Inspire Literacy

First of all, we are GRATEFUL!  Grateful for all things we have right now - listeners, each other, teachers, YOU!

Are you starting a new unit of study soon?  Wondering what you can do to get your mind and self ready? Listen in as Erica and Chara share some (or a lot) of things that you can do to get ready to teach your next unit of study.  This is not to overwhelm you, but instead to ignite a spark for you and your students.  Choose one thing, choose a few things, but nothing feels more exciting than a new unit of study.  

Gather your materials, some post its, a few mentor texts, maybe pre or post assessments, a cup of coffee or tea and get ready to plan your next unit with Erica and Chara's guidance!

Do you ever shy away from conferring with one of your students because they are holding a book that you have never read? Or do you find yourself ending up in the retell tunnel hearing every single detail of your student's book?  What about sitting down to a conference and leaving feeling more like you just gave a quiz than had a conversation.   I think we have all been guilty of one of these.  However,  you don't have to do that any longer! 

Let Chara and Erica remind you of all the ways that you can confer with kids even if you DON'T know the book.   You will hear them remind you to teach the reader, not the book.  Even if you just hold that belief close to you, your conferences will improve.  Chara and Erica will inspire you to switch up some of the questions you ask and will give you some ideas of questions that will illicit more thinking work.  They will remind you of particular tools that will also help you improve your conferences. 

And you will even hear an example of a conference and where to find some resources to support your conferences! We can't wait to hear what you think about our conferring series and we want to hear how your conferences have gotten better! 

How do you fit it all in? Do you have an actual schedule for your conferences? How many times a week do you meet with your students? These are some of the questions that get answered in this week's episode of the Inspire Literacy Podcast.  Chara and Erica know that scheduling is NO easy task.  It is one of the most challenging aspects of conferring.  At a time when conferring seems most important and scheduling seems most challenging, come along as we unpack how to fit it all in!

Chara and Erica sat down and created their own version of a top 10.  But this top 10 will help you in your scheduling of conferences or at least make you feel secure in your scheduling techniques! You will also hear two different ways that scheduling conferences could go.  

What works for you? Send in your tips and tricks.  

Complimenting is an art!  It takes some practice to name explicitly what a child is doing right or almost right.  But it can be one of the most powerful types of conferences.  Who doesn't love to hear a compliment?

Listen in to this week's episode to hear Chara and Erica unpack the art of the compliment conference. You will hear about why they love them so much. the criteria to assist you with your compliments and how compliment conferences leave children with not only a smile, but a willingness and desire to get better!

You will even hear a demonstration of an upper grade and primary compliment conference.  This episode will leave you ready to try some compliments around your own classroom.  

"Conferring is not the icing on the cake.  It is the cake," says Carl Anderson.  In this weeks episode, Chara and Erica provide some big ideas around conferring.  This is the first of a series of podcasts around this essential aspect of workshop.  Even if you aren't a workshop teacher,  meeting individually with kids in this way can move mountains!

You will hear what conferences look like - what to expect when watching a teacher do an individual conference.  They will also share what conferences are NOT.  This will probably be validating for many of you.  So don't be shy about giving yourself a much needed pat on the back. 

Are individual conferences new to you? Are you wondering how to begin?  Listen in. You will leave with some basic tips about how to build connection through your conferences so that your students get excited when you pull up next to them.  

And of course, don't forget about keeping some notes.  Chara and Erica will share some tried and true methods for how to keep track of those conferences.  Following the dropping of this episode, some note taking sheets will be shared on instagram @inspireliteracy

Keeping MIni-Lessons mini is no small task!  It is something that Chara and Erica have worked on for years with the help of their coaches.  It is one part of workshop that they feel passionately about and continue to improve on.  And lucky you. . . they are going to share a TON of tips and tricks to keep your mini lessons mini.  

You will feel challenged, nudged and inspired to take on this task in your own workshop. You will be reminded that the Mini Lesson is not everything and is not for mastery.  And from there, you are invited to start with one or two tips off their list for more effective lessons tomorrow! 

We can't wait to hear how much better your lessons are.  Share with us!  We would love to hear from you @inspreliteracy on Instagram. 

Do you want some new, fresh ideas for books in your 3-8 classroom?  Come along and listen to Erica as she creates excitement around new titles that you need NOW!  You will be reminded about how to create a book buzz, the importance of them in your classrooms and how to ultimately turn it over to kids. 

Check out the Book Buzzes for these titles:  Hi Lo (a graphic novel), Rule the Music Scene like Queen Beyonce, Starfish and The Talk.   Erica will make you want to not only add these titles to your Amazon cart, but also buzz about them immediately.   Her book buzzes are full of reasons why students will love them and what kind of work is expected in them.  

