A picture is worth a thousand words. Well, maybe not a thousand words. :)  This QR code will link you to a video of me teaching the first lesson in my Graphic Narrative writing unit.  

Below I have included a copy of the written lesson plan that I teach in the video. 

If you are interested in the complete unit, you can find it here:  

https://all-kids-can-write.teachable.com/

The Graphic Narrative unit is currently free on Teachable, and there is a unit on Narrative Writing for upper elementary students also available.

Graphic Narrative Lesson 1 Intro and Prewrite

Virginia Standards of Learning: 

• 1.12a Identify audience and purpose.
• 1.12b Use prewriting activities to generate ideas.

Objective:  Students will understand what a graphic narrative is and become familiar with the components of writing that are included when composing a graphic narrative.

Materials:   

• Stack of graphic novels
• Prewriting Template

Connect:

• Go over the structure and components of a personal narrative:
  • Beginning, Middle, End
  • Characters
  • Action
  • Setting
  • Dialogue
  • Problem/Solution

Teach:

• Tell students that today we are going to think of ideas for our graphic narrative story.
• Remind students where writers get ideas:
  • Things that happen to them
  • People they know
  • Places they don’t want to forget
• Tell the writers that lots of graphic novels are written about adventures that people have.

Active Engagement:

• Tell Ss that we can turn anything that happens into an adventure.
• An adventure can be:
  • A fun day at recess
  • A hike with the family 
  • A search for a missing item
  • A chase with a favorite pet 
  • A game with a friend
• Model thinking of a time you had and turning it into an adventure:
  • Ex.  I’m going to think of a regular day and turn one part of it into an adventure.
  • Once,  I was going for a walk with my granddaughter, CK . We came upon a goose family in the middle of the trail. The dad goose was guarding his babies, but we had to get by and I didn’t want anyone to get hurt!
  • So, I closed my eyes and whispered “Super Cici”, turning myself into a grandma who could fly!
  • I picked up my granddaughter, and we soared up and over the geese, and then came back down on the other side.
  • Once we landed, I whispered, “Normal Cici”, and I turned back into a regular grandma. CK and I said goodbye to the geese and kept on walking.

Link:   

• Tell students that writers try to make a list of ideas before they start writing. Then they look long and hard at the list and choose the idea that means the most to them, or that they know the most about.

Share:  

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Assessment:

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Resources

Please let me know if you find this video and lesson helpful, and/or if you are interested in seeing more like it.

This has been a test of the allkidscanwrite network! :)

Happy writing!

​Christy

Writing well in elementary school matters.

Good, effective, articulate writing matters. In elementary school.

I have always known this to be a fact. And I spent most of my career as an educator doing the work of convincing teachers, administrators, central office decision-makers, parents, and students that this is a fact. Writing well in elementary school matters.

I wrote and shared curricula. I held workshops. I supported teachers in classrooms. I led professional development sessions. I taught, co-taught, modeled, scored, graded, mentored, and conferenced. 

But by the time I left the division for which I had worked for 20 years, I did not feel like the change-maker our students and teachers needed and deserved. It wasn't for lack of trying.

Our leadership noted the sinking writing grades of our eighth grade writers...but couldn't see the value in truly investing in and committing to the breadth and width of training and instruction it would take to substantively move the needle on student writing in elementary school.

I struggled to understand how I could have tried so hard and made so little difference. 

Here's what I also know to be a fact. Without exception, as soon as I (or another teacher) helped a student get excited about his/her writing, the hook was in and the art happened.  Even if the decision-makers outside of my K-5 classroom couldn't  or wouldn't understand the value of the elementary writing instruction, my students, their parents, and I certainly did. And so did a fair number of building administrators! We all got it. It was art. It was expression. It was hard work, commitment, thinking, re-thinking. It was mindful, purposeful, and impactful. And it really, really mattered.

Fortunately, I am now the maker of my own decisions and approaches to K-5 writing instruction. And I have something new to share with you all!  It's a reframing of why writing matters. 

Come back next time and we'll dive in. Remember, #allkidscanwrite!

Happy writing!

Christy Weisiger, M.Ed., NBCT

Happy New Year, teachers, parents, and writers! Welcome to a brand new school year and a brand new start for me and this blog!

I am charting a new path for myself by launching an online writing school called All Kids Can Write via the Teachable.com platform. After 20 years with my school division, I have decided to branch out on my own and do the work that I am passionate about - working with students and teachers and parents on writing! This work fuels me. It inspires me. It brings me joy. And it is my calling.

