TCRWP News

Join TCRWP for one of our small, intensive institutes, each designed to dramatically raise the level of teaching and learning about a particular aspect of literacy instruction. More information and links to the applications HERE

As Native American Heritage Month comes to an end, the learning and unlearning of Indigenous peoples' history in the US should not. Take time to look at these resources to continue to read, share, and talk with your students and families about Indigenous peoples today and throughout history. Like Traci Sorell shares in her book, gratitude is not a one day thing. Plan ways to continue to show and grow gratitude in your communities.

Latinx Change-Makers To Celebrate During Hispanic Heritage Month And All Throughout the Year!

To support Units of Study teachers with blended or virtual teaching, the TCRWP has developed resources that will help you rise to the challenge of the 2020-21 school year. Learn more...

Supper Club speaker Dr. Gholdy Muhammad describes a path forward to help educators weave equity, anti-racism, anti-oppression, cultural responsiveness and the Black Lives Matter movement into pedagogy. Read the full interview HERE

Join Arlène Elizabeth Casimir for a workshop on how trauma-informed teaching can be a space of healing, joy, liberation, and reciprocity for you and your students — and why it's more important now than ever. Click here for more details.

We're thankful for the 5700+ teachers who attended our first virtual Saturday Reunion on October 17, 2020. Read More...

On Monday, October 12, cities, towns, states, communities, and schools around the nation will be observing Indigenous People's Day or Native American Day. The National Museum of the American Indian shares that the purpose and intention of this day is to raise awareness of the rich and diverse history, culture, and traditions of the indigenous peoples of the Americas.

TIME TO JOIN!

The TCRWP is thankful for teachers Marc Todd and Jaclyn Maricle, from IS 289, who are asking the important question: How do we make students and faculty aware of history that challenges their own personal narrative? TCRWP is happy to be part of finding answers to this question. Read more...

"When we do the inner work in the community, we can focus on our own healing and that of our students, simultaneously, to co-create student centered classrooms that honor our students' identities, their inner lives and their many ways of knowing."

We will discuss how to launch conversations about race, racism, and white supremacy with kids as well as ways to use these texts with your students and families in schools.Tuesdays 6PM EDT.

"The pandemic has turned every aspect of education — including professional development — on its head. What hasn't changed is the importance of investing in our teachers so they can develop rich, challenging lesson plans that engage and inspire students."

This year we commemorate the 155th anniversary of Juneteeth, also known as Emancipation Day. Juneteenth has taken on new significance this year as protests against racial injustice span across the country sparked by the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers.

The TCRWP is excited to announce and offer a new scholarship for its upcoming June and August Reading and Writing Institutes to diverse educators who are committed to the work of antiracism and equity. The scholarship covers the $850 cost of registration for the institute and is available to teachers from an historically disenfranchised or group that has been marginalized in terms of educational opportunity or economic opportunity. Read More...

As educators, we can examine our curriculum and ask ourselves how we can integrate these universal healing salves to promote feelings of lightness in times of uncertainty. We can leverage these modalities to process the difficulties we are experiencing alongside our students. We can co-create a healing-centered learning environment where our wounds become the wisdom we need for an education that invites people to be whole.

For the coming school year, TCRWP is offering virtual teaching for Units of Study for Teaching Reading, Writing and Phonics, K-8. These digital resources will support teachers in virtual literacy teaching from day one and across the year with four units per grade in reading, writing and phonics. To view a sample video and to join the Units of Study mailing list, please read more...

Now, more than ever, teachers need to see what great remote instruction looks like. More and better professional development can show them powerful ways to be successful academically as they make the difficult transition to distance learning. Read more from Therapi Zaw-Kaplan...

