Craft & Draft

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

After 8 days in the new school year, Pam and Jacob are experiencing what they experience most years—resistor students. These students often avoid reading and writing in a variety of ways. Sometimes they do so silently and with a look of participating, while other times they are outright hostile to the process.

Pam and Jacob go into a long discussion about why students do this and how they handle the often tough moments with love, compassion, and a trust in the process.

This episode also features several comments and questions responded to and answered submitted by listeners of the show! Listen and see if yours was selected!

The post #53 Resistors appeared first on Craft & Draft.

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

The first week of the 2021-2022 school year is behind us! Jacob and Pam reflect on their first week of school. Now they teach in the same school just down the hallway from each other. As they share they reflect on how they used the week to begin setting up their reading and writing workshop. Pam shares how she worked with some resisting writers. Jacob reflects on the magic provided by the workshop experience– it starts on the first day!!!

Join Jacob and Pam as they discuss their first three days of school in their new school! Listen in and learn a few strategies too!

The post #52 Our First 3 Days appeared first on Craft & Draft.

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

Coming off of two episodes about Craft & Draft nuts and bolts, we wanted to take a more philosophical approach this week. As our focus, we wanted to look at the art and science of teaching, and how it connects to the workshop classroom.

Also featured is Pam discussing her new campus (WITH JACOB!), an examination of different leadership styles, and various musings on and off topic.

Enjoy!

The post #51 Discussing the Art and Science of Teaching appeared first on Craft & Draft.

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

We have been thrilled this week with all of the feedback we received about our tutorial on the Craft & Draft journals! So many of you have mentioned you will be using them, and we couldn’t be more excited to see how they work for you.

Some of you also asked questions, and that is what we dive into in this episode—as well as a handful of other topics.

The post #50 C&D Tutorial Questions Answered appeared first on Craft & Draft.

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

Several of the Craft and Draft listeners have requested more information regarding how to set-up the Craft and Draft Notebook System

In this episode Jacob and Pam walk through how to set up the two Notebooks:Craft and Draft. You can watch and follow along with the video here. 

They begin with the first page of the Craft Book.  Jacob shares how he has his students organize their Craft Book from the table of contents to the individual mini-lessons, and includes how students set goals. Pam discusses how each element enables the teacher to monitor student growth. 

Join Jacob and Pam as they share the nuts and bolts of the two notebook system. The new school year is upon us! May enjoy a great year filled with success!

The post #49 How to do Craft & Draft – Tutorial appeared first on Craft & Draft.

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

Structure provides the foundation which enables students to participate rigorously as well as enjoy learning. Designing lessons for such engagement requires the teacher to establish routines, procedures, and practices that must occur daily.

Jacob and Pam reflect and discuss the non-negotiables of a reading writing workshop.  

Last week they shared how freedom and choice bring rigor to the classroom, however when the teacher allows freedom does this mean the teacher is giving up structure?

Join Jacob and Pam as they discuss the most essential elements in the workshop. Listen for the necessities of a successful workshop!

PS: At the top of the show we answer the pressing question of providing a training on the Craft & Draft journals! 

The post #48 Are There Non-Negotiables of Reading and Writing Workshop? appeared first on Craft & Draft.

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

How does freedom to learn in the classroom impact rigor?

Jacob and Pam think about this question and begin their discussion by defining rigor. Is it high expectations, such as strict guidelines regarding product and grades or is it about what the student learns and how the student grows. Pam shares how she was impacted negatively by an assignment that included high expectations. 

Freedom in the classroom often gets misinterpreted as non-rigorous, however the opposite is true.  Freedom when guided by the teacher allows students to achieve at high levels of rigor in their learning. Jacob shares how authentic work creates authentic rigor. He creates a new rigor phrase!

Join Jacob and Pam as they discuss choice in the workshop and how our students must have the freedom to learn. Let’s keep our students learning and bring freedom to your workshop.

The post #47 Is Freedom LESS Rigorous? appeared first on Craft & Draft.

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

Summer is a time to wait and see what will change. Teachers leave for new adventures, new teachers need to be hired, but leadership changes occur, so what you thought was a sure thing is now maybe not so sure anymore.

Join Jacob and Pam discuss what may be changing for the upcoming year. The one thing that holds true for teachers is that change is constant. Maybe this conversation will help you as you wait and see.

The post #46 Waiting for Change appeared first on Craft & Draft.

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

Today, we are discussing one of the HOT BUTTON issues of English teaching—grammar, and how it should be taught.

In this episode, Pam states that grammar has been one of the biggest causes of contention between teachers, and has often led to arguments in trainings or in meetings. Together, Pam and Jacob examine why grammar exists, how rules came to be, and whether isolated grammar practice is useful at all.

And… a small diversion into Catsup… But you’ll have to listen to hear it all!

The post #45 Should You Teach Grammar That Way? appeared first on Craft & Draft.

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

In the spirit of summer, we discuss taking breaks. Pam is about to go on a small vacation after working a three week training, while Jacob is staying home and working on his various projects. While we take breaks, we don’t often take LONG breaks, and we discuss why.

Did we find an answer as to why it’s hard for teachers to take breaks, or did we just come to smaller conclusions? Listen and find out!

The post #44 Why is it Hard for Teachers to Take Breaks? appeared first on Craft & Draft.