tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91650262659202262502024-10-07T00:24:14.870-04:00Supporting Students in WritingAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17913711919392242542noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9165026265920226250.post-20315653895579925892015-11-17T10:31:00.001-05:002015-11-17T10:31:10.299-05:00

On Monday afternoons, my daughter has gymnastics. That evening, I planned to make flatbreads for dinner but in order for that to happen on a gymnastics night, I needed to make the flatbreads the day before or the morning of, which I didn't. So after gymnastics, we made a quick stop at the store to pick up a pizza crust. I grabbed a package of thin crusts, and headed to the check-out with the

Nancy Cavilloneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15084878556016753893noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9165026265920226250.post-35934842823531982772015-11-10T09:57:00.000-05:002015-11-10T09:57:03.330-05:00

If you've ever read Gretchen Rubin, you are familiar with her Secrets of Adulthood--the seemingly small lessons we learn in the process of becoming an "adult." When I was a kid, or even in college, it seemed like my parents had a manual for dealing with life. In my ripe old age (not really--I'm only 36!), I realized that the manual is self-written. Every day, you learn a new rule when dealt a

Nancy Cavilloneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15084878556016753893noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9165026265920226250.post-24772938141759450532015-09-08T07:27:00.001-04:002015-09-08T07:31:07.037-04:00

We've been in school since August 26th, so Labor Day Weekend felt a little anti-climatic. I will be happy to see the hot weather go, and welcome the cooler days of Autumn. As it is, the mornings and evenings have been cooler even if the days have been very warm, or downright hot. I'm thankful to work in a school with air conditioning! I remember the hot classrooms in my old school in the

Nancy Cavilloneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15084878556016753893noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9165026265920226250.post-12447192702457965372015-08-11T08:45:00.001-04:002015-08-11T08:45:29.379-04:00

Though I haven't been a classroom teacher in over 7 years (as long as I taught now, I just realized!), the prospect of the first day of school makes me giddy. Of course, I had grand plans this summer to do some work-related reading and writing for the new school year but par for the course, it didn't work out that way. I'm facing a lot of unknowns in this coming year--everything from my

Nancy Cavilloneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15084878556016753893noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9165026265920226250.post-22607299569946223642015-06-16T11:50:00.001-04:002015-06-16T11:50:23.849-04:00

It's hard to know what to write, on this, the second to last day of school, for me. This year was big, as you readers know. I went back to work, I moved from being a classroom teacher to being a paraprofessional, so much growth and learning happened for me this year. I spent much of the year feeling insecure, wondering if I was doing things the "right way," knowing that there was so much I

Nancy Cavilloneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15084878556016753893noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9165026265920226250.post-76002262796455845732015-05-13T13:36:00.000-04:002015-05-13T13:36:43.994-04:00

I often feel a sense of urgency when the kids walk into my room for writing intervention. Twenty minutes is not a whole lot of time, and in this season of testing and field trips, (and before that, snow days!), I get even less time with the kids. At the beginning of the year, I started intervention sessions with a Do Now-type activity or a quick jot but began to shuttle that in favor of getting

Nancy Cavilloneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15084878556016753893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9165026265920226250.post-38964837593149155512015-04-29T10:20:00.002-04:002015-04-29T10:20:37.587-04:00

Oh, yes. Look at me, posting twice in one week... like I said, it's been a slow week because of testing.  And speaking of testing, I learned about #Rhizo15 in my Twitter travels this morning. My very uptight and anxious nature is completely uncomfortable with the concept of Rhizomatic Learning, developed by Dave Cormier. It's one of these things that sounds intriguing to me but also makes

Nancy Cavilloneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15084878556016753893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9165026265920226250.post-20722551976766978252015-04-28T11:45:00.001-04:002015-04-28T11:45:25.037-04:00

A working lunch.  It's been a slow month for me at the middle school, because of SBAC testing, so I've had a lot of time to reflect on my first year as a writing interventionist, and how I will use what I've learned so far in the next school year. Yes! It's only April but I'm already thinking ahead to September. Why? Because this next month and a half presents limited opportunity, amidst

