Content Category: Lead Literacy
Results
Lesson Observation Debrief
Leslie Lloyd debriefs with teachers and her principal in this quick video after a minilesson observation.
Interview on Lesson Plans
Leslie Lloyd explains her plans for a demonstration lesson.
Reactions to the Book Paper Things
Teachers discuss Jennifer Richard Jacobson's book Paper Things in a study group.
Leading a Demonstration Lesson: When It Doesn’t Go Well
Jennifer Allen talks in a leadership team meeting about the experience of being observed when a demonstration lesson isn't going well.
Picture It: Reorganizing a Professional Book Library
We recently began organizing and preparing for the upcoming school year. This is a picture of our professional text library, reorganized with purpose and efficiency in mind. What was...
What I Wish I’d Known As a New Coach
As I begin my fourth year in my position as our district’s writing and social studies coordinator, I realize my work alongside teachers has changed in subtle and profound ways....
Taking Breaks
Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live. Jim Rohn When we lead professional development sessions, we often let participants know that we have an...
Transitioning from Teaching Children to Adults
This past year, I stopped working as a middle school teacher to stay home with my new baby. I wanted to stay involved in education, so I worked part-time with...
Launching Meetings with Video
Nothing brings people together more than shared experiences. Jimmy Fallon There is nothing like that awkward silence that inevitably surfaces at the start of meetings or professional development sessions....
Meeting Snapshot: Checking In
Jason DiCarlo launches the monthly lesson study with the first-grade team by checking in on learning since the last meeting—what was applied from the previous study (especially when it comes...
Collaborative Teaching: Debrief
Literacy coach Kathy Provost and second-grade teacher Jen Volpicelli debrief after teaching a lesson on opinion writing to Owen and Laura. This is the third video in a three-part series.
Getting Organized with Google
I find myself doing a lot of traveling as a literacy coach—not only between classrooms, but also between multiple schools. Some hard copies of papers are unavoidable; I always have...
Sign-In Sheets, Professionalism, and Being Human
You could feel the tension in the air as she quietly slipped in, trying to find her place without disrupting the session. Many of the professional development sessions we facilitate...
A Good Coach Is a Good Wingman
During World War I, the US Air Force started using a wingman pattern for their fighter jets. The wingman flies off the right wing and slightly behind the lead. The...
Writer’s Notebook Minilesson
Sean Moore shows his second graders how he develops topics in his writer's notebook in this demonstration lesson.
What Am I Doing Here?
The yellow school bus pulled up to the front doors of the school, and the teachers eagerly boarded. As we settled into our seats, a microphone switched on and the...
Collaborative Teaching: Opinion Writing
Literacy coach Kathy Provost and second-grade teacher Jen Volpicelli teach a lesson on opinion writing to Owen and Laura. This is the second video in a three-part series.
Breaking Away from the Team
Since the start of my teaching career, the professional learning emphasis has been on collaborative teamwork, ideally centered on student work, with the purposes of developing teaching teams’ shared expectations...
Planning for Collaborative Teaching
Literacy coach Kathy Provost plans for small-group instruction with second-grade teacher Jen Volpicelli. This first video in a series is excellent for thinking through how coaches can make their planning...
Struggling Teachers? Don’t Force It
Instructional coaches can find themselves in a difficult position when their supervisor, the building principal, requires a struggling teacher to access coaching. The circumstances become even more complicated when accessing...
Honesty with Adult Learners
Over the past few years, I’ve learned that when leading professional development for adults, it’s important to treat them as colleagues and to acknowledge that we are all learners together....
