Results
Boosting Attendance at Study Groups

Many study group leaders find themselves facing two demographic challenges in coordinating study groups that meet before or after school. Middle-aged faculty are often in the "sandwich" generation, caring for...

Planning a New Teachers’ Professional Development Program

It's the beginning of July and I am already sketching out plans for the first day of Charting the Course, the monthly professional development group for new teachers in our school....

Puzzle Kids: Observing and Analyzing Challenging Students (E-GUIDE)

Puzzle kids. Students on the bubble. Children in danger of falling through the cracks. Every teacher can instantly think of students who fit these terms, and can just as quickly...

Writing to Reflect: Quotes for Quick Writing, Reflection, and Discussion (Download)

Educator Parker Palmer talks about the importance of "third things" for teacher renewal and growth—poems, images, or ideas outside our immediate learning community that we can look at together, discuss,...

The Dog Ate My Study Group Plans! Four Instant (and Fun and Reflective) No-Prep Teacher Workshops (E-GUIDE)

Okay, so maybe it wasn't the dog that ate your plans. Maybe leading today's study group is the 45th item on your "To Do" list, and you just didn't get...

Literacy Coach Confidential: Some Study Group Participants Aren’t Reading the Book

 A couple teachers who participate in our book discussion group don't seem to be reading the book - at all. It makes for awkward moments in the conversation, like last...

Four Essentials in Designing Professional Development for Literacy Leaders

I never imagined years ago when I was a first-grade teacher that I would one day be responsible for designing professional development for literacy leaders in a highly successful school...

Charting the Course: A Yearlong Professional Development Plan for New Teachers (SCHEDULE)

My first task in thinking through how to work with new teachers was to design a professional development plan for the entire year. Only then could I be sure the...

Layered Support: Meeting the Needs of Beginning Teachers

The new teachers who reported feeling the most supported described their schools as having what we called "integrated professional cultures." There, new teachers could expect frequent and meaningful interaction among...

Classroom Tours: Learning from Colleagues

A few years ago we had someone from outside our school community do a walkthrough of classrooms in our building, to help us figure out how we could create better...