TCRWP has created new pre-recorded courses for professional development. Staff developers will help you envision and address ways to teach virtually while also building your knowledge of assessment, feedback, and key lessons. Each course contains 5+ hours of content, including discussion questions and suggestions for next steps. Courses are designed for individual teachers to think, reflect, and plan for their practice or to bring teachers together to continue studying and growing alongside one another in school or district teams. Learn More

In these unprecedented times, teachers, principals, coaches, and literacy leaders from across the country and world have joined together on TCRWP's social media to extend their learning communities and their thinking alongside one another. Read More...

Like all of you, I am reeling.

It is all incomprehensible. As you can imagine, the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project staff are also reinventing ourselves, aiming to find the best ways to support teachers and families as we all grapple with new scenarios for teaching and learning. Read More ...

The National Education Policy Center and the Education Deans for Justice and Equity (EDJE) today jointly released a Policy Statement on the “Science of Reading." Read More...

The Teachers College Reading and Writing Project has released its annual report of student achievement and growth in affiliated New York City public schools. The report examines the performance of schools, exploring key subgroups, and comparing TCRWP schools with schools across the city and the state. Read More...

TCRWP responds to the recent report, Comparing Reading Research to Program Design: An Examination of Teachers College Units of Study, released on January 16^th by Student Achievement Partners.

Read our response...

The new Up the Ladder Reading units are for upper-grade readers—and teachers—who are new to the norms and culture of reading workshop, and for readers who would benefit from foundational instruction in reading fiction and nonfiction. Students will come away from these units as reinvigorated, changed readers—seeing themselves, their books, and their world differently. Read More....

Lucy Calkins responds to people who claim to represent 'THE science of reading.' Calkins' response is detailed and long, so get yourself a cup of coffee first. Read More...

The growth that second graders experience over the course of a year is incredible. It's the year most kids get hooked on a series, fall in love with characters, and follow them on all sorts of adventures. Second-grade phonics is about closing the gap between what kids can read and what they can write conventionally. Read More ...

For the first time TCRWP offers Support for Systemic Large Scale Reform in Literacy: Building Capacity Within Large Districts. Read More...

Lucy Calkins draws on the transformative work that she and her colleagues at the TCRWP have done in partnership with school leaders over the last thirty years. This book is deeply research-based and principled, while also absolutely practical and real-world tested.
Read More...

Colleen Cruz, Director of Innovation at the TCRWP and Sonja Cherry-Paul, Senior Research Associate at the TCRWP, have new books that are available now!
Read More..

As a workshop teacher, one of the most critical decisions you'll make is what books to purchase for your classroom library. Whether you are just starting to develop your classroom library or looking to refresh and revise, this list contains the books that kids cannot wait to get their hands on. Read More...

The Teachers College Reading and Writing Project (TCRWP) focuses a spotlight on a selection of schools that have adopted the TCRWP curriculum and experienced a true transformation. Read More ...

New York City schools affiliated with the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project (TCRWP) continued to outperform schools throughout New York on the latest edition of the English Language Arts (ELA) state test. Read More

The rain was no match for the energy and brightness of Jack Gantos on Tuesday, September 25. This Calendar Day felt different because of the young people filling the halls of Teachers College. Nearly 1,000 students from 24 schools across the tri-state area participated in the day. Read More...

The Units of Study in Phonics are up and running across the country! Teachers report that students are loving the new units: they're loving the songs and the movements, the partnerships and the Rug Clubs, and all tools and manipulatives they get to use. Read More...

This October, TCRWP tried something we haven't done before: running a workshop at the college... for kids! With the support of the Rowland and Sylvia Schaefer Foundation, the Project invited students in grades 4-8 from our partner schools in NYC and neighboring suburbs to apply. Read More...

Wondering how to process your TCRWP classroom libraries as quickly and efficiently as possible? This video shows you exactly how to go from boxes to bins. Take a few minutes to watch and then you'll be all set. Read More...

TCRWP is thrilled to announce the publication of two additional books in the Middle School Reading Units of Study Series. Investigating Characterization: Author-Study Book Clubs and Literary Nonfiction are available for purchase and shipping as of September 2018. Read More...

