Leaders Lounge   /   Category

Guiding Teachers

Here is where you'll find information on guiding teachers.

Latest Content
Teacher and Coach, Side by Side: Affirmations for Leaders in Maintaining a Supportive Presence

Heather Fisher helps her father create a pizza pie in his new outdoor pizza oven. Through trial and perseverance, they finally taste success. Heather connects this experience to the importance of encouragement and presence as instructional coaches.

Are Norms the Problem? Part 1

Ruth Ayres shares the details of developing and using norms in intentional and meaningful ways. This is the first of three installments in a series about norms.

Multiplier Mindset

Brian Sepe guides us in a reflective practice activity to help strengthen our mindsets as leaders who multiply and grow the intelligence of those around them. This article was inspired by Liz Wiseman’s book Multipliers.

It All Counts: Getting to Know Your Teacher Candidates

Teacher Educators Teach | Suzy Kaback shares ways professors can get to know teacher candidates, as well as the research behind mattering and the important connection to building relationships as educators.

A Necessary Survey for Your School Community

Ruth Ayres and Becca Burk share a necessary survey for your school community to begin engaging in conversations about managing emotional dysregulation in students. Drawing on their extensive experiences with managing emotional dysregulation as foster parents and educators, they make a case for beginning conversations among your faculty with this simple survey.

Off the Hook: How to Engage With and Reframe Our Obstacles to Reduce Anxiety and Stress

Obstacles are a part of literacy leadership. Matt Renwick offers three steps to reframe our obstacles to reduce anxiety and stress.

Lifting Teachers by Lifting a Teacher

Mary Brower shares a process to uplift teacher voices in professional learning. The effort is small, but the payoff is astronomical!

The Joyful Toolkit for Literacy Leaders

Vivian Chen is inspired to create a joyful toolkit for educators. While there can be a certain draw to wallowing in killjoys in education, ultimately, we need to disrupt the downward spiral for our own mental wellness.

Examining (and Changing) Our Literacy Beliefs over Time

Changing one’s mind in today’s educational world can feel risky. We fear looking incompetent or like we don’t know what we believe. Matt Renwick learned firsthand that when leaders share how their thinking and beliefs around literacy instruction has changed, it increases the level of respect from others.

Engaging from the Start: Considering Accessible Professional Development Experiences for a Range of Educators

Inspired by low-ceiling, high-threshold activities in classrooms, Heather Fisher offers three ways to plan professional learning so that it is accessible to a range of educators.

Developing Transcripts of Classroom Teaching with AI

Suzy Kaback provides a guide for using an AI chatbot to help generate transcripts to study explicit instructional moves. Download a progression to learn how to refine requests to create a high-quality transcript. This is the third installment in a series about using AI with teacher candidates.

AI in Teacher Prep

Suzy Kaback guides us in learning to use ChatGPT as a thought partner. She offers a compelling rationale, clear step-by-step directions, and resources to build a deeper understand of using AI to prepare for instruction. This is the second installment in a series about using AI with teacher candidates.

Meet Stevie, Our Imaginary AI Friend

Inspired by a third-grade teacher, Suzy Kaback uses AI to generate an imaginary student to engage her teacher candidates as they mediate teaching and learning through a proxy. This is the first installment in a series about using AI with teacher candidates.

Quiet Coaching

Matt Renwick offers insightful ideas about reaching colleagues who are resistant to coaching. Matt offers three steps and practical ideas to “quietly coach.”

Misreading Body Language

Matt Renwick reminds us of the benefits and dangers of reading (or misreading) body language, and offers a way to get to the heart of communicating clearly.

Make and Take…With a Twist: Incorporating Research and Play with Preparing Materials

Heather Fisher taps the power of play in professional learning. By being mindful of incorporating play into professional learning, teachers build their skills and confidence with new materials or strategies in their classrooms.

Ways to Make Positive Momentum Happen in Sticky Situations

Instructional coach Paula Fiscus finds ways to establish positive momentum in a season of combining two schools into one.

Connecting the Dots

Heather Fisher realized the possibility of connections while volunteering in the T-ball dugout. This transformed the direction of her coaching conversations as she used questioning and wait time to help teachers make powerful connections between content areas.

How to Manage Our Frustrations in Difficult Times

Matt Renwick offers an insightful perspective on how anger arises in educators, where it comes from, and what to do about it.

PL…See? Lightening Up PLCs to Increase Engagement

David Pittman reminds us of the importance of curiosity in driving professional learning communities. If engagement is waning in your PLCs, this article is a must-read!

 Bridging the Gap (Session 1): The Sold a Story Peel

Mary Brower shares a professional learning experience that peels back the layers of the Sold a Story podcast to help teachers find common ground in reading instruction. Includes a template for a guided conversation.

Choice Literacy Membership

Become a member for full access to Articles & Videos plus member-only Product Discounts

Membership

Explore More
Getting Organized
Guiding Teachers
Working in Classrooms

Choice Literacy Membership

Articles

Get full access to all Choice Literacy article content

Videos

Get full access to all Choice Literacy video content

Courses

Access Choice Literacy course curriculum and training

Membership Options

About

Choice Literacy is a community of passionate educators who lead. Come join us!

Learn more

Contact
Subscribe

Get free articles and insights delivered to your inbox every week with the Choice Literacy "Big Fresh" Newsletter!

Learn more

© 2025 The Lead Learners. All rights reserved.   Privacy Policy   |   Terms and Conditions

Website built by MemberDev

Loading...