Nancy Cavilloneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15084878556016753893noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9165026265920226250.post-36663885236755456192015-04-08T12:44:00.000-04:002015-04-08T12:44:26.267-04:00

Nancy Cavilloneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15084878556016753893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9165026265920226250.post-26604939640224438242015-02-03T12:41:00.003-05:002015-02-03T12:41:54.351-05:00

As a writing interventionist, I see my students for 20 minutes a week. For some students, intervention happens every other week. It's kind of maddening but it can't be helped because of the way the school schedule is structured.  One of the challenges of this schedule is the time spent on a piece of writing. I'm finding that working on an essay might not be the best use of my time

Nancy Cavilloneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15084878556016753893noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9165026265920226250.post-59420649936042869602015-01-20T08:55:00.002-05:002015-01-20T08:57:23.111-05:00

On Saturday afternoon, when my 6 year old daughter wished aloud that we could go see Annie, I impulsively said yes. Normally, I would beg off or find some excuse to not take them out to the movies, and spend a whole bunch of money on tickets and popcorn and candy. But that day, I said yes. So, I found a theater that was offering Annie and saw that we had time to make the matinee. I had babysat

Nancy Cavilloneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15084878556016753893noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9165026265920226250.post-33086064950150175922015-01-13T11:46:00.000-05:002015-01-13T11:58:10.716-05:00

For Christmas, my husband and I decided to gift each other with a class we each wanted to take. My husband wants to take a blacksmithing class, and eventually learn to make knives. I fully support this creative endeavor and am happy to support him in a hobby that takes him away from his computer, which he sits in front of all day at work, and a lot of times, when he gets home, too. As for me, I

Nancy Cavilloneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15084878556016753893noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9165026265920226250.post-15963415205760939622015-01-13T09:51:00.000-05:002015-01-13T10:00:05.662-05:00

Part of my job requires me to set goals and track progress for each of my students. Some of my students are working on their writing stamina, which is measured by Total Words Written (TWW) on a CBM piece. I was having a hard time finding a chart that students could use to track their own progress towards a goal, so I decided to make one for myself. The tracker is a Word document so you should be

Nancy Cavilloneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15084878556016753893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9165026265920226250.post-24428798639436773022015-01-07T13:09:00.003-05:002015-01-07T13:09:40.809-05:00

Photo Credit: PearsonSchool.com One of the challenges of being a part-time writing interventionist is that I'm only available to students twenty hours a week, and not even all of those hours because of their class schedules. Since I started this job, I've fallen into the habit of comparing my current position with my former one as a full-time classroom teacher. One of the luxuries of being a

Nancy Cavilloneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15084878556016753893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9165026265920226250.post-22901922942606870892014-12-23T08:46:00.002-05:002014-12-23T08:46:33.535-05:00

Yesterday, as I studied up on orthography and spelling instruction, I thought about all the new things I need to learn in making the transition from classroom teacher to instructional paraprofessional. The difference is greater than I anticipated. Working one to one or with a small group is all about individualization and spending time on the small parts that make up the whole, something that

Nancy Cavilloneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15084878556016753893noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9165026265920226250.post-71508962145957276062014-12-16T08:29:00.001-05:002014-12-16T08:29:11.118-05:00

Yesterday, I sat down to write a model paragraph for my writing intervention students. I couldn't think of anything to write but then I remembered that Friday night, I had kind of an epiphany. It wasn't life-affirming or groundbreaking, and it was probably knowledge that already existed somewhere deep in the recesses of my cave-like mind. But I digress. Me and the kids were driving home from

Nancy Cavilloneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15084878556016753893noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9165026265920226250.post-71743073712475103212014-11-18T12:23:00.001-05:002014-11-18T12:25:18.606-05:00

I wasn't sure what I was going to write about today because, if I'm being honest, I haven't been writing true "slices." But today, I think I have a slice for you.  I said something that I shouldn't have said.  The big buzz around the English Department this week is the upcoming NCTE convention in Washington DC. I spied the program on a teacher's desk and as I was flipping