We want to hear from you!  What books do your kids love? How are book buzzes going for you? Share away any ideas or new titles your kids are loving.  

Don't forget to follow us on Instagram @inspireliteracy

BUZZZZZZZ!  What is a book buzz?  Why should I do them?  How do I get kids excited about the lower level books?  Well, put on your actress hat and listen along.  

Join Chara and Erica as they share a basic structure for your Book Buzz.  This kind of book buzz will get your readers excited to read the books in your classroom library, even at the lower levels.  Chara shares 3 different books at 3 different bands of text.  

You will hear a book buzz on Big Dog, Little Dog, Croc and Ally and Commander Toad in Space.  Listen along for the structure and excitement that is generated around these books.  You will also hear Chara set kids up to be successful in each of these texts.  

But don't let the BUZZ stop here.  This is just the beginning.  You can take this structure and replicate it any time you want to buzz about a book to your whole class or even a small group!

What do you think about Graphic Organizers in Writing Workshop? Yes or No? 

We asked listeners and the response was split.  And then this episode was born.  Erica and Chara decided to tackle this important topic.  Listen along as they discuss how they used graphic organizers and why teachers often use them. You will also be challenged to think about other ways to help students organize their writing.   You will leave with a ton of tips and alternatives to just handing out a piece of paper to all students.  Come along and learn with Erica and Chara as they unpack the topic of graphic organizers! We want to hear from you and see your alternatives too!  Let's INSPIRE each other!

This week's show is intended for Parents and Teachers alike.  Chara and Erica are so excited about their guest host, Elizabeth Morphis, assistant Professor of Childhood Education and Literacy at SUNY at Old Westbury. She brings a  wealth of knowledge about all the ways we, as parents, can support our children at home with their literacy skills.  The three of them discuss activities that can be done at the dinner table, in the car or even at bed time.  You will leave with so many ideas about how to support your child at home.  

Teachers, this podcast is perfect to pass along to parents who are wondering how to help their child at home.  These three also discuss tools that would be perfect to share at Back to School Night or in conversations with concerned parents.  

To find some of the tools and resources that Elizabeth shares with us in this episode, go to www.theliteracyteacherslife.com and to find Chara and Erica you can go to www.inspireliteracy.net

It is that time of year when school is starting, kids are excited and teachers are doing all they can to build their classroom communities.  Listen along to this episode to hear all the suggestions for building up your reading community.  We know relationships are at the forefront. But how do we do it with our youngest learners to our most skilled readers?  Erica and Chara give tips for how to build those strong communities where each reader will flourish and grow! 

You will learn about Read Alouds, Inventories, Favorite Reading Memories and Timelines, Book Buzzes and more.  And they want to hear from you. What are your tried and true ways to build your community?  Let's INSPIRE each other to create a loving, accepting reading community in each classroom we step foot in. 

Whether school has already started or you are starting soon, is building a community on your mind? It is on ours!! 

Erica and Chara spend this episode talking through all the ways you can build a classroom community within your writer's workshop.  Without engagement, everything else is tricky. Listen in to find out all ways to build community from:

 writing partners to mentor texts to writing celebrations. 

We would love to hear any other ideas you may have about how YOU build community!

Are you setting up your classroom? Are you wondering how to get ready for the best Writing Workshop this year? This episode is for you. Listen along as Erica and Chara share some tips and tricks for setting up your writing workshop.  Let's go back to our beliefs around writer's workshop and get ready for the best year yet.  Whether you teach Kinder or middle school, this episode will give you some tried and true techniques to jumpstart your new year. 

From a tricky year last year to a bunch of unknowns this year, let Inspire Literacy Podcast get you ready for what's to come.  In this episode, we will think a lot about mantras.  Grab a bright colored post it and get inspired!

What is a mantra? What helped Chara and Erica navigate last year?  Listen in to find out their mantras and tools to help you create your own mantra for the upcoming school year.  We got this, teachers!!!  

What are some of your beginning of the year Read Alouds?  Erica and Chara will share their thoughts about what interactive read aloud is, why it is the heart of workshop and some of their new favorite read aloud titles. Listen along and get your Amazon list ready to order some of these newer titles.  Please reach out with any of your favorite read alouds and we will share your suggestions with teachers near and far. 

Erica and Chara sat down and reflected on all the amazing things that teachers have learned during DL and picked some top choices that should be carried with all of us back  into brick and mortar.  Listen to those tips and even a few that we can surely leave behind. 

Why Readers Workshop?  In this episode, we will discuss what the basics of Readers Workshop are and why we believe it is one of the best ways to teach literacy. We will explain what it means to us and what it looks like when we are in classrooms.  You will love this episode if you are new to workshop, been teaching it for years and just need some validation or want to revisit all the great things that Reader's Workshop is.