A Day of Learning

Anticipation, excitement, notebooks, pens, ideas...these among other things are what I was carrying around this morning as I got myself ready for the first day of the ALL WRITE!!! conference in Warsaw, Indiana. Could I be surrounded by nicer, smarter, more open educators? 

NO!

I love being in an environment where I meet new faces that reflect my same beliefs and philosophies when it comes to teaching a writer. 

Here is what I took away from today:

Start and end your day with a poem.

Dedicate the reading of a poem to a student, they will remember this gift.

There is a structure to "adding details." Three main points:

• action details
• thought/feeling details
• dialogue as a detail

There are little bits in between, but saying, "add details" doesn't really help students add anything. 

When you confer there is a structure:

• Research what your students know.
• Decide what you they need next.
• Teach it.
• Link it, make a connection. 

Top Book Picks: Here are a few that stood out for me from the list of great mentor texts:

• Little Bird, Zullo  
• Ms. McCaw Learns to Draw, Zemach
• Thank You, Miss Doover, Pulver
• Zero Is the Leaves On the Tree, Franco

I wrote a poem with the simple prompt--Journey, which I will link here.

What a full and luscious day!