About

I am an elementary school teacher, TC with the National Writing Project, and a published romance author living in sunny SoCal with my hubby, two teenagers, and an incredibly naughty dog named Tilly.

Classroom Experience

I am wrapping up my 22nd year in the classroom and have taught nearly every grade from 1st to 8th, though I definitely wouldn’t willingly go back to 1st grade. Don’t ask. Let’s just say there were plenty of tears involved.

Most of my experience is with teaching 5th grade, though this year I’m teaching a 4/5 combo class, which I absolutely LOVE! I know, I’m totally weird like that.

THE NATIONAL WRITING PROJECT

Joining my local chapter of the National Writing Project in 2012 was probably one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Though I didn’t know it at the time, becoming a Teacher Consultant with my local chapter of NWP has given me a lifelong community of supportive teacher-friends who are as passionate about writing as I am. They push me to be better.

NWP’s mission is to research and share best practices in writing instruction. All across the U.S., TC’s like me provide professional development workshops to local school districts. In short, I help teach teachers how to teach writing better. My specialty is with narrative writing, revision strategies, and grammar instruction. I also design our digital magazine and run our social media accounts.

National Writing Project

My Philosophy

I am a huge proponent of hands-on, interactive activities. Anything that gets my students talking and collaborating with their peers. I find that kids are much more willing to take risks when they can engage in fun, low-stakes group activities that allow for creative thinking. Especially if they know that they won’t be graded.

  • Mentor texts are an excellent way to teach grammar and writing skills. Take time to read to your students and pause to notice craft moves and grammatical choices.
  • The writing process is not a linear process. It is fluid. Authors move in an out of the stages of writing all the time. Fluidity is key.
  • Authors use different grammatical structures to elicit different reactions from readers. It isn’t about right or wrong. Grammar is a choice, a tool authors use thoughtfully.
  • Grammar takes repeated exposure and practice before students master it.
  • To truly improve reading skills in the upper grades, teach vocabulary. Challenge kids to create sentences using complex words in different combinations.
  • Whenever possible, engage all 5 of the senses when planning out a writing piece. Bring in images, sound effects, and prompts. Get kids up and moving.
  • Revision starts as soon as an idea sparks. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE END TO REVISE! Revising ideas is so much easier when kids can add, delete, and physically manipulate ideas on index cards or post it notes.

PD SESSIONS I TEACH

When I am presenting at conferences or leading PD for schools, I tend to cover the following topics: revision strategies, vocabulary development, show-don’t tell, grammar activities that actually work, using a mentor text to improve writing, small group writing instruction, lesson design, and play-based brainstorming.

  • Revision to the Rescue
  • Word Up! Vocabulary Development
  • AVIDize Wonders
  • Sticky Writing Problems
  • Nurturing the Writing Classroom
  • Narrative Writing Demo: Zoom presentation
  • Close Reading for Better Writing
  • Growing Strong Writers Through Small Group Writing Instruction
  • Play Your Way to Better Writing
  • Take Your Writing Time From Groans to Grins
  • Dragon Tales: 1 Topic, 3 Writing Genres
  • Hacking Literacy to Cultivate Creativity
  • Boring Bob and the 5 Senses

Join me on Social Media

CHECK OUT MY INSTAGRAM POSTS

After the kids orally rehearsed their stories, we spent a bit of time developing our stories, first on paper, then on the computer. In this video clip, you'll hear a student speak the punctuation marks aloud while using the Speech to Text feature. It was a great way for the kids to practice their grammar and allowed me to see which students still need more practice with those pesky comma rules. #grammartips #speechtotext #elementarywriters #workinprogress #eoyproject Part 2 of our End of Year Fun Writing Project. On Friday, the kids put all the pieces together and practiced telling their story. Oral rehearsal is such an invaluable part of the planning process. It let's kids think and talk through their ideas, revising as they go. It's much easier to revise your ideas than it is to revise multiple written pages. In this video clip, you'll hear two 4th graders explain how and where each of the story elements (vocab cards, sensory words, etc.) will come into play. #narrativewriting #writingtips #teachertips #writersinaction #elementaryschool We're down to the last few days of the school year. Since I had a couple of new teachers who wanted to observe a writing lesson, I decided to have a bit of narrative fun with the kids. The kids partnered up to visit Character Cove, Setting Swamp, Sensory Stroll, Conflict Cavern, and Wild Word Jungle, gathering or designing story details along the way. I already had the playdoh, blank file folders, and art supplies gathering dust in my cabinets. Do you keep playdoh in your cabinet too? I finally managed to upload my expandable paragraphs to TPT yesterday and decided to create a video preview to add to the listing page. It might not be the best video, but I'm pretty darn happy with how it turned out. Have you tried any of my writing resources? It's not too late to leave a review!

Sign up for my Newsletter

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

CONTACT ME