Content Category: Lead Literacy
Results
Allocating Services
Each autumn, a few weeks after the school doors have opened again after summer break, we gather a group of teachers, support staff, and administrators to consider our literacy data...
Meeting Mind-Set
“These meetings are a waste of my time.” I frequently hear this from colleagues. Sometimes, I even think it myself. In a recent conversation a dear friend and colleague said...
Can Anyone Be an Instructional Coach?
It was August, and we had a classroom teacher to hire. The reasons were positive: an increase in enrollment plus a school board and community that is very supportive of...
Coaching as Inquiry
As coaches we are always trying to gauge our effectiveness, always working to learn and grow, always looking for the answers to our questions about the work we do alongside...
Using Concern Forms for Feedback
The practice of having playground balls kept in classrooms or just outside the door is disruptive and unnecessary. The biggest problem is the continuous bouncing of balls in the hallway...
Coaching Feedback and Reflection
A leader’s job is not to do the work for others, it’s to help others figure out how to do it themselves, to get things done and to succeed beyond...
Graphics and Coaching Opportunities
An email from the principal. A curriculum memo from the assistant superintendent. The monthly newsletter from district office. Teachers are bombarded with Very Important Information every day. I wanted to...
Telling Our Story
It was a few years ago when our principal called us all into the media center for a bit of news. One of my favorite games is Guess the News,...
Third-Grade Team Discussion: Rate Your Post-It Tool
Literacy coach Kathy Provost leads a team of third-grade teachers as they discuss using a "Rate Your Post-It" visual tool in their classrooms.
Protecting Your Coaching Time
It was 3:00 p.m. when the dismissal bell rang. Some students bolted from the building to head for home, and others chatted loudly in the bus line. I emerged from...
Culture for Coaching Part 4: Schoolwide Coaching Cycles
This is the final article in a series of four articles about creating a culture for effective coaching. After a base of common expectations, trust, and skills have been established,...
Starting a Coaching Cycle: The First Meeting
First impressions are everything. As an instructional coach, half the battle is getting teachers interested in coaching cycles. The other half of the battle is making a good first impression....
Authentically Curious
When I first received the note from a member of the staff, my initial reaction was shock. "I feel like I don't really know you, nor do you really know...
Culture for Coaching Part 2: Resistance to Cycles
This is the second in a series of four articles about creating a culture for effective coaching. Working together as a principal and instructional coach, we took steps to build...
Culture for Coaching Part 3: Baby Steps for Launching Cycles
This is the third article in a series of four articles about creating a culture for effective coaching. After small and patient steps, coaching cycles are implemented. As the middle...
The Awkward Chair
A colleague of mine recently presented an excellent professional development session about how school leaders can become experts in facilitating effective IEP or RTI meetings. These types of meetings are...
Culture for Coaching Part 1: Introduction
This is the first in a series of four articles about creating a culture for effective coaching. It begins with a problem and a brave, counterintuitive response from a principal...
Professional Reboot
Last year, my assistant principal and I had a conversation in which we talked about ways we could both grow as administrators. I recommended that he seek out a way...
Summer Quiet and the Three Rs
There are two types of quiet in schools: school-is-in-session quiet and summer quiet. School-is-in-session quiet is when students are in their classrooms, working on their personal reading and writing projects...
Coaching Purposeful Classroom Design
Candace scrolled excitedly down the page of the website filled with colorful stools, crisp conference tables with charging stations, and nifty caddies. “Ugh—I could spend my entire paycheck here!” she...
Bringing Order to the Bookroom
I was a big fan of Hope School’s bookroom. The bookroom is the result of more than a decade of work. It has a wide selection of leveled, read-aloud, and...