How do we talk about charged issues with students in ways that empower their voices? What can we do to foster inclusive school cultures? For a third year, join us and our guest speakers to think through these important questions together. Read More...

As the 2018-19 school year begins we want to remind you of the many resources available on the TCRWP website. Read more...

The TCRWP is happy to share the 2018-19 suggested sequences for units of study! We hope these documents help your planning for the coming year. Read More

Recent graduate of TC's Literacy Specialist Program and TCRWP intern, Nour Jalloul, reflects on her journey as a workshop teacher. Jalloul will return to Beirut and the American Community School as a literacy coach excited to share all she's learned at TC with her school community. We wish Nour the best of luck! Read More...

We've compiled lists of books for readers of all ages and with all sorts of interests. You'll see below picture books and novels that will be of interest to students in grades K-8 and their teachers. You'll also see a list of adult texts the TCRWP staff is reading this summer. Read More ...

Working together, we hope to create professional communities, share resources and support professional development events—and perhaps someday a lab school--for the many, many teachers across Madagascar who work with very few books or teaching materials and have little, if any, training to rely on. Read more...

As the school year begins to wind down and summer institute season begins, we want to take the opportunity to say thank you to our community, especially to all of you who showed such loving and generous support--and who donated to the TCRWP's 'Literacy Lifeboats' initiative -- to support schools in need after Hurricane Harvey. Read More...

Each unit of study in phonics aligns with the reading and writing units of study. The units focus on features of phonics, high frequency words, and numerous ways to extend instruction through small groups to reinforce foundational skills. The sessions are engaging for students and easy to access for teachers. There are many opportunities for students to transfer phonics learning into their reading and writing work. There is also considerable guidance for teachers on ways to efficiently assess and adjust instruction. Read More...

The TCRWP has developed an English Language Development Toolkit to be used in conjunction with Units of Study in reading and writing. We have also created a comprehensive document, for each grade level, in reading and writing, to show how units of study address the California ELD standards. Read More...

The Units of Study for Teaching Reading: Middle School Grades, Introductory Bundle, as well as 3 new units, are now shipping to schools around the world. These units are designed to save teachers countless hours of planning time, and help kids meet grade-level expectations, all while building proficient, lifelong readers. Read More...

Summer is a great time to connect and think through new ideas for the year ahead. We hope you take advantage of the #TCRWP Twitter chats, Facebook pages and UoS groups, and the TCRWP Instagram page to advance the work in your school and classroom communities. Read More...

Daniela Anello, Head of School at DC Bilingual Public Charter School (DCB) in Washington DC, was featured on Nuestra Tele Noticias 24. Read More...

We would like to congratulate a number of award winning TCRWP schools for the recognition they have received nationally and in New York State. These schools have been recognized for their high level work and huge gains for the last three years. Read More

Lucy Calkins gives advice on what's most important in launching units of study in reading, writing and phonics. To read her full blog post, click here.

The project welcomes Kate Montgomery back to the TCRWP family as the Education in Emergencies Director, Global Initiatives. Kate brings years of experience in teacher education in the United States and internationally in places such as Kenya, Thailand and most recently in the Balkan forced migration route. Read More

Read this beautiful article, by workshop teacher, Justin Minkel, from Springdale, AR.Here, Justin reminds us all of the importance of growth, process, and the joy of learning. While we may have our eyes on benchmarks and proficiency, Justin urges us to remember the importance of the paths we take, not just our destinations. Read More...

Congratulations to Chancellor Betty Rosa and Regent Judith Chin on their re-election to another term on the NYS Board of Regents. We admire their leadership and dedication to improving statewide standards and assessments as well as by striving for greater equity for all students and families across New York State. Read More...

New! Units of Study in Phonics from Lucy Calkins and her TCRWP coauthors.

