Reading & Writing Toolkits + Freebies!

Hi friends! So this was actually a guest post that my colleague and I wrote for the Teachers College Literacy blog. I just wanted to share it with all of you because I thought it could be especially helpful as you're getting ready to head back to school. I'm already revamping my toolkits for the coming year and can't wait to use them again!

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Conferring with readers and writers in ways that are powerful and personal is truly a challenge. It is such a tall order to teach in ways that guide our children to achieve high standards, yet also meet them where they are and provide them with the individualized attention they need right now.

 If you're like us, conferring with readers and writers might be the most difficult part of teaching! You never know what to teach, where those notes you took ended up, or where that great mentor text is buried! Conferring seems to come naturally for many teachers, but not for us! We realized we needed some help getting ourselves organized. So when we heard about toolkits, we were excited to create our own. Since then, we’ve been using our toolkits EVERY SINGLE DAY! They keep us organized and efficient as we confer with our students. Above all, they have made a tremendous difference in the impact of our teaching.

So, what is a toolkit anyway? It’s really nothing fancy or extraordinarily different from the tools that you’re already using with your students. In fact, a toolkit is really just a collection of tools that you’re probably already using in your classroom every day. What makes a toolkit really valuable is that all of your teaching tools are together in one place to help you meet the needs of your students as you confer and work with small groups. When all your tools are in one place, it’s easy to bring them along with you as you pull your chair up beside a child.

Okay, so you’re probably wondering how you can get your hands on one of these amazing toolkits! The truth is, you’re going to have to make it yourself. But the good news is that we can help you get started! Below we’ve shown some ideas and examples of what we’ve included in our toolkits. Of course, this is not an exhaustive list, but these are the tools that we’ve found helpful as we confer with the readers and writers in our classrooms. What you include ultimately depends on your preferences and your students’ needs. For instance, we use a three ring binder for our toolkits, but you may find another method that works better for you. In any case, we hope these resources will inspire you to get started on creating your own toolkits!

I hope I've gotten you excited to start working on your own reading and writing toolkits! Many of the resources shown above are included for free in my Reading & Writing Toolkits Bundle! Get it HERE or click the image below to get started! See you all soon!