The Workshop Help Desk Series
If you’ve wondered how to tweak your workshop teaching to make it more effective and lasting, if you’ve needed to adapt your teaching for English learners, if you’ve struggled to teach persuasive nonfiction writing—if you’ve faced these and other specific, pressing challenges, then this series is for you. Provided in a compact format, the Workshop Help Desk series offers packetized professional development.
Alison Porcelli, Cheryl Tyler, Lucy Calkins
In A Quick Guide to Boosting English Acquisition in Choice Time Alison and Cheryl explain how choice-time workshops can be structured to help English language learners imagine, create, and explore language through play. They outline two units of study for choice-time workshops, the first using open-ended materials, the other using literature to inspire play. A Quick Guide to Boosting English Acquisition in Choice Time... more
Lucy Calkins, Dee Kloss, Taryn Vanderburg
This new addition to the Workshop Help Desk Series includes information to support new users of the Units of Study with advice and help on topics such as:
- Getting your bearings
- Planning before you launch
- Setting up classroom spaces and routines to support workshop instruction
- Provisioning reading and writing workshops
- Priorities for beginning workshop teachers
Recognizing that there is a vast difference between children getting it and children holding on to what they have learned, Shanna lays out the universal principles of “stickiness” and describes how they can be used to tweak your teaching for a more lasting impact on young writers. A Quick Guide to Making Your Teaching Stick is part of the Workshop Help Desk series. About the Workshop Help Desk... more
In A Quick Guide to Reaching Struggling Writers Colleen Cruz shows how to stop struggling with writers who struggle. You’ll find effective support for students who say: I’m not a good writer; My hand hurts; I don’t know how to spell; I don’t have anything to write about; I never get to write anything I want to write; I’m done. A Quick Guide to Reaching Struggling Writers is part of the Workshop Help Desk... more
Sarah Picard Taylor, Lucy Calkins
Children have voices that need to be heard and ideas that need to be understood. Building on this premise Sarah describes why you should try a persuasive writing unit of study, describes two units of study for the primary classroom, and lists tips and ideas for helping students get their persuasive writing out into the world. A Quick Guide to Teaching Persuasive Writing is part of the Workshop Help Desk series. About... more
Marika Paez Wiesen, Lucy Calkins
“Informational writing is the perfect genre for second graders because nobody is more curious about the workings of the world and is more eager to tell you a zillion facts about the topic at hand.”
Marika Paez Wiesen
Informational writing taps into second graders natural inclination to explore and excitedly share the new and strange discoveries that fill their worlds on a daily basis. Marika Paez Wiesen offers... more
In A Quick Guide to Teaching Second Grade Writers with Units of Study Lucy Calkins chronicles a curricular calendar that will help teachers increase the volume of student writing; encourage students to lift the level of their writing by reviwing, rethinking, and rewriting their work; and empower students to write with greater independence. A Quick Guide to Teaching Second Grade Writers with Units of Study is part of the... more
Christopher Lehman, Lucy Calkins
Middle schoolers can be the masters of disengagement. Recognizing that all students, adept and struggling writers alike, lose steam at times and need a revitalizing jump start, Christopher Lehman offers effective, developmentally-appropriate fixes for addressing situations that frequently sidetrack or distract adolescent writers. Organized as a practical on-the-go teaching reference, the first four chapters offer strategies... more
Supporting dreams of fabulous escape and transformation, fantasy literature can be especially compelling for adolescents. Mary Ehrenworth offers a unit of study that harnesses the power of this expansive and poignant genre to lure even reluctant readers into reading epic novels with passion and stamina. Adhering to reading workshop principles and the classic session architecture honed by Lucy Calkins in the Units of Study series,... more