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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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Developing Literacy Traditions and Rituals

Matt Renwick reflects on the traditions and rituals that strengthen a school-wide literacy community.

Coaching Minute: Cycle Forms

Jean Russell explains the importance of establishing norms and a framework for coaching cycles.

Home Language Is Love Language

Our names are such a big part of who we are. Jen Schwanke reassures a teacher who struggles with student names, and at the same time gives her practical tips for making sure her pronunciations are correct.

Demonstration Small Group: Nathan Hale and Point of View

Tammy Mulligan leads a demonstration small group for fifth graders using a graphic novel to teach point of view.

Writing Realistic Fiction

Melanie Meehan explains how she takes students step-by-step through the process of creating realistic fiction.

Coaching Minute: Sharing Individual Learning with Teaching Teams

Jean Russell explains how she leverages one-on-one coaching for learning with entire grade-level teams.

Increasing the Stickiness of Minilessons

Coaches often hear the same question from teachers: How can we get ideas from the minilesson to stick in workshops? Tara Barnett and Kate Mills share some of their best strategies for making minilessons “sticky.”

Finding Themes in Graphic Novels

Tammy Mulligan leads a demonstration small group on finding themes in graphic novels. The lesson includes a prebrief and debrief with the teacher.

Rethinking Retelling

Heather Fisher helps a group of teachers to dig deeper into why retelling is an essential skill, working together to find examples of retelling beyond classrooms.

Classroom Library Reflection

Ruth Ayres offers reflection questions for teachers to consider the way their classroom libraries can be updated to continue growing readers.

Priming the Pump

David Pittman explains the importance of beginning summer work with teachers by creating collective visions through images and quotes.

Coaching Minute: Supporting New Teachers

Literacy coach Jen Court explains how she is supporting an influx of nine new teachers in her building this year.

Second Chances

Jen Schwanke rethinks her writing process for sending information out to families and others. Her “one little change” might get you rethinking how you draft and share weekly newsletters.

Coaching Minute: Dealing with Parent Concerns

Principal Lee Snider talks about how he deals with parent concerns.

Family Literacy Breakfasts

Jennifer Allen explains how family literacy breakfasts bring the whole school community together through a special event with published authors.

Feedback That Fortifies

Matt Renwick considers what type of feedback from school leaders can be most helpful to teachers.

The Feedback Trap

Cathy Mere considers the differences between feedback and reflection, and why it’s important to have a balance when coaching teachers.

Jump Right In and Other Lessons Learned from Remote Coaching

From get rid of the laundry basket behind you to learn how to share your desktop in advance, Heather Fisher shares some practical tips for getting started with remote coaching.

Competitive Comparisons

Jen Schwanke explores the insecurities and fear that can set in when teachers tackle distance learning, as well as how to overcome them.

Grade-Level Team Meeting: Student Notebooks

Kathy Provost coaches two third-grade teachers as they consider what students are jotting in their notebooks and how they could make changes before beginning a new unit.

Investing in Coaching Logs

After initial skepticism, David Pittman discovers coaching logs are an essential tool in planning, organizing, and documenting his work with teachers.

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