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 share how disrupted plans impact their week.  When Covid spikes, the district closes school for a few days to help everyone get ahead and have time to get well.

Jacob and Pam discuss how they plan to adjust their lessons. They do not want the students to get too far behind in the unit.  Tests must be moved, the term grades are due and instruction time is lost. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Join Jacob and Pam as they share how they plan to move forward in spite of Covid moving everyone backward. It’s frustrating at times, but teachers must stay the course and bring learning to their students. 

The post #73 Disrupted Plans…Thanks, Covid 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 discuss how they use direct and indirect instruction in their workshops. But before they begin, Jacob shares how each interview from the Teach Me Teacher podcast contributes to his development as a workshop teacher. Pam shares how teaching has changed during her career.

Direct teaching dominated the instructional methods in the past. Lectures for the entire c[ass period with a little time to begin the assigned homework were the norm; however, it  is often frowned upon today. The workshop model creates a student-centered atmosphere. Indirect instruction provides time for the students to solve problems, think critically, and learn independently. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Join Jacob and Pam as they dive into the arenas of direct and indirect instruction in a workshop. They discover how both are necessary, maybe a balanced approach is best!

The post #72 Balancing Direct Instruction with Facilitation 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 shine a spotlight on a question regarding a genre study and another regarding how to find text and structure mini-lessons. Ultimately, the talk becomes about the difference between teaching strategies and teaching craft, and when to lean on either. 

Jacob reviews his genre study and shares his insights on how he pieces together his lessons. His lessons enable his students to experience multiple genres as readers and writers. He then shares how he determines what resources will assist with his mini-lessons. Pam includes her poetry study and how she organized a variety of poetic forms around student selected themes.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Join Jacob and Pam as they encourage teachers to try new ideas that inspire students to become well rounded readers and writers!

The post #71 Strategy or Craft? Listener Question Answered! 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 reflecting on their time with the Craft & Draft journals in their classrooms. What went well and what went wrong are addressed and reflected upon.

Pam shares how many of her students are proud to have such a clear documentation of her work, while Jacob shared how he is excited that the journals serve as a great data tool to figure out where the learning might have broken down.

Jacob also shares his results from the survey he gave his students about reading and writing in his class.

All of that and MORE on this episode!

The post #70 How is Craft & Draft Going for Us This 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.

As we are in the middle of our break, we wanted to reflect on student (and teacher) apathy. What causes it? How do you get over it? Is apathy something we can control as educators, or is it beyond our reach to mend?

Pam and Jacob share their perspectives, their experience with apathy in students and teachers, and why they ultimately believe teachers have the power to course correct someone who is apathetic.

All of that and more on this episode of Craft & Draft!

The post #69 The Causes and Cures to Apathy 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.

Motivation has maintained a primary topic in education for years. Motivating students takes practice and a deep understanding of their students interests, understanding and skills.

In this episode, Jacob and Pam converse about how they approach motivation in their classroom. Jacob shares how we must scaffold for our students, but not removing them will hinder motivation. Pam shares how learning occurs when students work within an area of challenge that pushes them forward in their understanding of new concepts. 

Jacob brings up in the conversation how teachers need to be mindful of stepping in too early. While Pam shares a story about how wait time puts a bit of pressure on the students which motivates them to find answers and solutions. 

Join Jacob and Pam as they explore motivation in their classroom; how they walk an artful road of guidance and freedom; and what impacts that motivation.

The post #68 Motivation—A Secret Sauce 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 are back in the classroom after enjoying a week of vacation.  They each share how their week has gone. The students find themselves in a mix-bag of emotions, some struggle after returning while others seem relieved to be back at school.

In this episode, Jacob and Pam discuss tutorials of past, present and future.  Pam has been in schools that offer a  tutorial schedule, but students show as needed determined by success on the curriculum. She shares how she presented tutorials to her past students at other schools in which she has taught.

Jacob highlights how the school where we work utilized mandatory tutorials last year. The tutorials moved the entire school from last in the district to third in the district. He explains how he and how his colleague (Jacob’s and Pam’s team member) approached these tutorial sessions each day.

                                                                                                                                                                                                              Join Jacob and Pam as they consider tutorials from the past, the present, and the future as well as make them as effective as possible. May you find tutorials fun, approachable, and effective too!

The post #67 Tutorials, Remediation, and Other Trinkets 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.

Censorship impacts all parts of our society. Because it is being heavily mentioned and litigated presently,  teachers find it difficult to know what books to place on the shelves in their classroom library. This topic has been a long standing issue, but it seems it has resurfaced and remains a strong controversial point for teachers, students and the public.

In this episode Jacob and Pam explore the topic of censorship and school libraries. They both add their thoughts and beliefs about censorship. They each discuss age appropriate situations that may or may not warrant censorship.

Join Jacob and Pam as they discuss the tough subject of censorship. Maybe you will find some thoughts that may help you work through this challenging issue, too!

The post #66 We Discuss Book Bans and Censorship 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 we are answering a listener question all about class novels within the Craft & Draft model! Do they work? What are ways to manage them? How is this work balanced within workshop and student choice and individual responses?

All that and MORE on this episode of the show!

The post #65 Class Novels within the Craft & Draft Model 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.

Thanksgiving Break is next week, so Jacob and Pam have decided to share why they are thankful.    

Pam shares how much she enjoys teaching at her new school. Jacob includes much he loves how his students read freely and are enjoying their books.

Both discover during their conversation that they messed up during the surprise drill earlier in their day (and of course they each have a good laugh).

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Join Jacob and Pam discuss what makes them thankful .  This is an episode that celebrates teaching, students, family, each other and you!

The post #64 Thankful appeared first on Craft & Draft.