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Lead Literacy Articles & Videos (formerly leadliteracy.com)

Our lounge is your home for exploring hundreds of articles and videos for literacy coaches and school leaders. Our contributors share their best advice for working one-on-one with teachers in coaching cycles, hosting professional development sessions, and designing demonstration lessons and study groups.

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Coach-Principal Meeting Template

We know how important principal-coach meetings are. Having a common system to follow gives a sense of cohesiveness and purpose and helps everyone participate effectively. Hannah Tills shares the process of creating a template with a standard agenda and space for meeting notes. 

Trying Something New

To survive and thrive as an educator, it’s essential to be able to work with and work through change of all kinds. Julie Cox offers tried-and-true suggestions for any leader who is facing changes big and small.

Professional Math Resources for Right Now

Mandy Robek has curated a thoughtful list of professional math resources for those who want to apply wise instructional practices to any curriculum or grade level. This list uplifts ways to understand or analyze students’ thinking and value their strategies for solving problems. Mandy includes both professional texts and podcasts.

Thanks for the Feedback: Leaning Into Tricky Conversations

Giving feedback is a skill you can grow with time and practice like any other skill. It is not judgmental when you stick with a clear and concise format, avoid emotions that may lead to feelings of blame, and offer the other person a chance to share any additional thoughts and feelings. Gwen Blumberg shares how to lean into these potentially tricky conversations to help everyone work better together.

Be Hard on the Systems and Gentle with the People: How a Systems Approach Can Reduce Teacher Burnout and Lead to Better Outcomes

This article makes the case that schools can be more intentional about interrogating the practices and policies that may be contributing to some of the very problems we attempt to prevent in the first place. Put more succinctly, Matt Renwick advocates for being hard on the systems and gentle with the people.

Work/Life Balance

In this thought-provoking essay, Julie Cox considers ways to bring a more relaxed mindset into the busyness of school.

Take It on the Road…I Dare You!

Are students entirely unmotivated, or are they just not motivated by the things we expect them to be? Mary Brower is inspired by a golf cart adventure and realizes key principles to create classroom environments where students are encouraged to take risks, reflect on their experiences, and turn fear into bravery.

Acts of Service: AI and Student Feedback

Suzy Kaback offers a thoughtful review of using AI for giving feedback on student writing and a reflection for making it a wise and practical use of technology. Suzy offers a list of articles to help each of us develop our own understanding and stance on using AI for feedback on student writing.

Sometimes You Have to Grow a New Skin

Mary Brower gives a practical approach to testing and deciding whether a new approach is something to embrace or question.

How to Build Your System for Knowing, Thinking, and Writing

Your notes deserve better than to be forgotten. Matt Renwick shares a system that supports what you know, think, and write and helps ensure your ideas have a home beyond a disorganized binder.

Art as a Restorative Teaching Practice

Joanne Emery thoughtfully plans professional learning experiences using art as a restorative practice. She offers three ideas to create a space where teachers can use the power of art to create and connect.

Teachers as Leaders: Five Ways to Create the Conditions for Change (Part 2)

In this second installment, Matt Renwick clarifies a pathway school leaders can take as they seek more equitable outcomes for all students. School improvement is complex, adaptive work. The five Vs framework acknowledges this reality and provides structure without imposing rigidity. 

Teachers as Leaders: Five Ways to Create the Conditions for Change (Part 1)

Matt Renwick shares a model to lean on as teachers and coaches navigate the unpredictable terrain of school-wide change. This is the first installment of a two-part series.

Don’t Be in Such a Hurry to Put Out the Fire (and Completely Miss the Flame)

Mary Brower realizes she spends a lot of time listening to respond rather than understand. This inspires her to help students learn how to listen—really listen—to one another.

Gaining Confidence One Move at a Time

Heather Fisher knows firsthand that confidence does not come easy. Here she shares three intentional actions leaders can take to build their confidence in leading professional learning.

Connecting with the Goals of the School Community

Teacher Educators Teach | Suzy Kaback shares details to help students connect with a school community. In this article full of templates and student examples, she taps the power of listening walks and empathy interviews.

Pay Attention to What You Pay Attention To: Leveraging the Power of a Door

Ruth Ayres invites us use our doors as an opportunity to share core values and inspire others. As leaders, we are change makers. We can leverage attentional bias to help make change positive and joyful in our schools. 

What I Learned About Having a Difficult Conversation

Hannah Tills writes an authentic reflection of a difficult coaching conversation that did not go well. In this must-read for all leaders who have wished a conversation had gone differently, Hannah shares reminders of how to approach the tough conversations so they will be effective.

The Difference Between Change and Transition

Matt Renwick teases out the differences between change and transition. Transitions have a longer timeline than change. Leaders can accelerate this process by building trust, providing clarity, and understanding the process that comes with renewal.

Goals Create Direction

Brian Sepe offers sage advice about goal-setting to relieve stress. He offers a simple framework that will keep your coaching conversations focused on student growth and forward momentum.

The Coach’s Notebook: How to Capture and Organize Your Notes to Support Your Practice

Matt Renwick opens his own coaching notebook and teaches school leaders ways to support teaching and learning through structured note-taking. The coach’s notebook is not art; it is a tool that supports your practice.

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