Craft & Draft

LAST CHANCE TO REGISTER FOR JAN 7th ZOOM TRAINING! Click here to secure your spot! 

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching. 

What needs to be included in a robust reading program?  Jacob and Pam discovered that this question involves robust discussion.  Many educational companies offer a variety of programs promising results.  Reports from research studies vary in their findings.  As a result, the teaching of reading brings discussion, disagreements and sometimes confusion.

Jacob and Pam discuss this issue and share their philosophy regarding the teaching of reading.  They each speak about the elements that need to be a part of a solid reading program and how they should be addressed throughout the grade levels.  Jacob shares Reading Ladders as great

Join Jacob and Pam as they discuss innovative ways to adapt the Craft & Draft notebook to fit the needs of any class!

The post #123 What Makes a Robust Literacy Program? appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.

Today, Pam and Jacob take a reflective tour down their 2022 lives. They each share their top 5 moments that connect to their teacher lives in a major way. Everything from having student breakthroughs to book launches… it’s all here. Come reflect and enjoy a long discussion!

***Also announced: Craft & Draft Virtual ZOOM training on Strategies to Deepen Workshop Engagement — coming January 7th, 2023.

Join us on Patreon at the ListenerPLUS tier to reserve your spot AND gain access to over 8 hours of bonus podcasts, previous trainings, and bonus videos! Or…

Once payment is secured, you will be supplied the exclusive Zoom link (and yes, you can have access even if you do not attend the live recording). Click here to register. 

For questions or concerns, please send an email here. 

The post #122 Our Top 5 Teacher Moments of 2022 appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.

Today, Pam and Jacob spice things up by using listener questions to jumpstart the show! The listener question comes from a longtime Patreon supporter and passionate teacher, and it reads:

“I’m really struggling with reading instruction. I teach 5th grade and we have longer blocks so they get 15-20 minutes each day to read. We also have to do read aloud everyday, which has become wasted time. I find it easy to fit my fictional reading standards in with my read aloud but I struggle with finding time to hit the informational standards. How do you teach your reading standards and the writing standards by only doing one lesson a day? Currently I try and do two lessons but it ends up cutting into their reading or writing time. I’d like to do one lesson a day but don’t know how to merge reading and writing into one lesson.” – Alisha (ListenPLUS supporter) 

Are you or have you been in the same boat? We have… and we discuss and answer!

***Also announced: Craft & Draft Virtual ZOOM training on Strategies to Deepen Workshop Engagement — coming January 7th, 2023.

Join us on Patreon at the ListenerPLUS tier to reserve your spot AND gain access to over 8 hours of bonus podcasts, previous trainings, and bonus videos! Or…

Once payment is secured, you will be supplied the exclusive Zoom link (and yes, you can have access even if you do not attend the live recording). Click here to register. 

For questions or concerns, please send an email here. 

The post #121 One Lesson a Day to Cover Everything? appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching. 

Jacob begins the episode sharing  how he has enjoyed his first semester as an administrator. He reminds us that he is more successful when he maintains his compassion for the students, the teachers, and the parents.

Jacob and Pam answer a question from a longtime listener.  How can you use a one notebook system when your course is centered around a writing workshop and does not include a reading workshop?

They both share their take on how they would alter the Craft & Draft notebooks to work as a single notebook system for a single workshop course.  Pam reflects on how she would keep a topic and idea finding section while Jacob discusses how he would incorporate mini-lessons and where the students would place their information in order to keep a logical flow to the notebook.

Join Jacob and Pam as they discuss innovative ways to adapt the Craft & Draft notebook to fit the needs of any class.

***Also announced: Craft & Draft Virtual ZOOM training on Strategies to Deepen Workshop Engagement — coming January 7th, 2023.

Join us on Patreon at the ListenerPLUS tier to reserve your spot AND gain access to over 8 hours of bonus podcasts, previous trainings, and bonus videos! Or…

Once payment is secured, you will be supplied the exclusive Zoom link (and yes, you can have access even if you do not attend the live recording). Click here to register. 

For questions or concerns, please send an email here. 

The post #120 One Notebook for a Writing Workshop Class appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.

In this episode, Pam shares how she is addressing the new short constructed responses on the STAAR test, required from the redesigned. She discusses the two different types of short constructed responses, one for reading and one for revision and editing.

She explains how she is teaching the students how to answer the STAAR short constructed responses, while maintaining a workshop environment. This episode can be heard in FULL on the Patreon, along with hours of bonus episodes never heard before, and bonus training videos not found anywhere else. 

Whether you are or not in Texas, some of the principles Jacob and Pam address will work beyond the test prompt and are applicable for other types of writing as well.

Join Jacob and Pam as they answer a listener’s question about the short constructed response. May it help you address these types of questions in your workshop!

The post #119 The STAAR Short Constructed Response Strategies appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching. 

Jacob discusses how he sees the post covid era for schools may develop and shares his perspective on how covid has impacted the work of teachers and administrators. 

Jacob and Pam speak about reading conferences.  They both offer how reading conferences must be a staple of the reading workshop.  Jacob says, “Reading conferences provide the pulse of the reading workshop.”  

Pam provides how she ensures that reading conferences are successful, and offers a few tips to keep them intentional.  Jacob and Pam explain what types of questions they use during the conference and why they are necessary. 

Join Jacob and Pam as they visit reading conferences.  May you strengthen your reading conferences and help your students become better readers, too!

The post #118 Reading Conferences and… appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching. 

Jacob and Pam love discussing topics provided by their listeners! 

In this episode, they are discussing times when teachers are required to use resources and programs that create moments of … well… “Not good teaching.”

Jacob and Pam talk about times when they have had to negotiate these types of situations, both as a teacher and as an administrator.

Pam shares how she is supplementing a required text book story with paired texts and writing responses during her present unit mandated by the curriculum.  Jacob shares how a teacher might approach the administrator or how to see why an administrator may support programs.

Join Jacob and Pam as they discuss how to navigate these difficult situations.  May you find a nugget to anchor your workshop.

The post #117 That’s Not Good Teaching! appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.

Today, Jacob answers whether high school has reset his barometer on what books are great for kids, and then Pam guides the discussion into what engagement looks like at this time of year. Together, they look at what hurts engagement, and encourage teachers to think about what they can control and work from that standpoint, rather from the standpoint of what is out of their control.

***Please note: Jacob had technical difficulties which affected audio quality. Sorry in advance!

Enjoy!

The post #116 Keeping Kids Engaged at This Time of Year appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.

Today Pam and Jacob are diving into a discussion around rough making it through the ups and downs of a year of teaching… They talk about this through a workshop lens, but also through the lens of their own professional journeys.

Make sure to leave a review if you enjoy this discussion and leave us a comment or question you want possibly featured on the show!

The post #115 It’s Not How You Start, It’s How You Finish appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching. 

In this episode, Jacob and Pam discuss creativity and how to utilize it in the workshop.  Pam shares how creativity can be taught while Jacob speaks on how creativity belongs in the writing workshop because it drives engagement.

Jacob and Pam highlight a few strategies that they use to help students exercise their creative muscles.  They both recognize that many students struggle with being creative as they become older.  It seems like school diminishes a student’s ability to be original and unique. It is our job as educators to bring creativity to the writing workshop.

Join Jacob and Pam as they share how creativity enhances the writing in their classrooms.  May you find a few ideas to sponsor creativity, too!

The post #114 Fostering Creativity in Workshop Teaching appeared first on Craft & Draft.