Grades K–1 will be coming in late summer 2018, and grade 2 is scheduled for release in January 2019. More...

The TCRWP Summer Institute 2018 brochure is now available! We're excited about our offerings for the coming summer. Applications for TC institutes are now open. Please be sure to join our mailing list, apply early, and be patient if our site experiences delays. Read more ...

"One of the best current examples of a literacy curriculum with an explicit grounding in ideas about progressions is provided by TCRWP." Read More

We are a coalition of educators, standing together in support of NAACP's efforts to create a safer Missouri, including its travel advisory in the light of recent events in the city of St. Louis and the State of Missouri. We oppose the passage of SB43, a bill that NAACP says, "Will prevent individuals from protecting themselves against discrimination, harassment, and retaliation." More...

On Wednesday, September 27, the TCRWP was delighted to welcome Sheila Heen, a lecturer at Harvard Law School, who gave a talk at the first principals conference entitled "Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well" More...

On Saturday, September 16th, six hundred educators gathered at Teachers College for the TCRWP's second Social Justice Saturday. Lucy Calkins opened the day with a solemn tone, noting that participants had convened in hopes of finding strength and solidarity with each other so that we can find ways to make stands for justice in these difficult times. More ...

The fund is now close, Thank You for your support.

Literacy Lifeboats get books, supplies, and volunteers immediately to Texas schools hit by Hurricane Harvey! Join TCRWP in rebuilding literacy-rich classrooms.

The Up the Ladder books are designed for kids in gr. 3–6 who might not have had experiences in writing workshop classrooms. The units give novice writers opportunities to engage in repeated successful practice and to move rapidly along a gradually increasing progression of challenges. Although designed to be precursors to the grade-level writing Units of Study, these units can be helpful in a variety of settings. Order here http://www.heinemann.com/products/E09658.aspx

It is with immeasurable sadness that I write to tell you that we have lost our beloved Kathleen Tolan. She died in her sleep on December 4, at the age of 53.
There is no loss that our organization could ever suffer that could be so deep, so devastating. Kathleen supported each of us with boundless love and intensity. Read More

The TCRWP is eager to support districts, schools and teachers who are implementing the Units of Study curriculum. In an effort to provide resources and updates, we have assembled videos and documents for your use. Our aim is always to support curriculum and instruction that is student-centered, responsive, and assessment based. When applicable, we'll post updates about our resources and recommendations. For example, we've created suggested sequences of Units of Study for the 2017-18 school year that reflects our current thinking and new publications. We're sharing three versions of a yearlong curriculum calendar— Read More...

As you make plans for the coming school year, we invite you to watch—or re-watch—the TCRWP's orientation videos to Units of Study for Reading, K-5 and Units of Study for Writing, K-8. Whether you are new to the Units, new to a grade, or just wanting a refresher course before embarking on a brand new year, this collection of videos offers valuable information, answers to predictable questions, and the most important advice we can give teachers on implementing the Units of Study. Enjoy!

Teachers College is an NYSED approved Continuing Teacher and Leader Education (CTLE) sponsor.Effective November 2016, CTLE credits shall be granted to New York State teachers who participate in institutes, calendar days, and seminars resulting in a Certificate of Completion issued by TCRWP.A data system to meet the SED electronic record keeping requirements is under development. In the interim, please maintain a copy of your Certificate of Completion should you wish to receive CTLE credits. More details to follow in June.

On February 1 and again on February 3 and 4, the TCRWP led two leadership summit events—one for principals and superintendents of 60 schools across Western and Central Connecticut, the other for 100 principals and superintendents of TCRWP California districts. Read More...

The Teachers College Reading and Writing Project at Columbia University tracks student achievement and student growth in a variety of ways, including using running records to measure growth in reading levels, using performance assessments to measure students' growth in higher order text-based thinking, and using normed on-demand argument, information, and narrative writing to measure growth in writing. We also collect state testing data. This report examines state testing data. Read More...

