Content Category: Lead Literacy
Results
Choosing Our Words Carefully
At the start of our collaboration session, Kathy shared, “I have really been thinking about the word unfortunately and how I have seen it being used lately.” She proceeded to...
First-Grade Partner Reading
Clare Landrigan leads a demonstration lesson to show first-grade reading partners how to work together. The demonstration includes a prebrief and debrief with the teacher.
Finding a Coaching Model That Works
Our district coaching team is made up of four literacy coaches, each of us based in our own school. Although we are responsible for many aspects of literacy instruction in...
Aligning Beliefs and Practices: Homework Policies
A few years ago, after rereading Debbie Miller’s book Reading with Intention, I led our teachers through an exercise of defining their beliefs about teaching and aligning practices. They named...
Unspoken Leadership
I once attended a student recognition event at a local high school as a community leader. Students from various pathways were nominated by one of their teachers in their respective...
Planning Family Literacy Night
Heather Fisher and Kathy Provost work with a group of reading specialists to plan a family literacy night.
Confidence Through Poetry
In this demonstration conference, Clare Landrigan works with Lexi, a student who is developing confidence as a writer through exploring poetry, and transferring that learning to other subject areas. The...
Coaching for Confidence
Every once in a while, even the most capable, talented teachers have a year that tests their skill and sanity. You may find them questioning their decision to continue teaching....
Sustaining Trust While Maintaining High Expectations
As a principal in a new school, I have been hesitant to start observations of teachers. My big goal this year is to build trust and develop relationships with staff,...
Demonstration Lesson: First-Grade Talk Prompts
Heather Fisher presents a lesson with a first-grade teacher as part of a cycle focused on improving classroom talk. This is the second video in a two-part series.
Coaching Minute: Case Studies with Reading Specialists
Heather Fisher and Kathy Provost talk about how case studies have changed their work with literacy specialists over the past year in this brief video.
Collecting Data on Case Study Students
As part of a yearlong in-depth study of one student, each reading specialist in our district gathered data in a variety of ways about a student who, as a reader,...
Who Keeps You Up at Night?
Beginning a coaching relationship is a bit like a first dance. You have to watch your partner, understand his or her body language, and listen carefully in order to dance...
Learning Through Listening
As we read Marie Clay’s words, we thought about how this quote pertains to coaching too. The more years we work in schools and coach alongside teachers, the less we...
No More Whack-a-Mole Coaching
When I was a kid, one of my favorite games at the arcade was Whack-a-Mole. There was something about having a giant club that seemed empowering. Little plastic moles would...
Maintaining Teacher Ownership in Coaching Conversations
I was sitting across from the literacy coach when I said, “Thanks for taking the time to meet this morning. Since I missed the post-conference you had with your teacher,...
Demonstration Lesson Planning: First-Grade Talk Prompts
Heather Fisher plans a lesson with a first-grade teacher as part of a cycle focused on improving classroom talk. This is the first video in a two-part series.
Common Planning Meeting: Third-Grade Notebooks
In this excerpt from a common planning meeting, Kathy Provost works with third-grade teachers who are focused on improving their use of student notebooks across the curriculum.
From Somewhere to Somewhere
It’s been said that people can be only where they are and that everyone is on a path from somewhere to somewhere. When we are working with our colleagues, however,...
Meeting with Principals
During a recent meeting I was having with a principal in our district, our superintendent stopped in unexpectedly. “What are you working on?” he asked. He was impressed when we...
Coaching Minute: Considering Language
Heather Fisher and Kathy Provost share subtle changes in the language they are using with teachers to foster more collaboration.
