by Melissa

LinkedIn Connect with Melissa!

You may not have had said this out loud, but I know it has been in the back of your mind.

It is there each time you make a decision to:

-provide a structure graphic organizer for planning

Or

-have students "check in" before moving ahead in the work

In this episode, I encourage teachers to consider the purpose of their fear and provide less structured guidance, allowing students to make errors as part of their natural learning process.

I highlight the importance of observing each student's individual writing abilities and using those observations to guide our instruction. By focusing on each student's unique path of development, we can better facilitate a love for writing and help them grow authentically.

This episode will encourage you to let your students BE WRITERS!

00:49 Common Teaching Practices in Writing

02:08 Understanding the Fear of Mistakes

03:34 Embracing Individual Writing Paths

04:53 Learning from Mistakes

05:30 Sports Analogy for Writing Development

08:09 Encouragement for elementary and middle school Teachers

About Melissa:

Melissa is an enthusiastic educator and continuous learner with over 19 years' experience in education. Her passion and expertise is transforming writing programs so that teachers are confident in writing instruction and student writers thrive! She strongly believes teachers are the key to effective instruction and their writers are their best resources.

Melissa knows that too often, explicit writing instruction is pushed aside in elementary education, and she feels it is her calling to help schools make it front and center, providing teachers with the knowledge and support necessary to implement effective and engaging writing instruction.

Teaching to Transform, LLC was started by Melissa in 2018 and partners with school districts to provide professional development in writing instruction.

If you would like to refer Melissa to your district, check out her website below!

Website and Blog Read the latest blog posts and find out more about services provided by Melissa

Instagram Follow Melissa for tips and support with writing instruction!

YouTube Find out more about teaching writing as you watch webinars and model lessons taught by Melissa

LinkedIn Connect with Melissa!