We are excited to announce that Looking Closely Like Scientists, a new Units of Study book for kindergarten writers, is in the works. The unit will be co-authored by Allyse Bader, Lizzie Hetzer and Marie Mounteer. "We're looking forward to turning this unit into a book," Allyse says, "It's been a long time favorite among kindergarten teachers across the country—and it's also a unit that has undergone especially dramatic revision." Read More...

On Friday, October 21, Heinemann Publishers hosted a party to celebrate the arrival of the TCRWP Classroom Libraries. In honor of the occasion, one entire library—the fourth grade on-benchmark library—was displayed in all its glory, filling twenty bins, each bearing its own distinctive label. Guests at the celebration were amazed by the sheer size of the collection, and were thrilled to hear more about the genesis of the effort. Read More...

At the first TCRWP Principals Conference of the year, Drew Dudley empowered over 200 principals to create cultures of leadership in their own buildings and to celebrate what he called "lollipop moments." Read More...

More and more schools are realizing that the teaching of writing needs to be a priority. What does research say about the conditions that will accelerate students' growth as writers, and how can school leaders help whole schools provide those conditions to every child? Read More...

We're pleased to announce that Heinemann is now accepting preorders for the forthcoming TCRWP Classroom Libraries. We are excited to get these books into the hands of teachers and students everywhere, to read and enjoy all year long. The entire TCRWP staff worked tirelessly with Lucy Calkins to provide a rich variety of texts for classroom libraries. You will see that there are classroom libraries of 500-700 books, both for specific grade levels and for students who are reading below grade level benchmarks. Read More...

The Teachers College Reading and Writing Project and Heinemann are proud to announce the release of four additional book-length Units of Study, each addressing an especially key topic from the If...Then… titles in the Units of Study series. These four books were written out of the tremendous feedback from teachers on their power. They are designed to help teachers dig deeper into these topics and to provide the instruction necessary to build stronger readers and writers in their classrooms. Read More ...

The TCRWP is excited to announce that a classroom library project is underway Read more...

As a part of our workshop offerings for teachers in schools that partner with the TCRWP, we've been delighted to welcome Heidi Hayes Jacobs, Kristin Ziemke, and Troy Hicks. Both teachers and TCRWP staff developers have been thinking and teaching alongside one another, aiming to determine ways to best make use of digital tools in workshop classrooms to support student growth. Read more…

Andrew Solomon brought down the house at the TCRWP's first Principals Conference. Read More

The school year is well underway and the Units of Study for Reading, K-5, and the Units of Study in Opinion, Information, and Narrative Writing, K-8, are launching reading and writing workshops across the country and the world. Read More...

Every job interview, scholarship application, and college application essay will ask young adults to tell their story. One of the greatest gifts teachers can give young adults is the skill to tell their own story with power and grace. There is an art to this writing, and it is an art we can teach young writers. It involves the skills of blending narrative craft with essay structures, of attending to language and grammatical choices, of immersing oneself in the genre, of daring to innovate while carefully considering audience. Click here for more information

When NYC Schools Chancellor, Carmen Farina was principal of PS 6 in Manhattan, she instituted a 'Book of the Month' program that has been adopted by many TCRWP schools over the years. These books are gifts to each classroom at the beginning of the month and are a wonderful way for schools to come together and celebrate and reinforce the importance of literacy. Read More

This July, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project hosted their second annual Institute in American History and Content Area Literacy. Click here for more information.

School has begun and the Units of Study for Reading, K-5 are in use in reading workshops around the world! Be sure to join the TCRWP's discussion group about the Units of Study for Reading on Facebook and post your comments to Twitter #RUOS. You can post pictures, videos, comments and questions. Read more about the series here.

The Teachers College Reading and Writing project recently hosted the 2^nd Annual Reading Rescue™ Institute. Over 200 Reading Rescue™ tutors and coordinators attended two days of workshops.

