Welcome! Come take a tour of my classroom. These are photos from a couple of years ago, but the elements are the same in my classroom today.

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Welcome! Come take a tour of my classroom. These
are photos from a couple of years ago, but the
elements are the same in my classroom today.
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The school-wide theme for this particular year
was On the Road to Success, so the classroom door
invited students to come in and join the writing
journey.
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Ive found this semi-circle of desks an effective
room arrangement. Students can still be seated in
cooper- ative learning groups of two, three, or
four. Focus is clearly directed to the front of
the room, but students can also easily see one
another.
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Every writing classroom needs a word walla wall
of frequently misspelled words that students need
to master once and for all.
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Picture and word clues help students easily
distinguish between similar words and make sure
they are choosing the correct one.
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My teaching friend, Sharon Waite, gave me this
idea years ago and I continue to use it. This
little rubbish bin holds words that we, as a
class, have retired from our writing. The words
we throw away are ones we overuse or that dont
serve our writing purposes any longer. For
instance then, once upon a time, the end.
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I keep a bulletin board with posters reminding
students of the writing crafts we have learned
and practiced and that they should use in their
writing every day. Students also keep a list of
these crafts in their writing portfolios.
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Each day I list our learning outcome or writing
focus on the board. (Yes, some schools do still
have chalkboards!) The learning outcome is not a
secret. If students know what the goal is, they
share the responsibility for reaching it.
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I love to use idioms in my writing and teaching.
Idioms can give voice to my characters and help
solidify a setting, time period, and so on.
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My students gathered idioms they heard and read
and recorded them in a class Idiom Notebook. This
is one of my favorites that Ryans father uses
with his twin sons Silence is golden, but duct
tape is silver.
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Writers are always looking for vivid verbs, words
that can put pictures in their readers minds.
This is our classroom list which grew throughout
the year.
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When students discovered a new vivid verb, they
listed it on a sticky note and stuck it to the
poster.
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Publishing completes the writing process. A
publishing center with computer, printer, paper,
staplers, hole punch, art supplies, and other
resources puts it at the fingertips of students.
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These zippered pencil holders are Revision Tool
Kits. Each tool kit contains scissors, tape,
highlighters, and sticky notes. We use this for a
cut-and-tape revision process we learn early in
the school year.
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The Authors Chair is where students sit when
they read/share their writing with the class.
Everyone shares at sometime, but everyone cant
share every day.
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Lunch Bunch (and Breakfast Club) are times when I
bring groups of students with similar writing
needs together for additional instruction,
support, and encouragement.
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