Content Category: Lead Literacy
Results
Meeting Snapshot: Norms
At the start of this meeting before a demonstration lesson, Jason DiCarlo reminds the first-grade teaching team of the norms they have agreed to use throughout their time together: 1....
Failure to Norm
As I developed relationships with 36 teachers this year, I was careful to watch and try to understand the dynamics that would help me as a coach. It’s easy (and...
Matching Resources to Teachers: Tools for Coaches
Talking with a teacher who has a long-standing coaching relationship with me, I was surprised when she said, “I guess I keep Googling to find the latest and greatest. I...
Integrating the Bookroom into Professional Development Sessions
Bookrooms are filled with many learning opportunities, and by browsing the books in focused ways we can build our understanding of text complexity, increase our knowledge of matching books to...
Study Group Gifts
Jennifer Allen explains why she always budgets for small study-group gifts, and shares how they build connections between the groups and teaching practice.
Systems for Keeping the Bookroom Organized and Manageable
A place for everything and everything in its place. Ben Franklin We know Ben Franklin wasn’t referring to bookrooms when he said these words, but we think his wisdom...
My New and Improved Writing Toolkit
Over the last couple of years, I have been developing a toolkit that I can take along with me when I am working in classrooms with teachers. One of the...
Organizing Writing: Demonstration Small Group
Kathy Provost meets with a small group to help fourth-grade students organize their writing. The demonstration lesson includes a prebrief and debrief with the teacher, Jaime Leger.
Working Together to Expand the Bookroom
The process by which decisions are made is even more important than the actual decisions. We've never found a source for this quote, but it has helped us countless times...
Coaching Minute: Videos in the Selfie Age
In this quick video, Kathy Provost and Heather Fisher share an alarming experience: young teachers pulling out phones and other devices to take videos of instruction without permission. They discuss...
What Matters Most: Building Relationships
When I began my job as a literacy coach, I had a steep learning curve ahead of me. I was eager to learn, so I bought several books about coaching...
Organizing Mentor Texts
If you are a coach like me, you have several hundred picture books and other mentor texts you use as coaching tools throughout the school year. Over the years, I've...
Coaching Debrief Early in the Year
Heather Rader observes Sean Moore teach a writing lesson to his second graders early in the year. This video of the debrief session highlights Heather's open-ended questions and listening strategies....
Revising Bookrooms to Support Engagement and Instruction
When we think about the school bookroom, the first word that comes to mind is options. Bookrooms can include texts for all aspects of reading and writing workshop so we as...
Math, Literacy, and RTI
For several years, I’ve been lucky enough to work with the brilliant Amy Simmons, an instructional support teacher and “administrative intern” (a fancy name to describe an assistant principal). Part...
Reflections on the First Six Weeks Coaching
Samantha Munnecke chats with Heather Rader about learning and surprises from her first six weeks as a literacy coach.
Assessment and Response to Intervention
Lisa is a third grader who has been in intervention for two years. She was placed in intervention based on the results of a universal screener. This screener determined her...
Repertoire: A Coach’s Perspective
In my writer’s notebook, I keep a list of words I love. One of my favorites is repertoire. I love spelling it. I love the way it sounds. And I...
Keeping Note Taking Fresh for Students
In grades three and up, our teachers and students use notebooks to record their thinking. They use these notes to track characters, ask questions, make inferences, track a theme, and...
What’s Not on the Study Group Agenda
When we think of designing a study group, environment matters. Environment is that other essential piece that doesn’t make its way onto an agenda. We want teachers to come to...
Listening and Storytelling
Every spring I spend a few months working with a group of new teachers. And every spring, the image of a bridge returns to me. This mental picture of a...
