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Lead Literacy Articles & Videos (formerly leadliteracy.com)

Our lounge is your home for exploring hundreds of articles and videos for literacy coaches and school leaders. Our contributors share their best advice for working one-on-one with teachers in coaching cycles, hosting professional development sessions, and designing demonstration lessons and study groups.

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Curricular Literacy: Learning When to Chef

Suzy Kaback offers suggestions to respond to interests, strengths, and needs of students when working with high-quality instructional materials. In this second installment of a three-part series, she continues the conversation of how to prepare and effectively use a structured literacy curriculum.

Curricular Literacy: What Can Teacher Candidates Learn from High-Quality Instructional Materials?

Suzy Kaback thoughtfully reflects on how to introduce teacher candidates to high-quality instructional materials. In this first article in a series, she shares the initial steps of digging into a structured literacy curriculum.

Beyond Compliance: A Framework for Supporting Literacy Engagement and Empowerment

Matt Renwick shares a project that developed students as readers, collaborators, and problem solvers. Through reflection on this project, Matt guides us to intentionally be leaders who engage and empower students to be active learners.

The Other Foundational Reading Skills

We know that readers do more than decipher a text. Matt Renwick shares research that supports teaching readers more than foundational skills. He highlights metacognition, executive functioning, and mindfulness.

More Than Skills and Scripts: Systems That Lift Literacy Up

One of the most consistent challenges teachers and leaders face is knowing what to trust during literacy instruction: the practices and resources they are expected to deliver with fidelity, or what they observe while teaching readers and writers. Matt Renwick offers two ways to shift practices: school-wide assessment and instructional walks, as well as guided reflection questions.

From Middle School to College: Finding a Reading Connection

We know the importance of nourishing positive reading experiences in our students. Inspired by the insights of her middle school students, Leigh Anne Eck decided to help teacher educators consider ways to support students in becoming stronger readers.

Using Picture Books to Launch Professional Learning Sessions

If you’re tired of professional learning sessions falling flat, consider using a picture book to launch discussions among colleagues. Stephanie Affinito clearly outlines the steps to facilitate lively professional conversations.

Tips for Hosting a Student Teacher

Mandy Robek offers tips for hosting a student teacher in today’s era of education. This is a must-read for anyone who is supporting the next generation of teachers!

Circle Up: Whole-School Read Alouds to Promote Student Wellness

Gigi McAllister candidly shares the process for sharing school-wide monthly read aloud books based on wellness themes. Like most worthwhile endeavors, it took time to create a smooth system. Gigi shares their system, but more importantly offers authentic advice for making a whole-school project meaningful.

Notebooking for Coach Wellness

Stephanie Affinito shares the evolving research about the power of writing to strengthen our emotional wellbeing. It makes sense to harness this in our own coaching lives to better support ourselves and the teachers we work with. Here are seven ideas to get started in your own coaching practices and ideas that you could then share with teachers to support their mental wellness, too.

Five Picture Books to Spark Teacher Wellness

Stephanie Affinito reminds us that part of our role as literacy coaches can be modeling how to put our own mental health and wellness first. Reading picture books together is the perfect way to spark a conversation about educators’ self-care and provide a few new read aloud recommendations for the classroom, too. Here are five picture books that share a powerful message related to our own wellness practices.

Library Choices for All: Providing Activities for Every Student

Gigi McAllister knows the power of a library. As a young child, she wasn’t a reader (yet), but there was so much to do at the library, she still felt like she belonged. Here she shares several ways to help all students feel like they belong in the school library.

Bingo! Games to the Rescue

Teacher Educators Teach | Suzy Kaback was inspired to use play as a tool—one that can reframe routine, refocus attention, and give both teachers and students a fresh lens.

Rethinking Flow in the ELA Classroom

When students are empowered to make decisions, they value the learning experience and take ownership of the outcomes. Matt Renwick turns to the concept of flow and imagines its importance for engaging readers and writers.

Tough Conversations

Engaging in conflict is challenging, especially since there is no guarantee that we will get the results we want. Yet it is an expected part of literacy leadership. Julie Cox inspires us to step through conversations in ways that strengthen understandings and preserve relationships.

Design for the Edges: Strategies for Supporting Unique Readers and Writers

The phrase “design for the edges” is about creating more inclusive and welcoming spaces for all students. Matt Renwick pushes us to consider what this looks like in classrooms where all readers and writers are honored.

Swarm: Embracing the Unexpected

Gwen Blumberg is a beekeeper and when her bees began swarming, she sprung into action to collect her bees before they disappeared. In this reflective essay, Gwen recognizes how embracing the unexpected happens daily in our lives as educators. If you are feeling unsettled because of unexpected situations, you’ll find Gwens tips exactly what you need to move forward.

Embarking on a New Curriculum: What I Must Carry with Me

Heather Fisher is candid about her hesitation in embarking on a new literacy curriculum, as well as her commitment to continue living into her core values. She inspires all of us to lead with integrity by holding on to moments of self-reflection.

Coach-Principal Meeting Template

We know how important principal-coach meetings are. Having a common system to follow gives a sense of cohesiveness and purpose and helps everyone participate effectively. Hannah Tills shares the process of creating a template with a standard agenda and space for meeting notes. 

Trying Something New

To survive and thrive as an educator, it’s essential to be able to work with and work through change of all kinds. Julie Cox offers tried-and-true suggestions for any leader who is facing changes big and small.

Professional Math Resources for Right Now

Mandy Robek has curated a thoughtful list of professional math resources for those who want to apply wise instructional practices to any curriculum or grade level. This list uplifts ways to understand or analyze students’ thinking and value their strategies for solving problems. Mandy includes both professional texts and podcasts.

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