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Guiding Teachers

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What’s in Your Bag?

Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan open their coaching bag and share every item on their “must-have” list for traveling from classroom to classroom.

A Coach’s Toolbox: Transcribing Talk

Dana Murphy finds one of the most important tools in her coaching arsenal is transcription. She explains when transcription is effective and gives tips for effective note taking.

Professional Development Planning

Melanie Meehan reflects upon what went well in a full-day professional development session early in the year as she plans for follow-up midyear.

CoffeeEDU

Are the teachers you work with too overbooked for more professional development time? Literacy coach Brian Sepe finds that voluntary 15-minute sessions before school are wildly successful. He shares tips for implementing these lightning-fast workshops.

Picture It: A Mentor Text Is Like . . .

Heather Fisher and Kathy Provost use an analogy exercise to provide a quick and creative brain break during professional development sessions.

The Power of a Hashtag for Districtwide Reading

Bill Bass shares the power of creating a hashtag for celebrating reading in the school community and beyond all year long.

Coaching Basics: Choice

Ruth Ayres explains how coaches can help teachers value choice in writing units through flexibility in genres and other structural supports.

Collaborative Brainstorming

Bill Bass shares a creative way to integrate an online tool for brainstorming into professional development sessions. This tool is especially useful for including introverts in conversations.

Always Another Choice

Ruth Shagoury finds herself checking out during dysfunctional staff meetings. A mentor shares an anecdote and advice that helps her rethink her role with colleagues.

The Honeymoon Is Over

The warm, fuzzy feelings of back-to-school goodwill are gone by this point in the fall. Melanie Quinn designs a professional development session to help teachers reflect on classroom needs and develop some new strategies for strengthening classroom communities.

Fostering Change with Student Work

Heather Fisher has a secret weapon for nudging teachers toward change: student work samples. She explains how she finds opportunities across the day for sharing them.

Picture It: Museum Walk with Quotes

Kathy Provost and Heather Fisher share a simple activity to open or transition in professional development sessions.

Screencasting Professional Development

Bill Bass explains the nuts and bolts of creating screencasts to replace professional development sessions.

Why I Love Having a Coach

Franki Sibberson shares a teacher's perspective on why even the most experienced teachers can benefit from having a coach as a mentor.

Coaching Relationships: Move Closer

Melanie Quinn has a poor start in her coaching relationship with a teacher. She begins again by going against her natural instincts, and is surprised by the results.

Honesty, Ignorance, and Building Relationships

How are leaders supposed to provide thoughtful insights when they don’t know much about what they are observing? Jennifer Schwanke shares how she builds her knowledge base and rapport with teachers when faced with gaps in her expertise.

Takeout Book Club

Teachers may not have time for one more meeting—but they still have to eat! Heather Fisher combines the fun of lunch takeout with book discussions to boost interest and attendance.

Twitter Book Chats

Brian Sepe gives the nuts and bolts for hosting book chats for teachers on Twitter.

Coaching Minute: The Walkaway

Amanda Adrian shares the importance of the "walkaway" — narrowing the focus of professional development planning to one critical question in this quick video tip.

Because It’s the Right Thing to Do

The staff at Melanie Quinn's school realizes they have created a monster with positive reinforcement through extrinsic rewards. Here is how they changed behaviors and expectations over a two-year period.

Expanding Study Group Communities

Jennifer Allen expands the learning of study groups beyond the small number of teachers who attend each group through an evolving bulletin board display.

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