I am starting with just one course, an 8 lesson mini-unit of study on graphic narrative writing. You can find a sneak peek of the first session on my Facebook page, All Kids Can Write. The link to my new course is also posted on that page. (https://all-kids-can-write.teachable.com) 

The lessons are student facing, so they are ready to use with your student(s). I am also available for 1:1 coaching sessions which you sign up for separately. 

To be honest, I am scared to death to put myself and my work out there. But I know that we ask students to be brave and put their work out for us to see each and every day. I want to make a difference for student writers. To do that, I have to be brave and share my work with the world. 

Let's do this together! 

I am going to be adding courses and building the curriculum of the school. I would love for you to join me on this journey to support student writers. All kids CAN write - let's make it happen!

#allkidscanwrite

Happy writing!

Christy

It has been a while. A long, long while. And I can't go back right now. The end of this school year was traumatic, trying, and terrible. That's not to say that I regret one minute of the time I spent with my class of first graders this year. Oh, no. I will remember this class of students and parents as perhaps the most meaningful of my career. What those amazing kiddos accomplished with the unyielding support of their parents is etched in my heart forever. 

But, now I need to recover, rethink, reconsider so many things. The world is upended, and I, like most everyone else, am struggling to process and understand it all. 

So, for awhile, I will post photographs and poetry. These are my creative outlets for the moment. Thank you if you pop in occasionally to check on my work. I know that I will be ready for whatever "school" and "teaching" look like in September. But, for now, I'm just going to reflect and try to grow into the tremendous changes of our time.  It's time to dig deep.

Friday Morning, 6/26/2020
​

This morning I was thinking about my students, and my granddaughter who is also out of school. And I wanted to reassure them that, although their days look so different right now, it won't last forever. And, it's okay!!

So, here's a fun little poem called "At Home"

At Home

I’m in my house -
Imagine that!
I was supposed to be 
​In school…

Instead of friends
Like Charlotte Kate,
My recess pal is brother Nate.

Instead of reading in a group,
My bookmate is tomato soup.

Instead of Mrs. Weisiger’s voice,
I scan a menu board for choice.

I’m in my jammies at
Half-past ten -
Oh! Mom says it’s time to 
Stretch again!

My backpack is empty,
But, it’s okay! It’s cool!

One day I will be back in school!

Christy Weisiger, 3/17/2020

Encourage your student writer to try her hand at a poem today. There is a lightness about verse that is fun and engaging for even our youngest writers.

Stay well and be safe!

#allkidscanwrite

The very first form of writing I can remember falling in love with is poetry. I started writing poetry when I was in elementary school, and continued dabbling in verse through college. It is such an accessible way to express emotion, ideas, life, everything. And, there is something controllable about the form of short verse - which appeals to me right now as I don't feel in control of much of anything else! I have tried writing prose - completing 3 manuscripts of middle grade fiction - none of which are published. I always find myself blocked at the revision stage. I struggle to be able to wrap my head around revising something that is over 100 pages long. And, so, those beautiful little stories sit in a manuscript drawer, unrevised and unedited and unpublished. Maybe one day...

A few weeks ago, I found myself drawn back to the idea of poetry. And, now that our lives have been so dramatically changed, I am inspired to capture some of what I'm feeling in verse. 

Coincidentally, I am working on writing a Poetry Unit of Study for my district, K-5. The serendipitous nature of this situation is not lost on me.

So, today I tried to write my first poem. Here it is...after a few revisions. It may not be perfect. But, just as I never expect my students' work to be perfect, just to reflect their best effort, I am giving myself the same grace. 

Isolation

Outside my window
It is dark
Except for the reflection
Of my face staring out into the shadows of 
Pre-dawn solitude.

My gaze, defying the 
Backyard distances, approaches and stands
On the windowsill of a neighbor’s kitchen that is
Filled with warm, yellow light and the 
Imagined aroma of fresh-brewed coffee and
The embracing chit-chat of Monday breakfast - 
Connecting us.

At a time

When we must

Not connect

Except through gazes darting across isolated backyards hidden 
In darkness.

Christy Weisiger 3/16/2020

I will check back in with you all as this journey continues. Anyone who would like support for a student writer at home, please reach out! What a gift it would be to the world if our youngest writers capture their lives in this moment!!

