Content Category: Lead Literacy
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Word Choice for Coaches
Peter Johnston has written an entire book about the subtleties of our communications. In Choice Words: How Our Language Affects Children's Learning, Johnston explores the places where work is partially correct. He...
Making the Case for Literacy Coaches
It's that time of year. School districts are examining their budgets for the upcoming school year. Due to the troubled economy, many of them are finding that they are not...
Reflecting on Student Work in Staff Meetings (Download a Template)
Over the last four years our teaching staff has included reflecting on student work as a part of our staff meetings. To be honest, we struggled for probably three of...
Calendaring a Literacy Coach
My husband and I married when we were sophomores in college transferring to the University of Washington. He was pursuing architecture and I was in education. We arrived in our...
How Study Groups Are Like Self-Cleaning Ovens
One of our favorite inventions ever is the self-cleaning oven. Set a timer, lock the oven door, and a few hours later -- voila! You have a clean oven, and...
Creating a Coaching Schedule
We have been encouraging the literacy coaches we work with to create a year-long coaching schedule for their school. The main goal of these coaching schedules is to ensure that...
Supporting Successful First-Year Coaches
It's Friday, a little after noon, and Cristina Charney, Heather Sisson, Becky Lee and I are tucked around the small circle table with our lunches in my office. We are...
Quick Take: Protocols for Teacher Study Groups
In this three-minute Quick Take video, Clare Landrigan describes the teacher study group protocol she uses to foster shared understanding and allow for differentiated learning among teachers.
Not That Into Me
For the past 11 years during the holiday season my husband and I have watched the movie Trapped in Paradise with my brother. The movie stars Nicholas Cage, Dana Carvey and Jon...
Three Little Phrases No Literacy Coach Can Live Without
If there are three skills any literacy coach needs, they are the ability to engage with colleagues, diffuse hostile situations, and connect with people who have a different world view....
Undercover Coach: Making Time to Work with Children
Have you ever watched the television show Undercover Boss? Each episode shows what happens when a high-ranking official of a company attempts to do an entry-level job in the company for...
Engaging Teachers with Coaching
When my husband and I rented the movie Slumdog Millionaire, I hid my eyes frequently during the first 30 minutes. Completely unprepared for the on-screen violence, I asked Kurt to nudge...
Coaching High Fives
I distinctly remember the hot, humid day in August when my family went to celebrate Travers Day at the Saratoga Race Course in New York. It was a beautiful summer...
Navigating Conversations
The thought had been weighing on my mind for a while. I needed to have a conversation with my principal. It is my job as a coach to keep a...
Getting Started with a Writing Habit: Six Kinds of Notebooking
I am a notebooker. I have stacks of journals that I write in across the days, months, and years. I have Morning Pages notebooks, gratitude journals, daily agendas, affirmation notebooks,...
Prepping a Fieldwork Site: Strategies for Launching Quality Partnerships
What does this space encourage? —James Clear, Atomic Habits Over the past 10 years, the teacher preparation program at my university has devoted a lot of time and energy to...
Rewriting the Script
For years, I had been following scripts. As a student, I walked the same path each day to the bean-shaped table when my group was called for guided reading. In...
Curating Booklists for Teachers
I love celebrating all occasions with books. Welcoming a new baby? I’ll give you The Wonderful Things You Will Be by Emily Winfield Martin. Celebrating a birthday? You should read...
On Being a Wise Consumer: Three Questions to Filter Ideas
Kate has a not-so-slight obsession with WNBA player Caitlin Clark. In sharing with her class about Caitlin Clark, Kate played a video of the before-game ritual Caitlin has with her...
Same Candy Bar, Different Wrapper: Professional Books That Change Instruction
Kylene Beers, a literacy advocate, author, and educator, passed away this summer. She had a lasting impact on my classroom, and I know many other educators around the world express...
The Coach’s Notebook: How to Capture, Organize, and Analyze Your Data and Responsibilities
Part of my work as a systems coach is documenting my conversations with leaders and teachers around their goals for building more equitable outcomes for students. We use a Google...
