Content Category: Lead Literacy
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Coaching Minute: Who I Know You to Be
Heather Rader shares a great phrase to use when building relationships with colleagues in this quick video tip. A transcript is available below the player. Once a month I work...
Making Time for Classroom Visits
“Walk the walk and talk the talk” is a phrase that I have heard again and again as an elementary school principal. At first it may sound kind of cliché,...
The Quiet Power of Language and Learning with Art
Last year a group of K-12 teachers and I met weekly to delve into how language informs teaching and learning in our classrooms. In our weekly gatherings, the teachers brought...
Coaching Minute: Little Things
In this brief video tip, Ruth Ayres reminds us it's the little things that matter most when it comes to coaching.
No Time for Collaboration
A literacy interventionist, Marnie, double-checked her notes. She had it right. Andy, a fifth grader, was indeed reading Poppy (Avi, 2005). Andy kept calling the main character Bobby instead of...
Coaching Minute: Use Soft Words and Hard Arguments
Heather Rader explains the importance of using gentle words when giving honest but difficult feedback in this quick video tip. A transcript is available below the player. In a small-group...
Reluctant Teachers and Nonfiction
At a recent workshop, Franki Sibberson asked us to recall our experiences with nonfiction texts as children. I shuddered. My memories of childhood nonfiction are not good ones. I remember...
Building Foundations
“Hurry up! Faster! You’re almost out of time!” These are the words heard in a recent professional development with K-8 teachers from across my school district. Teachers are building with...
Coaching Minute: Nametags and So Much More
Here's a quick video tip from Heather Rader on making the most of nametags in professional development settings. A transcript is included below the player. When...
Strength in Assessment: A Professional Development Protocol
Recently I worked with a group of literacy leaders representing a number of different schools and experiences from all across the Portland, Oregon metro area. I knew they held a...
Coaching Minute: Flexible Plans
The key to successful coaching in classrooms? Ruth Ayres believes it is flexibility and keeping some space in your schedule for the unexpected, as she explains in this Coaching Minute...
Writing Conferences: The Power of Listening
Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. When we listen to people there is an alternating current, and this recharges us so we never get tired of...
Letting Children Lead While Conferring
I love Tuesdays, the day I get to return to work with a special group of third-grade students. I enter the room and see almost all students writing in notebooks...
Coaching Minute: We Are Guests
What does it mean to be a guest in a classroom? Ruth Ayres considers the complex role coaches have as visitors to classrooms in this one-minute video.
The View from a Principal’s Window
This is the view from my office at 4:00 every day -- a cluster of mothers, acquiescing to their children’s begging, lingers after school while the youngsters stomp and shout...
From Bootcamp to School: Building Enthusiasm for New Initiatives
Leadership is ultimately about the ability to influence others. Richard Dufour and Robert Marzano I joined a new gym. Part of my new exercise regimen is to attend a...
Picture It: Just in Time Writing Resources
An Outlook appointment pops up to remind Heather Sisson that the spring writing assessment is approaching in three weeks for her K-6 colleagues. She uses clear plastic tubs to display...
Incorporating Kids into Professional Development for Adults
Working in a diverse district, I’m thoughtful about the videos I use with educators. I’ve learned that if the students don’t look like the kids in our classrooms, the learning...
Going Public with Study Groups
It started with the cancellation of the "What’s New in Children’s Literature" study group. We couldn’t meet on our designated date, so instead of rescheduling the meeting I asked teachers...
High Schools, Scale, and Reluctance: A Podcast with Diane Sweeney
In this 18-minute podcast, Diane Sweeney talks with Heather Rader about the challenges of coaching at the secondary level, and shares advice for working with reluctant teachers. Diane's latest book...
Collecting PLC Data with Google Forms
Like so many others, my district has adopted the professional learning communities (PLCs) model as one of our main sources for professional development. In doing so, we give teachers the...
