Craft & Draft

You can listen to this full episode right now by supporting us on Patreon. 

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. 

How do you know your students are progressing before the final assessment?

In this episode, Jacob and Pam discuss how they check for progress during the learning process to ensure that students are learning what you expect them to learn.  Pam shares how she moves around the room to look for specific evidence for mastering the standard.  She discusses how she listens to the students during the lessons as well as during conferences for a depth of knowledge that was not there before.

Jacob discusses how it is important to have checks within the lesson that occurs before data driven check occurs; however, collecting data on specific aspects of the learning process creates a stronger checkpoint.  He also explains that the teacher needs to predetermine the expected standard or learning goal before the lesson is taught, so the checkpoint appropriately matches the desired outcome.

Join Jacob and Pam as they navigate their way through possible checkpoints for progress during the learning process as well as through a little bit of life.

The post #163 Checkpoints for Progress (pt.1) appeared first on Craft & Draft.

You can hear the entire episode by supporting us on Patreon today by clicking this link. Thank you for listening! 

If you missed part one, When Planning in Groups Goes Wrong, check it out here. 

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.

Schools and districts expect teachers to plan and work with each other in groups.  Far too often the planning goes wrong.

In this episode, Jacob and Pam discuss why many teacher teams collapse and become dysfunctional. Both of them share their own experiences with teams gone wrong.  Pam discusses how personalities and competition has caused problems in some of the groups on which she participated.  Jacob explains how a lack of trust between colleagues created seemingly insurmountable issues.

Pam remembers how the leadership made a huge difference whether her teams were successful.  Jacob illustrates how leaders often need to make unpopular decisions for creating effective teams.

Join Jacob and Pam as they recognize that planning in teams is difficult, but when core principles are implemented planning in groups will go right!

The post #162 When Planning in Groups Goes Right (pt.2) appeared first on Craft & Draft.

You can hear the entire episode by supporting us on Patreon today by clicking this link. If you can’t no worries—part 2 will drop next week for everyone who can’t support the show directly. Thank you for listening! 

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. 

Schools and districts expect teachers to plan and work with each other in groups.  Far too often the planning goes wrong.

In this episode, Jacob and Pam discuss why many teacher teams collapse and become dysfunctional. Both of them share their own experiences with teams gone wrong.  Pam discusses how personalities and competition has caused problems in some of the groups on which she participated.  Jacob explains how a lack of trust between colleagues created seemingly insurmountable issues.

Pam remembers how the leadership made a huge difference whether her teams were successful.  Jacob illustrates how leaders often need to make unpopular decisions for creating effective teams.

Join Jacob and Pam as they recognize that planning in teams is difficult, but when core principles are implemented planning in groups will go right!

The post #161 When Planning in Groups Goes Wrong (pt.1) appeared first on Craft & Draft.

It’s been a challenge finding balance this year. Lots going on at home and school. I do have to say that Craft and Draft has inspired me to go all-in on writing workshop. It’s been inspiring to see students take ownership of their writing “voices”. This year I have a reading class filled with kids who haven’t read a book in years. I’m struggling to get buy in from them to even choose a book they want to read. We are using Achieve 3000 as a learning platform for this class but I want students to find books they want to read before drilling them on learning platforms. Any thoughts on encouraging choice reading selections?

The post #160 Getting Buy in from Students in Reading (Listener Question) 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 what happens when teachers are open-minded and want to learn about being a better educator from mentors such as coaches, principals and peers. They also share a few of their own experiences of when they were open to coaching and when they were closed to coaching.  

It is difficult to take criticism whether it is constructive or destructive.  Educators are often in a position of receiving criticism.  Jacob and Pam both have served as Instructional Coaches. They each have been the person offering the critique as well as receiving it.  

Join Jacob and Pam as they share principles that will help teachers stay moldable during coaching moments from their mentors.  There is a little reminiscing about the best bands in the 80’s, too!

The post #159 Are You Coachable? 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. 

Juggling the multiple obligations, necessary planning, PLC meetings,  daily personal situations, and many other necessary tasks, managing time seems impossible. No matter how one sums it up, all of it is important and necessary.  So, the question remains, “How can we get back some of our time?”

In this episode, Jacob and Pam answer one of our patron’s questions about time management. Pam looks back on a few times where she is still surprised she was able to manage.  She shares a few of the lessons she learned during her busiest times.  Jacob demonstrates how he uses Chat GPT to regain some of his time. He explains how he uses Chat GPT to plan a week’s worth of lessons in just a few minutes.  

Join Jacob and Pam as they discuss ways to manage time as an educator.  Maybe you will find a little something to help you with time, too!

The post # 158 Solving Time Management with ChatGPT 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. 

Libraries have been a part of our communities for centuries.  They began as a repository of knowledge in the ancient days, so other scholars could access it for their own learning.  It has been a place for the public to have access to books, information, technology and other resources.  Now the libraries are under revision and scrutiny leaving many to wonder about their future.

In this episode, Jacob and Pam ask the question “What about libraries?”  They each explain what libraries have meant to them and their families.  They also discuss how they use public, and school libraries.  Jacob also gives a nod to the importance of his classroom library.

Join Jacob and Pam as they discuss why libraries need to continue! Maybe you will find a new way to use your libraries, too!

The post #157 Libraries Are Essential 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 address how to keep teaching when resources are limited.  They each identify possible reasons for the situation and then move into a conversation about how to handle such moments.

Pam shares some of her past experiences where one year she had an abundance of resources and the next year those resources were no longer available.  Jacob shares how he discovered that his students needed a pared down version of his lessons.

Join Jacob and Pam as they discuss how they keep the learning going when resources are minimal. Maybe you will be encouraged, too!

The post #156 Teaching with LIMITED Resources 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 answer a listener’s question about making the part and parcel of a new curriculum fit into the workshop so that the lessons flow.

Pam speaks to how teachers need to understand what the district expects.  What are the non-negotiables?  Jacob says to ask and create a dialogue with the district content coordinators for clarifications. 

Jacob explains how his own non-negotiables are ensuring the students read and write daily.  They each discuss how they would go about making the lessons flow. As an example Pam shares how she looks for skills, themes or generalizations on which to glue the pieces together.  

Join Jacob and Pam while they answer the question of how to include everything from the curriculum and make it flow in the reading and writing workshop! Maybe it will help you as you begin the new year, too!

The post #155 Making the Curriculum Fit and Flow Through Workshop appeared first on Craft & Draft.

Hello everyone! This is a small excerpt from our exclusive BONUS PATREON episode. We do these episodes every month, and they are usually fully exclusive. Do to the importance of this one, we wanted to let you hear a part of it and then hopefully come support us to the hear the rest and have access to hours of talks not available to anyone but our supporters. Thank you! 

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 bonus episode, Jacob and Pam answer Amy’s question about how to implement a reading workshop and fulfill the Science of Reading expectations.

Jacob addresses the definition and components of the Science of Reading, while Pam explains how the emphasis for reading instruction has changed over the years.  

They both discuss how they would infuse the Science of Reading into their reading workshop instruction.  They both share what part of their reading workshop they would not forfeit. 

Join Jacob and Pam while they answer Amy’s question.  Maybe it will help you navigate through the new demands of reading instruction, too!

The post #154 Workshopping the Science of Reading (Bonus Episode) appeared first on Craft & Draft.