Content Category: Lead Literacy
Results
Simplexity: Finding Your Focus
Simplexity - Finding the smallest number of high-leverage, easy to understand actions that unleash stunningly powerful consequences. Michael Fullan, in Motion Leadership As I approached 279 Newbury Street in Boston, I...
Hollering About Informational Text
We set out over a year ago to increase the informational side of our bookshelves when we realized that our professional development mentor texts mirrored the elementary school discrepancy between...
Off the Dance Floor and Onto the Balcony: Getting the Big Picture in Schools
We coordinate professional development efforts in schools. Periodically we visit classrooms during literacy blocks to think about how we are progressing toward our goals and to identify next steps for...
Transcription: A Lens for Reflection
Having my picture taken is something I dread. Mostly because I know that later I’m going to have to look at the photo and I’m sure I won’t like what...
That Teacher Talks Too Much!
I lead professional development workshops and study groups at my school, and we have a new faculty member who is such a talker! She's pleasant and bright, but so dominant,...
Walk-Arounds: Gathering Data to Test Assumptions
As an instructional leader, I am subjected to tattling. You are probably assuming I mean tattling on the part of children, but you'd be surprised. I am referring to teachers...
Collaborating with My Principal on Student-Centered Coaching
It is the beginning of a new school year, and I am tucked in a small private meeting room with my coaching colleague Heather, drawing timelines and outlines. I’m shifting...
Acquiring Knowledge Two or Three Strategies at a Time
"Hey, Papi! What is that crop growing over there?" My dad responds patiently to repeated requests by my nine-year-old son, Jack, to identify exactly what is growing in the fertile...
Taking the Lead by Teaching
My office had begun to feel like a black hole pulling me in. There were observation reports to write, student discipline issues to deal with and emails waiting for a...
The DIBELS Divide (Literacy Coach Confidential)
Literacy Coach Confidential is Choice Literacy's forum for answering the toughest questions literacy coaches and teachers face as they work together. Our contributors respond to the questions anonymously, which enables them...
Book Hooks
I write this article about the masterful work of Amy Simmons, a teacher in my building. Her official role is “instructional support teacher,” which means she is in charge of...
Help! Our Grade-Level Team Meetings Are Awful! (Literacy Coach Confidential)
Literacy Coach Confidential is Choice Literacy's forum for answering the toughest questions literacy coaches and teachers face as they work together. Our contributors respond to the questions anonymously, which enables them...
Tips for More Effective Debriefing Sessions
We do a lot of demonstration lessons in our coaching work. Lately we have been reflecting on how we structure these sessions. We find the debriefing of the lesson to...
Professional Development and Then What? How to Keep Learning Alive Long After the Staff Meeting
"Remember when we did that . . . what was it called, you know we talked about ways to help students share their thinking?" "Oh, yeah, I used that a...
Some Study Group Participants Aren’t Reading the Book
A couple of teachers who participate in our book discussion group don't seem to be reading the book—at all. It makes for awkward moments in the conversation, like last week...
From Teacher to Coach: Building Community in the Early Days
It's late August and next week I start my position as Instructional Coach. I am not new to working with teachers. I spent six years in higher education working with...
Collaborating When the Going Gets Tough
When the going gets tough, turn to inquiry. Courage to Teach Touchstone I don’t know about you, but when the going gets tough, inquiry is not the first thing...
Katherine Casey on Coaching in Classrooms (PODCAST)
Katherine Casey shares her latest thinking with Heather Rader on the best ways to mentor teachers in classrooms. Katherine is the author of Literacy Coaching: The Essentials. You can visit her...
Katherine Casey on Sharing Blunders with Colleagues (PODCAST)
In this podcast, Katherine Casey explains to Heather Rader why it is helpful for coaches to share their teaching blunders with colleagues. Katherine is the author of Literacy Coaching: The Essentials....
Literacy Coaching and Student Work with Diane Sweeney (PODCAST)
Diane Sweeney is the author of Student-Centered Coaching: A Guide for K-8 Coaches and Principals. In this podcast with Heather Rader, she talks about the dangers of focusing too much on...
Evocative Coaching with Bob and Megan Tschannen-Moran (PODCAST)
Bob and Megan Tschannen-Moran are the authors of Evocative Coaching: Transforming Schools One Conversation at a Time. In this podcast with Heather Rader they talk about their work with teachers and...
