Article Content Type: Article
Results
Clearing the Plate: Helping Teachers Feel Free, Not Full
“David,” she said, “I’m so sorry. I just can’t do our session today.” Her tired expression, slumped shoulders, and weak voice had told me that already. “Don’t worry about it,...
Fear of Reading
When I first start talking about the amount of independent reading we will be doing in class during the year, I expect some of the following reactions: some groans, some...
High Standards and Struggling Learners
Jerry was a student in my class this past year. He was in my seventh-grade social studies class. He showed up to the first day of school in dirty sweatpants...
Conferences Between Middle School Parents and Teachers
The week after school started, my 14-year-old nephew announced he would have four study halls during eighth grade. My sister looked at me for an explanation, her face expressing pained...
A Literacy Foundation
I lead a school in a building with a lot of history. Veteran teachers currently working in the building can recall their first day of kindergarten in the...
Data Pictures Instead of Data Walls
I've never been a big fan of data walls. They typically consist of bulletin boards and physical space that house student data, documenting various levels of student literacy achievement. One...
Word Study PD: Building on Strengths
I enjoy working out. But I have a not-so-secret hatred embedded in those workouts: push-ups. I can run, deadlift, jump, and lunge with the best of them (okay, that’s an...
Four-Step Reading Conferences
Conferences with my middle school readers often went like this: I would pull up a chair alongside a reader, ask about the reader’s current book, and listen to the summary...
Student-Led Minilessons in Fifth Grade
At the end of the year, each student in my classroom taught a minilesson to the class. There were no formal rules or templates. My only directions were “Think of...
Student-Led Minilessons in Middle School
“Can I try teaching a minilesson?” Marta asked after class one day. I have been teaching middle school social studies in a workshop model for about 10 years now. Each...
Classroom Visit Protocols
I have a friend whose mother-in-law has a tendency to just drop in for a visit . . . and stay. All afternoon. Nana never calls to announce that she...
The Third Rail: Coaching and Instructional Assessment
As I reflected with Joy about our recent coaching cycle, we looked back to our original goals and the pre- and post-data about her students' work. We had seen more...
Russell Freedman Book Clubs
I love the idea of having all my students read the same book and discuss it. The shared interest and excitement that comes from having book clubs in the classroom...
Expanding Black History Month Reading
It’s easy to tell when it’s Black History Month. Every classroom has a display of favorite read aloud books featuring African Americans. Children can look forward to hearing them during...
Scheduling Study Groups for the Year
It’s that time of year when I launch professional development offerings for next year. Some of the texts are being used in voluntary study groups, others in grade-level team meetings....
Book Study
For school leaders, developing effective professional development is a nagging itch that never goes away—valuable, troublesome, and difficult to conquer. Yet, when we ask teachers what they would most like...
Picture Book Biographies
Whenever I heard the word biography from my teacher while I was growing up, my mind translated it as a long, boring, unappealing, and completely dull book. I never would’ve...
Does the Pencil Still Have Power?
All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered. The point is to discover them. Galileo Galilei An enormous supply of graphite was found in northern England in...
Ohana Means “Family”
Ohana is the Hawaiian word for "family," with a meaning that is both simple and complex. Ohana includes the people to whom you’re related, as well as the larger group...
Outreach by Reaching Out
Standing on the curb on a late-October Monday morning as the bitter-cold Chicago wind sank its claws into the always unsuspecting midwestern suburbia, I was not ready to battle these...
Creating the Future
The best way to predict the future is to create it. As teachers arrived in August, we asked them one question: “What is your hope?” Then we watched this short...
