Response to Nancie Atwell’s The Reading Zone Chapter 10

Like Atwell, I too team reading and writing. Of course, it began as a practical solution but has shown to aid students in no longer compartmentalizing their learning. Some days I end up breaking blocks up the way Atwell describes, the first half is writing and the second reading, but most days, I combine the two. I started doing that more when I noticed the benefit it was to my students and it just so happens to work nicely for me too. :) The new practical challenge I must tackle is assessing learning. We all know our students, but there really needs to be a form of measuring that’s not only subjective and informal, but evidentiary. So far, the only thing I find helpful that also provides some type of evidence (though still subjective in nature) is keeping anecdotal notes on conferencing and observations.