We're four days into the SOLSC. Write. Share. Give.

It’s day 3 of our 31-day writing challenge! Write your slice of life story, share your link in the comments, and comment on at least three other Slicers’ stories.

Day 2 of our 31-day writing challenge! Join us by writing your slice of life story, sharing the link in the comments, and commenting on at least three other Slicers’ stories. Let's keep the momentum going!

WELCOME! Use this post to share your link for the first day of the 19th Annual Slice of Life Story Challenge. Please read the whole post, especially the announcements, before adding your slice-of-life story link.

Move writing from a school task to a meaningful way for students to participate in the world. A starting guide of minilessons is included for multiple literacies, ideal for grades 3-8.

With just five days and a wakeup until our March challenge, connect with fellow writers by sharing your story today.

Visual-motor integration is a critical component of successful handwriting, and ultimately, successful writers. Build it during any chance you have.

If you're stuck figuring out how to support writers' foundational skills or simply want to grow your teaching knowledge and expertise, Melanie Meehan and Maggie Beattie Roberts' new book, Foundational Skills for Writing, is a must-have resource.

With less than two weeks until our March challenge, spark your creativity and join our writing community today.

Curious about the upcoming Slice of Life Story Challenge? Find clear answers to the most common questions in this updated FAQ. If you don’t see what you’re looking for, reach out to a co-author (contact details are at the end of the post).

What can you make with a few pieces of scrap paper, a handful of pebbles, and some silver bottle caps? Read to found out!

Ever sit down ready to work—only to realize something you need is missing? The same thing happens to writers. Learn how digital writing centers prevent frustration, support independence, and keep elementary writers moving forward.

We have less than three months until our March challenge begins! Our March challenge is just around the corner. Get your creativity flowing and connect with other Slicers by sharing your slice-of-life story now.

Leah shares an update on Author's Club in the hope that these reflections might inspire others to create a space for passionate young writers of their own.

Last week, Two Writing Teachers brought you their winter blog series on practices of great writing teachers. In case you missed it, here's a recap of those posts, and an announcement of our giveaway winners!

Following Jessica’s invitation to rally a community of writers, this post focuses on the behind-the-scenes work of February. Before teachers begin writing together in March, they need systems, resources, and reassurance. Here’s how one shared Google Doc became a support system that helped teachers feel ready to show up.

With less than a month until our March challenge, warm up your writing muscles and share your story with our global community today.

Training for Slice of Life doesn’t have to be a solo run. Whether you invite one friend or a whole school, writing together changes everything.

In today’s classrooms, too many writing lessons begin with a script and a preselected book, leaving teachers little room to draw on their expertise or deep knowledge of their students. It's time to reclaim professional choice in selecting mentor texts. When teachers choose mentor texts for their students, they nurture stronger, more confident writers who see themselves reflected in the texts they study.

Modeling strong writing and surfacing teacher thinking are essential for guiding students to become better writers. Today Sarah surfaces why these practices are so important and suggests actionable steps for bringing them back.

Lainie Levin's been lucky enough to learn from other teachers throughout her career. In this article, she shares how powerful peer observation can be for writing teachers.

The collective expertise of teachers working together to problem-solve and respond to learners is what brings any curricular resource to life.

Welcome to the Tuesday Slice of Life! Whether it's weather that's buffeting some of us about, or the slog of the academic year at this point in the calendar, or the noise of the world around us, it's time for strength, love, and community.

In this post, Jessica Carey, revisits the role of curiosity, professional reading, and shared thinking in teaching, and considers how reclaiming them might reconnect educators to the art of their work. Read more to step into a quieter, more intentional vision for professional learning, one that honors teachers as thinkers, not just implementers.

Your writing doesn’t have to be perfect. Or right. Or even good. In and of itself, your writing will be a resource and an inspiration for your instruction, the students in your world, and… yourself. 

Beginning on Sunday, the Two Writing Teachers will be sharing a series of posts that highlight important and effective practices of writing instruction.

