What Makes a Successful Writer? One Author’s Approach to Instilling a Love of Writing by Carmen Oliver

March 13

When I was in the 2nd grade, my teacher Mrs. Graham wanted us to write a story. She told us we could write about anything we wanted. Anything that interested us. Anything we liked. Anything we wanted to make up. I found bears fascinating. Growing up in Canada, my family and I camped and hiked […]

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Intentionality: What’s in Your Bookshelf? by Laura Wagenman

March 06

73.3% in 2015. 50% in 2018. While I love numbers, these numbers are cause for concern, reflection, most importantly, action. According to the School Library Journal, 50% of books published in 2018 contained characters who are white. When this was released this past June, it made me even more determined to be intentional about the […]

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A Climb Inside the Window: Why We Need Diverse Books by Kelly Stephan

March 02

  It was just another Monday night. I picked up my son from basketball practice…my freckle face boy. He stands out on the court, not only for his sweet basketball moves but for his short stature and red hair. These boys on the court are his people, his team, the friends that have his back. […]

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The Power of Listening by Clare Landrigan

January 20

I was facilitating a professional development session focused on how to administer a reading assessment.  A fifth-grade student just finished reading the text and I was beginning the part of the assessment in which we discuss the text together.  He seemed a bit nervous with all of the observers, so I tried to calm him […]

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Are Your Striving Readers Helping Others? by Tammy Mulligan

January 11

I think we underestimate the power of helping when it comes to teaching striving readers.  In schools, striving readers are typically the ones who receive the most help. Striving readers see multiple teachers for instruction. Striving readers generally have reading buddies who help them figure out the words. And striving readers get lots of support […]

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Top 10 Ways to Be a Literacy Leader by Liz Garden

December 06

Whether you are a teacher leader or you are a leader of a school, you have the ability to lead with reading.  All of our students need us to be literacy leaders. We want our students to become readers. We want them to fall in love with reading.  We want them to get excited about […]

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Match.com: Helping Older Students Fall in Love With Reading (Again) by Nicole Kronzer

November 30

I teach a lot of twelfth grade. Newly adults, they are often in one of two places: ready to graduate yesterday, or clinging to their swiftly dwindling childhoods. Sometimes, they’re in both of these places on the same day. I love seniors. I love their vulnerability and the way their eagerness for independence clashes against […]

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The Book Matchmaker by Eva Goins

November 16

My main goal each year as a teacher is to turn my 8th grade students into readers.  I am a matchmaker of twenty-first century minds that are more interested in connecting to a good hotspot over texts that could quite possibly influence their lives. So how does an educator compete with all of the technological […]

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SCBWI’s Third Annual Literacy Initiative Gives Books, Builds Dreams, and Offers Hope to Readers In Need

October 04

Children’s Book Creators Join Forces to Provide High Quality Books Plus a Literary Celebration for the MADISON READING PROJECT    The members of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators join forces once again as part of the organization’s 3rd Annual SCBWI Books For Readers book drive and literacy event to collect, curate, and […]

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Creating and Maintaining a Classroom Library by Savannah Campbell

September 21

I’ll never forget Carson.  Carson was in a library organized according to AR level.  As the time for checkout dwindled down, he starting sobbing.  There was a book he wanted to read, but it wasn’t his “color dot.”  He felt he was unable to check out the Spiderwick Chronicles because it was different from the […]

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