Article Content Type: Article
Results
Powerful Conferences
When we expect powerful conferences, then we get powerful conferences. Sometimes it is easy to think the videos of conferences we see online or the benefits we read about in...
High Schools, Scale, and Reluctance: A Podcast with Diane Sweeney
In this 18-minute podcast, Diane Sweeney talks with Heather Rader about the challenges of coaching at the secondary level, and shares advice for working with reluctant teachers. Diane's latest book...
Picture It: Just in Time Writing Resources
An Outlook appointment pops up to remind Heather Sisson that the spring writing assessment is approaching in three weeks for her K-6 colleagues. She uses clear plastic tubs to display...
Incorporating Kids into Professional Development for Adults
Working in a diverse district, I’m thoughtful about the videos I use with educators. I’ve learned that if the students don’t look like the kids in our classrooms, the learning...
Going Public with Study Groups
It started with the cancellation of the "What’s New in Children’s Literature" study group. We couldn’t meet on our designated date, so instead of rescheduling the meeting I asked teachers...
Collecting PLC Data with Google Forms
Like so many others, my district has adopted the professional learning communities (PLCs) model as one of our main sources for professional development. In doing so, we give teachers the...
Quick Check-ins: Touching Base Before Coaching Sessions
Coaching places teachers’ self-esteem and professional respect on the line, because it exposes how teachers teach, how they think about teaching, and how they plan for teaching to the scrutiny...
Time In/Time Out Conference: Andrew
In this "time in/time out" conference, Ruth Ayres and Cathy Laker meet with second grader Andrew, who is working on a "versus" story in writing workshop.
Virtually Coaching a Lesson
I'd known Chad for about two months when his first observation was scheduled. Chad had shared with me that he didn't feel like his new principal understood him. Even though...
November Contract: Family and Memoir
November is a month of celebrating family and giving thanks. It’s a time when many people go "home" to relatives and traditions. As much as we all love our families,...
Shared Blogging in the Primary Classroom
Several years ago I discovered blogging as a way to build our first-grade learning community. Blogging changed our community as it opened the conversations between students, gave quieter students a...
Dandelions, Chinese, and Patience with Our Youngest Learners
Seven dandelions plucked with short stems sit in a line on the arm of the bench. By this, I know that a very young child has been here recently. Only...
Finding a Writing Buddy
We begin our introduction to the revision process of our genre study with a question, “What might you want to read in another writer’s personal narrative?” The hands pop up....
Two Lessons for Teaching Theme
I want students to know how to find theme in any fiction they are reading, and to be aware of the critical devices authors use to tell their story and...
Learning from Kidwatching
It took Sierra a few weeks to decide to talk in Keri Archer’s kindergarten class. Her father startled Keri the first time she met him: his face was steel gray,...
The Power of the Spoken Word
I am exploring the new Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts (ELA). I flip to a new section and read Speaking and Listening, Comprehension and Collaboration. My eyes...
High Expectations? Looking for Evidence
Without any say in the plot, my life's story was already written. My high school counselor casually checked off that I had met the minimum requirements in math with an...
Choice, Content, and Format: Understanding How Boys Write
During a Skype visit last spring, author Gae Polisner asked my class how many of them loved reading. Hands shot to the sky; all of my 24 students raised their...
She Wants to Be Katniss for Halloween: Courageous Girls in Books
Fifth-grader Kennedy has never dressed up as a girl for Halloween -- at least not since she was three years old. As soon as she was old enough to state...
Pumpkin Time: Provocations and Stories with Preschoolers
During these early weeks of preschool, beyond learning classroom routines and rules, managing behaviors, and teaching new ways to interact, I’m working on developing some foundational skills and attitudes. Fostering...
There’s a Lot More There Than Just a Share
It’s the last eight minutes of writing workshop and Cheri calls the students back together. Most students stop and look up from their writing spots, but not all. She shows...
