A blog for LCNA Members and early literacy professionals
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The Power of the Cross-Check: No Penalties in the Reading Process
by Jamie Lipp My oldest nephew is a Division One college lacrosse player (proud aunt). Recently, we traveled to a game to watch him play. In the middle of an intense play, one of his [...]
Get to the Root of It
by Kristi McCullough While receiving Literacy Collaborative training, the professors always told the class that word-study instruction needed to be “powerful” and “generative.” I remember thinking to myself, I know “powerful” word study means doing [...]
Writing Workshop: Potential and Possibilities for Cultivating Purpose, Power, and Passion
by Wendy Sheets Writing Workshop is a context that has the potential to help students develop as writers within a literate community. As students learn to live as writers, building a repertoire of tools and [...]
Who Owns the Learning? The Importance of Adopting a Facilitative Stance
by Maria Nichols Henry: No!! They gotta go the other way! Ella: To the waves! Teacher: Angel? You have that look … Angel: [nodding] Yeah - I’m trying to – like, why do they go [...]
Do It All and Do It Now
by LeeAnn Lewellen As an instructional coach, I hear so many “buzzwords” when administrators and district personnel discuss teacher effectiveness after a brief classroom observation. Engagement, rigor, cultural responsiveness, high yield strategies, assessment… the list goes [...]
Tell Me a Story
by Connie Dierking This time of year I am reminded of my grandmother’s large oval dining room table. I see my sisters, brother, mom and dad seated at this table, grandma and grandpa at each [...]
Using Share Time to Inspire and Instruct Writers
by Leah Mermelstein Recently, I was speaking with a group of fourth-grade teachers who use The Teachers College Writing Units of Study. They had just taught a minilesson about using ‘boxes and bullets’ as a [...]
Building Bridges of Talk: Supporting English Language Learners in Reading Recovery
by Michelle Sharratt and Briare Wynn Learning to read and write is a highly complex, intricate process. Imagine what this would be like if you were learning the English language at the same time as [...]
Teaching and Cheerleading
by Johnny Downey A month or so ago, I was racking my brain, over and over again to try and find a topic to explore for the wonderful opportunity to guest author on the RRCNA [...]
Book Joy
by Lisa Pinkerton I have been thinking a great deal lately about the concept of book joy in education. I have come to believe that one of the most important goals I have as a [...]
