Although this is my 15th year of teaching, I have always struggled with discussions. It’s not that my students and I don’t have engaging or thought-provoking discussions. We do. But I often put the pressure on myself to lead (dictate?) our discussions, and I’ve never been confident that… Read More
All posts tagged “tricia ebarvia”
Fostering a Reading/Writing Life Using Independent Reading
Presented on October 16, 2015, at the PA Council of Teachers of English Language Arts (PCTELA) Annual Conference, Harrisburg, PA. CLICK HERE TO VIEW PRESENTATION. Feel free to browse this site for additional materials and ideas. Much of the information shared in the presentation is… Read More
How I made time for reading . . . and had one of the best years ever (Part 3: A Weekly Framework)
With the first week of school behind us, the groundwork for our independent reading endeavors has been set. This week, my 9th grade students walked around my room, browsed the classroom library, and marked titles that they’re interested in reading. Through our scavenger hunt, students learned the ins and… Read More
How I made time for reading . . . and had one of the best years ever (Part 2: The Power of Booktalks)
Although I’d been doing some form of independent reading for several years, with each year better than the one before, I came into last school year determined to commit in a way I hadn’t before. I wanted to find a way to make students’ independent… Read More
How I made time for reading . . . and had one of my best years ever (Part 1)
I‘m ashamed to admit that for many years, I rarely built in any time for independent reading. The extent of independent reading in my classroom was taking students to the library to check out a book, telling them it was due by X date, and… Read More
#WholeNovels Twitter Chat
It’s almost time! Please join us for a Twitter chat with author and educator Ariel Sacks as we discuss a more student-centered approach to teaching novels.
On Venn diagrams: What does reading look like in the real-world?
Kylene Beers posted this on her Facebook page this afternoon: When I finish reading a book, I want to think about it and talk about it, and then I want to start reading my next book. Never have I closed the covers, sighed, and said to… Read More
Three things for the first 48 hours
Glance at almost any education focused website, blog, or Twitter feed in mid-August and you’ll find no shortage of first-day-of-school activities. In one of my education-related Facebook groups, someone recently asked for suggestions on how to spend the first day in class. Others asked about… Read More
Getting out of the way, part 2.
“So, you’ve been busy.” And so began a conversation with Judy, one of my writing project friends and mentors. We were meeting over coffee to discuss our thoughts on the third edition of Atwell’s In the Middle. In April, I had shared with Judy how I had started… Read More
Favorite Goodreads: 2015 Student Edition
In the midst of my classroom prep this week, I came across the binder of letter-essays that my 9th graders wrote at the end of the year. In this binder are 75+ letters that described their favorite independent reading selections. As I paged through their letters again, I couldn’t help… Read More
Tricia Ebarvia 
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