Content Category: Lead Literacy
Results
Writing Realistic Fiction
One of the most memorable aha moments I have ever had with a student was with Wesley. He was working on an elaborate story that spanned days and maybe even...
Coaching Minute: Sharing Individual Learning with Teaching Teams
Jean Russell explains how she leverages one-on-one coaching for learning with entire grade-level teams.
Increasing the Stickiness of Minilessons
During a coaching cycle early in the year, a common goal that teachers set for their students is transference of strategies taught during the minilesson to their independent writing time....
Finding Themes in Graphic Novels
Tammy Mulligan leads a demonstration small group on finding themes in graphic novels. The lesson includes a prebrief and debrief with the teacher.
Rethinking Retelling
First . . . Next . . . Then . . . Last. These popular sequential words are plastered on anchor charts in elementary classrooms and within retelling bookmarks in...
Classroom Library Reflection
I once read an article where the author proclaimed that everyone should read 50 pages of a novel before abandoning it. However, after you turn 50, the writer insisted, you...
Priming the Pump
The morning dew had just started to evaporate as bright summer sunbeams had begun to peek over the trees. A jogger and his dog were making their way down the...
Coaching Minute: Supporting New Teachers
Literacy coach Jen Court explains how she is supporting an influx of nine new teachers in her building this year.
Second Chances
In professional conversations, we have a finite amount of time to say what we want to say. Our turn lasts only so long, right? Meetings, conferences, and presentations require back-and-forth...
Coaching Minute: Dealing with Parent Concerns
Principal Lee Snider talks about how he deals with parent concerns.
Family Literacy Breakfasts
Max arrived at school early and alone this Friday morning. It happened to be a morning we were having a family literacy breakfast, an event that we run a few...
Feedback That Fortifies
Feedback that fortifies is a critical part of useful formative assessment. It comes at a time when the learner needs it most to improve performance or product. In the most...
The Feedback Trap
Feedback certainly is a hot topic. It maintains its place in education, business, and medicine. It’s not hard to find books and articles that promise to help you give better...
Jump Right In and Other Lessons Learned from Remote Coaching
Sit side by side. Read the room. Choose a meeting spot that works best for the teacher. All of these practical coaching tips, gathered over the years and put into...
Competitive Comparisons
We’re deep in the brave new world of remote online learning, and it has revealed a long-kept secret about education: Many of us are quietly competitive and make constant, relentless...
Grade-Level Team Meeting: Student Notebooks
Kathy Provost coaches two third-grade teachers as they consider what students are jotting in their notebooks and how they could make changes before beginning a new unit.
Investing in Coaching Logs
The first time I was introduced to the concept of a coaching log, I am sure that I rolled my eyes, clucked my teeth, crossed my arms, and sighed, or...
Find Friends
Lean on me, when you're not strong And I'll be your friend I'll help you carry on For it won't be long 'Til I'm gonna need Somebody to lean on...
Remote Learning for Our Youngest Students
I’ve been reflecting on the events of the past few weeks, a still-fresh alternate reality in which I’d wake up in the morning with one plan and have it changed...
Solutions to Predictable Problems with Writing in Kindergarten
The kindergarten and first-grade classrooms we visit have moved into their launching units in writing workshop. The writers are working to write small-moment stories across pages of a book. Predictably,...
Demonstration Small Group: Emergent Kindergarten Readers
Clare Landrigan leads a demonstration small group of emergent kindergarten readers focused on inferring. They are reading Cookie's Week. The lesson includes a prebrief and debrief with the teacher.
