Professional Books and Resources

by Lucy Calkins and colleagues from the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project

The Workshop Help Desk Series

If you've wondered how to tweak your workshop teaching to make it more effective and lasting, if you've needed to adapt your teaching for English learners, if you've struggled to teach grammar or nonfiction writing or test prep—if you've faced these and other specific, pressing challenges, then this series is for you. Provided in a compact format, the Workshop Help Desk series offers pocket-sized professional development.

A Quick Guide to Reaching Struggling Writers, K-5

M. Colleen Cruz
Lucy Calkins
Grade(s): K - 5th

A Quick Guide to Making Your Teaching Stick, K-5

Shanna Schwartz
Lucy Calkins
Grade(s): K - 5th

A Quick Guide to Teaching Persuasive Writing, K-2

Sarah Picard Taylor
Lucy Calkins
Grade(s): K - 2nd

A Quick Guide to Boosting English Acquisition in Choice Time, K-2

Alison Porcelli et al.
Grade(s): K - 2nd

A Quick Guide to Teaching Informational Writing, Grade 2

Marika Paez Wiesen
Lucy Calkins
Grade(s): Other

A Quick Guide to Teaching Second-Grade Writers with Units of Study

Lucy Calkins
Grade(s): Other

A Quick Guide to Teaching Reading Through Fantasy Novels, 5-8

Mary Ehrenworth
Lucy Calkins
Grade(s): 5th - 8th

A Quick Guide to Reviving Disengaged Writers, 5-8

Christopher Lehman
Lucy Calkins
Grade(s): 5th - 8th

Professional Books

Teaching Writing

Lucy Calkins

This is a book for readers who want an introduction to the writing workshop, and for those who’ve lived and breathed this work for decades. Although Lucy addresses the familiar topics—the writing process, conferring, kinds of writing, and writing assessment— she helps us see those topics with new eyes.

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Leading Well (K-8)

Lucy Calkins

In Leading Well: Building Schoolwide Excellence in Reading and Writing, Lucy Calkins draws on the transformative work that she and her colleagues at the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project have done in partnership with school leaders over the last thirty years.

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Writing Pathways (K-8)

Lucy Calkins

Lucy Calkins' groundbreaking performance assessments offer instructional tools to support continuous assessment, student self-assessment, timely feedback, and clear goals tied to learning progressions that have been aligned with world-class standards. Originally published as part of the bestselling Units of Study in Opinion/Argument, Information, and Narrative Writing, Writing Pathways, Grades Kâ€“8, is ideal for writing workshop but suitable for any writing instruction context or curriculum. Tools include learning progressions, student writing samples, annotated exemplar pieces, student checklists, rubrics, and on-demand writing prompts.

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The Art of Teaching Writing (K-5)

Lucy Calkins

When Lucy wrote the first edition of The Art of Teaching Writing, the writing workshop was a fledgling idea, piloted by a few brave innovators. Now, the writing workshop is at the foundation of language arts education throughout the English-speaking world. This landmark text, a must-have for your professional library, contains chapters on assessment, thematic studies, writing throughout the day, reading/ writing relationships, publication, curriculum development, nonfiction writing, and home/school connections.

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Living Between the Lines (K-5)

Lucy Calkins, Shelley Harwayne

Living Between the Lines is a heartening invitation to bring new life into reading-writing workshops. Lucy has woven insights, practical suggestions, references, and anecdotes into this timeless and inspirational story of a community of educators who worked to push back the frontiers of what we know about teaching writing and reading.

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One to One (K-3)

Lucy Calkins et al.

In One to One Lucy and her colleagues Amanda and ZoÃ« show you the practices and principles that create effective conferences. They dispel the myth that master teachers have a magic touch and show you that effective teachers do not reinvent the conference with each student, but rather use predictable, principled interactions that follow a few simple frameworks.

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Lessons from a Child (K-5)

Lucy Calkins

A story of one child's growth in writing, Lessons from a Child explains how teachers can work with children, helping them to teach themselves and each other. Matters of classroom management, methods for helping children to use the peer conference, and ways minilessons can extend children's understanding of good writing are all covered here.

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Up Close (DVD) (K-2)

Amanda Hartman, Lucy Calkins

Up Close features eleven live-from-the classroom videos of Amanda Hartman engaged in conferences and minilessons with English Language Learners of varying writing and speaking abilities.

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