Content Category: Lead Literacy
Results
No Cutting Corners in Coaching
Recently, my husband and I decided to give our bedroom a much-needed makeover. We bought our current home about six years ago, and every summer I have chosen one room...
Coaching Tool: Presentation Binders
In Tammy’s family, we never go out on a hike without our “hiking backpack.” There isn’t anything special about this backpack except that certain supplies are always in it: a...
Coaching Tool: Digital Books
Responsive is the first word that comes to mind when we think about what it means to be an effective coach. We want to listen and be responsive to what...
Picture It: Student Mentor Text Bulletin Board
Inspiration is at the heart of writing. Whether it be a well-known author from an author study or a classmate, students become inspired by other writers when the abstract becomes...
Coaching Minute: What’s in My Bag
Melanie Meehan opens her coaching bag to share her favorite on-the-go resources.
Autobiographical Listening
I recently attended an excellent three-day leadership conference that was by all measures a success: I met some great people, got some much-needed inspiration, and came back with a notebook...
Improving My Feedback
I’ve spent most of my career dreading the feedback portion of my relationships. It felt as though my actions were just being checked off of a list. The feedback always...
Meeting Snapshot: Deciding Look-Fors
In this excerpt from a meeting before a first-grade demonstration lesson, Principal Jason DiCarlo and teachers discuss potential "look-fors" during the lesson—what everyone will focus on during observations. The lesson...
Transcribing Conversations During Instructional Walks
As a principal in a high-poverty, low-resource elementary school, I do not have access to an instructional coach to work with our teachers or with me on our schoolwide literacy...
Unintended Benefits of Recording Minilessons
During a coaching cycle with one of our second-grade teachers, I worked on teaching students how to access prerecorded minilessons on iPads. We planned out upcoming lessons, and either she...
Don’t Confuse the Already Confused
Bill had asked me to come in and think with him about his seventh graders’ understanding of theme development. He’d recently upped the complexity of the shared texts he was...
Inclusion: What Does It Mean?
It’s been five years since all of our reading specialists, special education support, and ELL teachers starting servicing kids in the classroom, and this year, we finally stopped and took...
Coaching Minute: Conferring Cards
Melanie Meehan shares the simple cards she gives to students when conferring. These cards document compliments and challenges to guide the student after the conference is over.
Persevere
When farmers dig trenches, they always have a spotter outside of the trench. This person is watching the dirt, in case it shifts. If they see the dirt move, they...
What Are You Working on Today?
Conferring with readers is the heart of reading workshop. Conferring is where you meet kids right where they are and teach them exactly what they need to know to move...
Sticking with a Topic
Tammy Mulligan leads a group with Luke and Gabby, two third graders who have trouble focusing on a topic while writing drafts. The demonstration lesson includes a prebrief and debrief...
From Coaching Logs to Coaching Reports
In all of my interactions with administrators, I’m mindful of the confidentiality of and delicate trust in my relationships with teachers. That said, I also have the responsibility to reflect...
The Leading Edge
Learning curves come in all varieties, don’t they? Sometimes, the path to learning is straight and quick. Other times, the learning curve is long and steep. The steepest learning journey...
Coaching Minute: Cycle Evaluation Form
Melanie Meehan shares her coaching cycle evaluation form and why it is helpful in this quick video tip.
Bounce-Back Spirit
In the 2008 Big Ten Women’s Indoor Track 600-meter race, Heather Dorniden was favored. The runners ran closely, in a pack for the first two-thirds of the race. If you...
On Being Coached
My daughter Maddie does not properly pronounce her L sound. She uses a W or Y sound instead. She “yikes” the color pink, she “yuvs” her “wittle” sister. Cute, but...