Take care and be safe!

#allkidscanwrite

I choose joy! Joy will be my one-word going into 2020!

Last year, my word was "lightening", and all year long I dedicated my energy to lightening the work world around me through my job as a literacy support specialist. I spent my year training teacher teams, supporting teachers and administrators, serving students in my district, designing curriculum, following leaders. To borrow a quote, ​It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. The model was not working. Too much of my brain space was scattered in small pieces across too many challenges that could not and would not be lightened by my efforts.   No. Matter. How. Hard. I. Tried.

Fast forward to today. This morning I went out for a long walk. I could not run because my right knee is not feeling great and I'm wary of seriously injuring it. So, there I was, walking at a fast pace (no knee pain) and feeling surprisingly joyful. Not being able to run usually irritates me. I am a slow jogger, but I am dedicated to and dependent on those amazing endorphins that cheer the rest of my day after a morning run. I can count on one hand the number of runs in my life that have been easy. I started running late in life, and it usually feels less of a run and more of a workout. That's fine!! I love the sweaty, accomplished feeling that fills me up after my version of a run. Slow or not. Jog or run. 4 miles per hour or 5. Never matters. As long as the action was running and not walking.

So, why was I feeling so joyful this morning?

I have realized that the effort that is required during my runs, those workouts, taps into my cognitive energy as well. In other words, when I'm running, I'm so focused on breath, legs, distance, time, etc., that I don't have the capacity to think, wonder, ponder, plan,...enjoy. Kicking back my run to a fast walk has given me the brain space to think, wonder, ponder, plan,...enjoy the world around me as I go. I can watch the sun color the sky behind clouds as it rises. I can slow dow so as not to scare the deer or rabbits hanging out by the trails. I can listen for the eagle's cry and search the treetops for a glimpse. Walking gives me the space to fill up my soul with joy.

The same joy is present now everyday when I go to work. Kicking back  to the classroom has given me the brain space, and heart space, to love what I do again. My days are filled with all the space I need to feel joy - the joy of teaching my twenty-one students, the joy of working with a brilliant and generous team, the joy of following leaders with vision who care about me, the joy of being in a community full of support and kindness. Teaching gives me the space to fill up my soul with joy.

What might have seemed like a step back has proved to be a blessed leap forward in my journey - as an educator and as a human being. I will choose joy this year. In everything I do. And I know that choosing joy is not always easy or intuitive depending on the circumstances. But, when soul recognizes passion, and passion finds expression, and brain and heart space both exist for passionate expression to build and grow, joy abounds.

Happy New Year! May you find joy in all that you do in 2020!

#allkidscanwrite

Ahhh, winter break. You have rescued me right when I knew I could not go on much longer. Oh, no. It is not the students from whom I needed to be rescued. Those precious, joyful children are the reason I am still standing at all. No. It is the physical, mental, emotional, logistical weight of teaching that has collectively pressed down upon my psyche until this body just about gave out. Laryngitis and a relentless cold during the last week before a holiday has been brutal. But, lovely winter break, you got here. You got here just in time!

My return to the classroom after 7 years and at 59 years old has been full of surprises - some good and some not so good. When I interviewed for the position last spring, I mentioned my intent to infuse a coaching stance into my teaching rather than to continue using the more teacher-directed, "leader of the classroom" approach I had perfected in my previous experiences. I mean, really, when I first began teaching, I felt like I was the queen of my own little kingdom. I made and enforced the rules. I wrote the lessons. I delivered the lessons. I taught, students learned. That was my algorithm. And, it worked. Or, so I thought.

And then I started reading about coaching. I took a class. I became a certified Evocative Coach. Just think about the word evocative. It means tending to evoke. And evoke means  to elicit or draw forth (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/evoke). In working with teachers, the evocative coach encourages the teacher to consider her practice through guided conversations.  The coach draws out the teacher's own thinking and decision-making without making recommendations or using any evaluative criteria in the process. It is supposed to be a 100% coachee-directed experience, with the coachee controlling her own learning/growing.

When I was a literacy coach for my district, this was not the model that we used. My job was much more geared to going into buildings and classrooms and working with teachers and teams on district and state level initiatives. While I still tried to use a side-by-side coaching stance, I often was more of a trainer and less of an evocative coach. To be sure, evocative coaching is an asset-based model that can require time (and patience), not the support-specialist approach that is more directed and quicker. 

Flash forward to my interview and my new job. The good, and the not so good.

