Digital Discussions

Kelly and Penny begin their new video chat series by sharing what they’ve been reading, writing and thinking about over the past few months.

Kelly and Penny discuss an idea to get kids up and writing.

Food for thought? How about food for writing. In this clip, Kelly and Penny explore how the topic of food can be a great motivator for student writers.

Author/Educator Tom Newkirk joins Kelly and Penny to talk about why students should be given the opportunity to write fiction.

By sharing their own writing struggles, Kelly and Penny explore how writing is inherently a creative process and what this means for writing teachers.

Kelly and Penny talk about the importance of and strategies for helping students to identify as readers.

For years Kelly and Penny have advocated three goals for every reader. Today, they add a fourth.

Sara Ahmed, author of Being The Change, joins Kelly and Penny to talk about the importance of teaching social comprehension.

Author/educator Cris Tovani talks with Kelly and Penny about engaging challenging learners by seeing beyond the “masks” they wear to class.

Kylene Beers and Bob Probst, authors of Forged by Reading, join Kelly and Penny to talk about teaching kids to be critical readers both inside and outside the classroom.

Kelly and Penny share how they use poetry to help students develop their writing identities.

Just in time for National Poetry Month, Kelly and Penny discuss how they use tournament brackets to make poetry fun and engaging for students.

Sarah Zerwin, author of Point-Less, joins Kelly and Penny to talk about how grades actually harm the development of readers and writers and to share some of the ways teachers can provide more meaningful feedback.

M. Colleen Cruz, author of Risk. Fail. Rise., shares some thoughts on the mistakes teachers make and what they can learn from them.

Kelly and Penny share some of their newest thinking on ways to inspire young writers.

Educator and author Jeff Wilhelm talks about the real problem of “information pollution” and the critical work teachers and students must do to avoid being manipulated.

Gabrielle Cervantes and Victoria Parent, both third-year teachers, discuss the challenges of teaching in a pandemic and how the experience might inform their instruction next year.

Kelly and Penny delve deeper into the teaching of writing by sharing a couple of engagement strategies and discussing why establishing writing groups is so important.

Kelly and Penny examine the art of lesson planning.

Ernest Morrell, author, professor and former NCTE president, discusses how to revise curriculum so that is doesn’t shut the door on our students’ brilliance.

Both avid readers, Kelly and Penny share how the ways in which they engage with books serve as authentic models for helping students to engage with books.

As the end of the school year nears, Kelly and Penny share their ideas on how to infuse joy into the writing curriculum.

The pandemic presents an opportunity for schools to transform themselves. Here is how Michael Matsuda, superintendent of a large, urban school district, is seizing the moment.

David Rockower, a teacher in Pennsylvania, teaches a writing course titled, “20,000 Words.” Here he explains how he set up the class and why volume is foundational to creating writing identities in students.

Focusing on the “arts” in language arts, Kelly and Penny discuss the value of graphic novels and explore one way art can be used to motivate young writers.

Today’s guest, Izzy Tauheed, a 5th grade teacher in the Bronx, discusses how she infuses the study of real-world events across her curriculum.

This moment in history offers opportunities for schools to change. Kelly and Penny discuss some of the changes they’d like to see.

Kelly Turner, a high school math teacher, shares a valuable resource for all content area teachers. She also explains why students should be writing in math classes.

Ernesto Cisneros, middle school teacher and author of the award-winning YA novel, Efren Divided, discusses how writing in front of his students helped him revise his own work.

Looking back at their latest series of 30 conversations, Kelly and Penny reflect on some of the big ideas shared and how they might impact the next school year.