The week before state testing has a strange tension in the air. Students know that something different is coming, but aren't sure how to...

     Text-dependent analysis essays! From the moment that I first saw these forms of writing on our state tests I have both dreaded and a...

I love writing short expository texts, and I love sharing the texts that I create with other teachers.  But I can't deny that there is...

This week I decided to turn text structure on its head and and start with compare and contrast! I made this decision to provide some additio...

It sure has felt like Antarctica at school this week!     As intermediate readers move into more complex, dense informational texts, the...