As I sat in front of 21 little ones those first few weeks of school, I realized that I was no longer going to be the queen of the kingdom. As I watched their minds and bodies grapple with being in school - sitting in chairs, trying to maintain criss-cross applesauce on the carpet, lining up for transitions, moving through hallways, playing on the playground - I knew that I was going to need to be their coach, not their queen. It was not going to be any good to keep repeating, "Little one, please stop squirming. Little one, your constantly moving legs need to stop. Little one, stop calling out and raise your hand (for the 100th time!). Trust me. I tried. And then I realized that these little ones were doing the best they could at being themselves. And while, of course, my job is to provide instruction in curriculum and behaviors, until those little ones are able to recognize and manage their "practice" as students in a school environment, I need to continue to evoke their good decision-making and self-reflection skills.

And that, my readers, takes a physical, mental, emotional, and logistical toll. A huge one. It was much easier to be the queen. Putting my own practice to the test, holding myself to the same standards I had been training teachers to use, was and continues to be humbling. I am forging my own idea of what it means to allow the students to drive their own learning. And it is challenging and exhausting. And I am so far from good at it. 

But, as I coach myself, I remember that self-reflection is key. I have decided on certain instructional and pedagogical goals to move my practice to be more student-driven and less teacher-directed.

And, just as I accept my students where they are academically and behaviorally. I need to be as accepting of myself as I learn how to put the crown away for good.

Happy Holidays!

#allkidscanwrite

With the long days of summer now being measured, I have been spending time planning units and lessons for the first week or two of school. Anyone who knows me knows that I am quite possibly compulsive about being prepared before I teach/present/lead/etc. I still write out my lesson plans, a practice one former colleague called "old school". Well, if spending time identifying objectives and learning intentions, searching for relevant materials, defining student success criteria, planning think-alouds, considering student engagement, embedding opportunities for inquiry, and MORE, all while keeping assessment in mind from the very beginning is "old school", then I'm that teacher. I couldn't do this any other way. I really do love to plan lessons!

But, I am beginning to feel the pressure of the waning days of summer creep across my shoulders. It has been downright fun to sit at my desk in my Florida room, watching the shenanigans of the critters in my backyard as I sift through mentor texts, designing lessons  for shared reading.   And then doing the same for math and social studies just to round out the first week's curriculum. Up until now, time has been my friend. Time has allowed me to work the way I like, creating lessons that will engage my students, invite inquiry, and grow their understanding of the curriculum.

The perfectionist in me insists on creating these lessons within a framework that is different than when I left the classroom 7 years ago. You heard me say the words engagement, inquiry, design...all concepts that have been added to the landscape of pedagogy through the works of literacy giants like John Hattie and Harvey "Smokey" Daniels, among many, many others. My teaching practice is strongly influenced by current thinking in literacy. I have read the books, studied the research, and am trying to capture all of the resulting "best practices" in my lessons. Every single one of them. 

And time is running out.

​I took a picture on my run this morning of the sun, rising behind a stand of trees at the reservoir. I could just see the shine of the sun glinting between and behind the full leaves of the trees.
​

In my mind, the sun represents the perfect lesson - one that includes best practices and serves students in the best and most engaging ways. But in order to get to that lesson, I have to find my way through the limbs and branches and leaves on the trees, representing the pedagogy, the materials, and all of the components of lessons that need to be considered and included. I know that the lesson is back there, illuminating and energizing for students. But, oh, the density of resources and depth of thinking that must be moved through to reach the lesson takes a lot of time!

So, how do we as teachers find our way to that lesson when time is no longer abundant?

I'm not sure I know the answer. One thing I do know to be true...I have to let go of the idea of perfect. There is no perfect lesson. There is no perfect teacher. There are no perfect classrooms. Chasing perfection is exhausting.

What is necessary and what I can be is perfectly present. I am releasing myself from having a perfect classroom set up before my students even step foot through the door. I am releasing myself from writing perfect lesson plans for every subject for every day of every week. I am releasing myself from thinking I have to be a perfect teacher because I have 20 years of experience. 

What I will expect from myself is to be perfectly present. Present for my students. Present for their parents. Present for my colleagues.

You can see the brightening sky above the trees in my picture. The sky is always present, even when the sun is hidden.  I will aim for the brightening sky 100% of the time, and hope to find the sun when I can. 

Have a great week! 

​#allkidscanwrite