Content Category: Lead Literacy
Results
The Coach’s Notebook: How to Capture and Organize Your Notes to Support Your Practice
Part of my work as a systems coach is documenting my conversations with leaders and teachers around their goals for building more equitable outcomes for students. We use a Google...
Navigating Bias and Assumptions in Literacy Coaching
Anxiety always lives in our assumptions. —Steve Cuss One of my first lessons as a principal was this: Never assume. I learned this lesson my first year as an assistant...
The Tension of Perfect Conventions
“My key takeaway is that we are going to continue to celebrate mediocrity in student writing.” This was declared as a bold proclamation during a workshop I led about using...
Hosting School-Wide World Read Aloud Day Author Visits
Students were all sitting, glued to the large whiteboard screen as author Lynn Plourde read to them through Skype. When she was finished, the students turned and talked to one...
The Confident Coach: Seven Competencies to Empower Your Practice
As a systems coach for a regional education agency, my primary role is to help school districts develop the processes and practices that support more equitable outcomes for students. My...
Book Rationales for Building Trust and Guiding Decision-Making
"Have you read Nightjohn?" The fifth-grade teacher held up a paperback as I was walking by her classroom. "I'm a fan of Gary Paulsen, but I haven't read this one....
The Digital Declutter: Developing a Life Beyond Distractions
“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is...
Slide Decking: Getting Writing Started
The scariest moment is always just before you start. —Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft The Idea In fall 2023, I was deep into a weekly "accountability"...
Seven Simple Steps to Happier Teachers
For the past couple of years, I have been searching for ways to support teachers and the hard work they do. As a learning support coordinator, my focus is usually...
Scaffolding: The Key to Tackling Big Projects
In the heart of my house stands a two-story staircase open from the floor of the bottom level to the ceiling of the second. The wallpaper is dated and faded,...
Supporting Perseverance in Our Students: Before You Say ‘Keep Going,’ Pause to Consider
"Just keep swimming." This popular quote, which Dory chants in the movie Finding Nemo, is often used to remind students to keep going with something that gets difficult, to push...
Overcoming the Blame Game
Imagine a hard winter in the far north where the temperatures have dropped so low that recess is indoors. Now imagine an entire grade level of kindergartners playing in the...
Using Metaphors and Analogies to Help Educators Shift Their Thinking and Change Their Practices
Any assessment can be used both formatively and summatively, but usually one function interferes with the other, so it is generally best to decide at the outset about the purpose...
Transforming Our Own Professional Learning
If you want to thrive as a Transformational Coach, you need to be prepared to engage in a lot of practice and refining of your skills. I’ve also learned that...
Ways to Support Colleagues Part 2
Statistics show that teachers are one of the most stressed groups of people. According to a 2022 study by the American Educational Research Association, teachers in the U.S. experienced significantly...
It’s All in the Delivery: Inviting Joy to (Mandatory) Professional Learning” by Mary Brower
The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated. —William James Ms. Joy, a veteran teacher with two decades of classroom experience, closed her eyes for a...
Ways to Support Colleagues, Part 1
It didn’t take long for Ruth to want to avoid her daughter’s Sunday school teacher. When our daughter arrived in our home at age four, she had a difficult time...
Capturing Meeting Notes to Boost Accountability
You leave a teacher meeting with an extra pep in your step. The conversation flowed, you both seemed energized, the teacher’s goal was determined, next steps were established, and you're...
Help! I’m a New Coach
As the school year came to a close, the air buzzed with talk of change. The middle school was set to undergo departmentalization, a major shift that meant a significant...
Small Wins
In the early days of the pandemic, I created a short video about a document camera I created from a stack of bean cans, a pencil, a magnet, and my...
Humanizing Data
Data days are a responsibility that often falls to instructional coaches. We spend time analyzing data, soliciting teacher feedback, crafting an agenda, and planning a launching activity. It’s hard to...