In 2026, fitness goals scream do it all—lift more, walk more, recover more. That pressure mirrors the overwhelm we unintentionally create in writing workshop—so what if we trained writers in workout clubs instead of asking them to do it all?

Welcome to the Tuesday Slice of Life. Here's hoping this week brings you light, warmth, and joy.

As readers, we connect with authors through their author bios. Let's teach our young authors to write author bios that connect to their writing and their readers, too!

Students of all ages love the March Classroom Challenge and connecting with young writers from around the world. Just like exercise, writers get stronger the more they work their writing muscles. By the end of the month, students will be able to reflect on their growth as writers! Learn about how to make the Classroom SOLSC work for your class!

Happy Tuesday! It's time to write, post, and share. It's also not too early to sign up to participate in the 19th Annual Slice of Life Story Challenge. I've already signed up, and I hope you will, too.

The 19th Annual Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOLSC) will begin at Two Writing Teachers on March 1. Participants will write slice-of-life stories and comment on other writers’ submissions to foster a flourishing writing community. You may sign up for the challenge using the Google form embedded into this blog post.

Writers need to practice writing as much as they need to produce writing (perhaps even more!). Let's dig into some strategies for infusing practice opportunities into our classrooms and our own writing lives.

It's the first Tuesday of the year, which means that many veteran slicers may be sharing their "One Little Word." Whether or not you participate in the OLW tradition this week, share a link to your writing. While you're at it, visit other sites to share some comment love.

Templates and organizers are effective scaffolds for many writers as they navigate their learning of sentence, paragraph, and compositional writing. And, along that pathway, exists the challenge of incorporating their voice, cadence, and interest into their writing.

I’m thinking about writing challenges the way runners think about races: you don’t just show up; you train. In this post, I’m treating January as a practice season for March, focusing on consistency over perfection. One sentence a day. Low stakes. Building trust in my writing muscles. If you’re feeling the nudge to write too, come train alongside me.

Your final slice of #SOL25!

It's Tuesday! Come slice with us today.

At my NCTE presentation, I shared strategies for boosting writing engagement, using the ICEL Framework as a guide. Some key recommendations include increasing involuntary student participation, being flexible with curriculum demands, fostering a supportive writing community, and getting to know students as writers and people.

Welcome to Tuesday's Slice of Life!

As we crawl toward winter break, it’s worth remembering that writing isn’t just something we teach; it’s something that can refill us. This post explores simple, meaningful ways to reconnect with your own writing life.

How can we prepare for the complexity of writing instruction and the roadblocks for students? We can create question sequences that help us prepare for the side-by-side conversations as writers develop and create.

For years, I wondered why students weren’t applying word study, reading, or writing strategies across the day—until a mentor asked me a simple question and everything clicked. Here's how you can bring that clarity to your classroom, too.

Join us today for a Tuesday slice! #SOL25

If you teach with curriculum that isn’t workshop based, but know that those missing workshop elements would increase your students’ writing development, then it’s time to “workshopify” the curriculum!

Estimated Reading time: 737 words,3 minutes. Audience: Elementary Teachers The Context There was a time in my life when teaching writing didn’t involve actual writing. I understood writing instruction as that, just a set of instructions and feedback for students. Then came Writing Workshop, and with it, the gift of rediscovering my love for writing. Being encouraged to sit and write with my students felt like a recess pass. Year after year, I wrote alongside them. I sketched, scribbled, and made lists while they transitioned from the minilesson to independent work.

It's #GivingTuesday! Join us in the generosity of shared stories.

I'm always seeking out gifts for fellow teachers. This year, I’m featuring work created by members of our Two Writing Teachers community. Today’s post features a “wish list” of books that our co-authors have written, along with a call for publications written by you, our TWT members!

When you think about the impact of strength and coordination on writing, it helps you realize that big movements lead to smaller movements. Therefore, paying attention to the development and progression of large motor skills can help develop writers.

It's that time of the week again! Please join us for SOL Tuesday.