Nancy Cavilloneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15084878556016753893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9165026265920226250.post-43694975071314197662014-11-05T10:20:00.002-05:002014-11-05T10:20:26.500-05:00

 It is parent-teacher conference season and I had my middle child's pre-K conference yesterday morning. It is incredibly inspiring and awesome to witness emerging literacy through the lens of both parent and teacher. Seeing my four year old's emerging print skills is delightful and a great source of pride. When I see her S with the extra curve on top, her E drawn as a small circle, her

Nancy Cavilloneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15084878556016753893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9165026265920226250.post-24847021390700441222014-10-28T08:22:00.000-04:002014-10-28T10:10:47.452-04:00

Yup, back in the saddle again. When I left teaching in 2008, I was ready for a break from the classroom and to concentrate on my growing family. I still felt a pull to education and teaching, so I started my little tutoring business, and wondered what my teaching career would look like down the line. I envisioned myself working closely with students and teachers in some capacity, maybe as a

Nancy Cavilloneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15084878556016753893noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9165026265920226250.post-73062673457091073272014-10-20T08:36:00.001-04:002014-10-20T10:22:16.471-04:00

Today is NCTE's 6th Annual National Day on Writing, and this year's theme is Community. I will return here throughout the day to update the page with links and ideas for writing about community. NCTE invites you to tweet links to your writing using #WriteMyCommunity. You can find me on Twitter at @nbcavillones.  (This post contains affiliate links.) Need a place to start? Check

Nancy Cavilloneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15084878556016753893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9165026265920226250.post-39652286816998266492014-09-26T22:01:00.001-04:002014-09-26T22:01:48.594-04:00

Source: http://glbtintherooms.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/OwnSelf.jpg This advice from MIT Admissions applies to every student, not just those that have their sights set on MIT: "Choose your activities because they really delight, intrigue and challenge you, not because you think they'll look impressive on your application. Go out of your way to find projects, activities and

Nancy Cavilloneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15084878556016753893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9165026265920226250.post-59677776595528683082014-09-20T20:31:00.004-04:002014-09-20T20:40:37.131-04:00

Though I used to teach SAT prep for Kaplan, it was many, many moons ago. And of course, it was even longer ago that I actually TOOK the SAT. Have I ever told you that I took the test twice and got the same score both times? The second time, I went up in verbal and down in math! (This was back before the verbal was renamed Critical Reading.)   My memory is spotty but I am PRETTY SURE I did

Nancy Cavilloneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15084878556016753893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9165026265920226250.post-88020158024283382942014-09-08T22:54:00.001-04:002014-09-08T22:54:16.167-04:00

The idea that there are multiple forms of intelligence is not a new one, but students are not often encouraged to tap into these other forms, especially in environments where art and music are being shunted aside in favor of rote drills and testing. This book helps to fill that void. I recommend this to anyone who suffers from a lack of confidence in their own skills and abilities, or someone

Nancy Cavilloneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15084878556016753893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9165026265920226250.post-40820155746231097242014-08-24T10:44:00.001-04:002014-09-08T22:54:29.749-04:00

Having a private writing coach to hold your hand through the college application process is incredibly beneficial, but for a lot of students, it can be cost-prohibitive. There are a plethora of books out there on how to write the college admissions essay and some of them are good enough to be the second-best thing to having your own writing coach. Admissions Essay Boot Camp by Ashley

Nancy Cavilloneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15084878556016753893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9165026265920226250.post-44245846540451150482014-06-20T17:42:00.005-04:002014-06-20T22:55:05.086-04:00

I kind of aspire to be a runner. I want to be a runner. The thing is, to be a runner, I have to run. And I do run. Sort of. Half-heartedly. Okay, quarter-heartedly. It's really not surprising that I suck at running and I don't really like to do it. But, I always feel great when I'm done and that makes me want to run some more. In fact, I ran today for the first time in awhile. It was

Nancy Cavilloneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15084878556016753893noreply@blogger.com