I am ecstatic to have the opportunity to guest host #engchat on Monday 01/07/13 at 7PM EST. By hosting #engchat, I get to have 100s of dedicated and inquisitive English Language Arts teachers think with me about a topic about which I care deeply. What a way to start a new year!

#engchat is the brain child of Meenoo Rami, an ELA teacher herself. She describes #engchat like this:

#engchat is a network of English teachers connecting with one and another via Twitter to share ideas, resources and inspiration. This conversation happens every Monday at 7 PM EST. To join, search for the hashtag, #engchat in Twitter or use a tool such as TweetChat to help you follow the discussion. Each week, a guest moderator shares a new idea, perspective or vision of what it means to be an English teacher.

Without further ado, here’s my video invitation to join me on 01/07/13:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PbZ_QxQzKg

Questions To Kick-Start Our Conversation:

• How are we accounting for young people’s writing development?
• How do you know a child is developing as a writer? What are signs of development?
• What dimensions do we want to be paying attention to as educators? What new dimensions of writing do we want to include given advances in digital literacies?
• What tools, approaches, resources are you using to map the development of the writers in your classrooms?

Links for References I Made in the Video:

• On Twitter, I use the handle @writerswriting
• Developing Writers: Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age
• Developing Writers website
• National Assessment of Educational Progress Writing Assessments
• Susanna Benko’s Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy Article
• Common Core State Standards

I hope to be tweeting with you soon!