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Six Ways to Empower Teachers to Write
If we want to teach students to write, then we must understand how writers work. The best way to understand how writers work is to write! When teachers write, their...
Creating a Digital Footprint
Have you ever Googled yourself? You know, just to see what would come up? If you haven’t, I encourage you to do just that. Put your name in Google, put...
An Unconventional Scavenger Hunt: Finding Errors
I have always been flummoxed when I see simple, silly errors in grammar and spelling that is presented to the public—particularly when done by professionals. From advertising to journalistic print,...
Learning Land
I swear it feels like I get an email every five minutes from someone trying to sell me something for our school. Assemblies, puppet shows, field trips, author visits, motivational...
Where the Magic Happens
Jeff Wilhelm was a new faculty member at the University of Maine when I enrolled in his graduate course called Teacher Research many years ago. The signature assignment in this...
Beyond the Comfort Zone: Books for Our Times
Recently, I was sitting at dinner next to one of my favorite authors and surrounded by colleagues. The conversation turned to what makes a book controversial. One teacher mentioned a...
Replicating or Deepening?
I remember well during my first year of teaching middle school when an experienced (and intimidating) colleague reprimanded me for “stealing” a popular poem he claimed was “his” to teach....
The Pocahontas Ewww: Writing and Inquiry for Context
As I started my lesson, Briana called out, “Is it true that Pocahontas was a little girl when she got married? That’s just wrong.” This is a typical response from...
How to Keep Conferring Notes
My husband, Andy, coaches our daughter’s junior league softball team. He is a bit of an extremist when it comes to collecting stats and notes on each player. He keeps...
Finding Clues in Writing Folders
We had just wrapped up our writing celebration—a museum filled with student experts talking and teaching about topics they care about. I was reading through the final published pieces, celebrating...
Go-To Texts for Demonstration Lessons
As coaches we are always on the lookout for new picture books that we can use during demonstration lessons. These texts must be short enough so we can quickly read...
After the Demonstration: Modeling Healthy, Sustainable Reflection
The older my children get, the more intentional I am about making the most of the smallest snippets of time we have together. Lately, I’ve been thinking about the 10...
New Year Resolutions
Are you idealistic like me and pledge to do your job SO much better at the beginning of every year? Perhaps you’ve just finished an “off” year . . ....
Making Classroom Visits a Habit
In a previous article for Lead Literacy, I outlined my plan for becoming more organized and intentional as a school principal. I will check email only at certain times of...
Charts as Tools, Charts as Teachers
We’ve all been in (or, at times, have been) the classroom that has chart paper as wallpaper. Every open space, and maybe even open window, is occupied by a chart....
First Days of Reading Support
The first weeks of school set the tone for the entire year. In these beginning days, teachers and students start to build connections that will carry them through the year....
Collaborative Charting in First Grade
A small ball of clay brought heartwarming excitement to the six- and seven-year-olds in the classroom. Their small hands rushed into mine as I passed out the pieces of scissor-cut...
Padlet Possibilities
Far and away the most-used technology resource in my fifth-grade classroom is Padlet. Padlet is simply a website. I think of it as an online bulletin board. There are two...
Erasing the Lines in the Sand
Social media is a place of strong opinions. Political. Lifestyle. Educational. In one recent Facebook conversation, a young teacher sought clarification on the difference between book clubs and literature circles....
Defining Your Role as a Coach
After eight years, my husband and I have settled into our marriage. Balancing the demands of our relationship, our full-time jobs, our two children, and everything else means we have...
Making Coaching Meaningful: Establishing Goals and Roles
When I first became a coach, I made some big stumbles. Full disclosure: I still do. They’re just new ones. More than once, these stumbles were caused by a failure...
