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Getting Mentor Texts in Students’ Hands
Ever since I learned about the value of mentor texts to help students’ writing, I have tried to use them as often as possible. I thought I was doing a...
The Power of Sketchbooks for Coaches
I used a variety of sketchbooks as a classroom teacher to brainstorm possible charts to create for read-aloud, minilessons, and small-group instruction. However, I never really found one I loved...
Taking a Literacy Temperature
I am the principal of a different school this year. Although I was devastated to leave my previous building—I loved it, and it truly felt like home to me—part of...
What’s in Your Bag?
What's in your bag? We are asked this question often. It may not always be organized, and you might find tea bags or candy wrappers in it, but there are...
Mentor Texts and Memoir Writing
Writing is only reading turned inside out. John Updike One of the things that I struggle with at times in my writing is where and how to begin. I...
What I Learned About Teaching Writing from My Trainer
I don’t like to exercise. Not usually. I wish I did, but I just don’t. I know I should like it. I try to, but I don’t. And so, twice...
Jumping into Just-Right Apps
My K-1 students gathered together in front of a giant projection of my iPad screen. They dutifully placed their own iPads in their laps as they listened to me lead...
Tech Anchor Charts
In my fifth-grade language arts class, we use a lot of technology. The start of the year seems incomplete when comparing this new group of students with the ones who...
Student Writing, Filters, and Social Media
As I’ve thought about how social media affects the stories we tell, I’ve started to consider the earliest lessons writers need. One of the first things today’s writers need to...
Coaching Teachers to Support Gifted Learners
When I sit down with my colleagues to plan for reading workshop, the inputs can be overwhelming. In addition to the assessments we use in our own classrooms, and the...
The Power of a Hashtag for Districtwide Reading
We’ve all seen them, the “#” sign with some words behind them. Maybe you’ve seen them as part of a television show or part of a skit from Jimmy Fallon...
One Task Fits All
Teachers, often and with good reason, get exasperated by all the demands on their time that don’t connect with their daily work in the classroom. The day-to-day planning of instruction...
CoffeeEDU
One thing we are all searching for is “on-demand” professional development that is relevant and timely. Twitter is a great platform for getting this form of PD. The concept of...
Picture It: A Mentor Text Is Like . . .
Looking for a way to assess the effect of your professional development sessions on teachers? Try having them compare your area of focus to an everyday object. This picture is...
Coaching Basics: Choice
My father-in-law taught me to drive his new fishing boat. It is unlike any fishing boat I’ve ever seen. Sparkles and speed combine to make me feel like a character...
Professional Development Planning
Many times after a professional development session, I find myself playing a rewind game in my head—thinking about what I would have done differently, what I forgot to do, or...
Alternatives to Home/School Reading Logs
When I announced to my fourth graders that we would not be having reading logs this year, they breathed a collective sigh of relief, and a whispered chorus of thanks...
Bringing Writers’ Voices Home with QR Codes
I love the feeling of wrapping up a unit of study in writing. I love watching my students choose a favorite piece and prepare to make it public by adding...
Stamina Bubbles
I sat down next to Sarah to listen in on her reading when she whispered, “Why do you always say 'Happy reading!' to us when we begin?” Her question caught...
Always Another Choice
Faculty meetings can be tough for me. Over the past year, I made a new commitment to try to contribute to the community without vying for power or inadvertently bumping...
Ways into Personal Narratives
I’ve always picked personal narratives as our first big writing piece in fifth grade. My students are typically familiar enough with what a narrative is that I can dive in...