This week Lucy wrote the final word on the final book in the new series, Units of Study in Teaching Reading. The last few books are now, in publishing language, "off the loom." The only thing that remains to be done is that page proofs are still arriving by day. We have a few days to reread each book, adding student work and making any final improvements that will make it perfect. When the last book was sent off, the Project family and Lucy especially, sent up their own imaginary fireworks.

The TCRWP is delighted that Judy Chin, Coordinator of Strategic Development, has been elected to New York State's Board of Regents. Judy Chin is making history as the first Asian-American on the Board of Regents in its 231 years. When Judy entered Kindergarten in New York City, she did not speak English. When interviewed by New York State Legislators, Judy said that her experiences taught her, "how challenging it must be, how frightening it must be to be a young child on the first day of school in the American school system and not able to speak a word of English."

In addition to the four summer institutes held at Teachers College and 'Homegrown' institutes held all over the country, the TCRWP will once again partner with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation for an institute dedicated to content area literacy on-site in Colonial Williamsburg. This grant-funded institute will take place from July 21-27, 2015 and is open to teachers in New York State. Scholarships are available, and the Scholarship Application deadline has been extended to by May 13, 2015.

Liftoff to Learning: Heathcote Elementary students apply the design-thinking process and the freedom to get creative to build their own rockets in Scarsdale, NY. Using only a few basic materials and their imaginations the students gain perspective of the design (and redesign) process through trial and error, building off of their initial experiences and re-evaluating their ideas. Watch how the students jump into action, take risks and discover a new way of learning! Click here to see for yourself!

Donalyn Miller, also known as the Book Whisperer, was a keynote speaker at the TCRWP August Reading Institute. She came and spoke about the importance, the research, and the ways teachers can help students become lifelong readers. So what exactly do lifelong readers do? A few very predictable things...

In Mary Ehrenworth's keynote address at the Reading Institute, she suggested working on argument during read aloud. below you will find a protocol that she presented in how to engage students in this work during reading.

New York City is certainly no stranger to red carpet events, but needless to say, when PS 54, the Magnet School for Environmental Studies in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, hosted their own black-tie affair, it was a night to remember!

When many of us picture our ideal writing workshop classrooms, we imagine students spread about, heads bent to the task, writing utensils filling page after page of writing, perhaps with some soft music playing in the background. We imagine conferring and pulling small groups in order to teach rich strategies and to give encouragement.

"All kids have prior knowledge. The question is, does it match what they are learning in school?"

This was just one of many memorable quotes participants jotted down as Nell K. Duke spoke to principals during their January conference at Teachers College. Duke is a professor of literacy, language, and culture at the University of Michigan. She is also the author of numerous articles and books on early literacy development, reading comprehension instruction, and informational reading and writing in the primary grades. Her research often focuses on children living in poverty and issues of equity in literacy instruction. Passionate about children and about research, Duke shared many insights about what is truly important when it comes to developing children's reading and comprehension skills.

Writing Pathways: Performance Assessments and Learning Progressions, K-5, by Lucy Calkins (Heinemann, 2013) has yielded insightful conversations about writing assessments and tracking student progress across the unit and year, as well as studying trends across the grade and school. This publication has also helped educators think about their own methods as writing teachers and how we can be more effective to promote the success of young writers. Here are five ways that you can study the writing in your school alongside a book study ofWriting Pathways. T

Expanding children's vocabulary is critical to their success in school and in life. There is a connection between a wider knowledge of vocabulary and increased comprehension because the more words children know the more subtleties they understand, and the more nuanced interpretations they are able to develop. Learning words requires much more than mere exposure, it requires usage in both speaking and writing. Kids love learning and using big, fancy words, so often teachers who create literacy rich classrooms that highlight vocabulary throughout the course of the day find their students' vocabulary skills increase. Below are a few ideas that teachers can put to use easily and immediately.