Empower Students Now

Sign Up for the Free Webinar 3 Steps to Finally Getting Students Consistently Reading and Writing Independently: https://www.workshopteacherschool.com/reading-and-writing-independence-webinarEvery classroom has struggling writers. There are many reasons young writers struggle during our writing units.They may feel overwhelmed, be uninterested, have writing skill deficits because of past experiences with writing, or have learning differences.Often these struggling writers tend to be writing far below grade level and their writing abilities cause many unforeseen problems throughout their school careers. For struggling writers, any writing assignment no matter how small or big can cause anxiety, acting out, off-task behavior, or all of the above.In middle and especially high school, the struggle with writing becomes even more problematic as expectations increase. In order to avoid the struggle, these students may get other students off task. Or they may ask for help incessantly or suffer in embarrassed silence.For all of these reasons and more, it's incredibly important for writing teachers focus on building confidence in these writers. To do that we must have a toolbox of strategies they can pull from to support these struggling writers.The good news is that this episode post has twenty-eight essential tools you can utilize no matter what type of struggling writers you have and no matter how their struggles show up in your classroom.

https://amandawritenow.com/rethinking-reading-assessment-with-equity-in-mind/I wrote this six part equity series to better understand the inequities surrounding the ways in which we teach and assess reading and writing skills in the United States. I wanted to know more. Not only that, I wanted to find practical solutions for the problems all teachers (not just English teachers) face, such as: A lack of understanding about how to teach reading and writing effectively and with equity in mindThe immense challenge of helping 30+ students with many differing needsStudents receiving low grades and over again on assessments, throughout the entire school yearSystemic racism and how it all plays out within our educational institutionsAfter writing the six parts in this series (they are all linked below), I’ve discovered that these topics are fraught with a lot of controversy and many historically significant events that have had massive ripple effects. My hope is that by synthesizing all the information, I can help busy teachers make informed decisions in their classrooms when it comes to choosing the most impactful and equitable ways to teach.

In this episode I challenge some of the inequitable grading practices that pervade our school systems. I also lay out a step-by-step solution to some of the issues we face when it comes to grading writing.

In this episode, Amanda discusses three problematic issues when it comes to unit planning. She proposes solutions to these problems too! Take a listen to discover the problems and solutions. This part four of a six-part series all about rethinking workshop practices with equity in mind.

https://amandawritenow.com/rethinking-conferencing-with-equity-in-mind/We know conferring is a vital component of promoting equity in our classroom because doing so provides students with opportunities to advocate for themselves, voice their needs, and get support from the teacher. We know conferencing is important.But, how do we overcome all the problematic issues we as teachers face when trying to conference with our students? What about the challenges of conferencing that everyday teachers face? What is a teacher to do when it just doesn’t seem to work the way all the workshop gurus say it will? And most important of all…how can we use conferencing practices successfully, to promote equity in our classrooms? This episode outlines a five-step process for rethinking conferencing with equity in mind!

In this episode I examine reading workshop through an equity lens. I discuss three problematic aspects of reading workshop and propose solutions to these problems. Check out the full blog post here: https://amandawritenow.com/rethinking-reading-workshop-with-equity-in-mind/

This is part one in a six part series outlining exactly how I’m rethinking my workshop classroom with an equity lens. For part one I focus on rethinking writing workshop with an equity lens. I discuss three problematic aspects of writing workshop and possible solutions for these problems.

I’ve learned and changed tremendously since the events of 2020-2021, you might even call what’s happened an identity crisis…I want to share this story here to make sense of everything for myself but also because I know there are many teachers out there that can relate.https://amandawritenow.com/the-story-of-a-teacher-authors-identity-crisis/

This summer I'm hosting the first ever English Teacher Summer Reading Series! This event is taking place June 4th-August 14th. We will delve into 8 very popular professional development books and you don't have to read a word. I'll do all the work for you:) Go to amandawritenow.com to sign up. In this episode I share a brief summary of each of the 8 books including the most important takeaways I had from reading the books.

The end of the school year can be chaotic, so keeping students engaged and having fun is incredibly important. I have used the project detailed in this episode every year I’ve taught and it never fails to keep students loving their school work and writing until the very end. In this episode I discuss how simple this project is to get going and the steps to get this project rolling.