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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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Telling Our Story

Cathy Mere is keenly aware that coaching positions can be expendable during budget crunches. She and her coaching colleagues are proactive in explaining their value by creating a series of graphic representations of their work.

Third-Grade Team Discussion: Rate Your Post-It Tool

Literacy coach Kathy Provost leads a team of third-grade teachers as they discuss using a “Rate Your Post-It” visual tool in their classrooms.

Protecting Your Coaching Time

Dana Murphy reflects on some of the mistakes she made early in her coaching career, as well as what her standards are now for making the best use of limited time.

Culture for Coaching Part 4: Schoolwide Coaching Cycles

In the final installment of this four-part series, Ruth Ayres explains how she systematically expanded coaching cycles teacher by teacher until they were a schoolwide norm.

Starting a Coaching Cycle: The First Meeting

Dana Murphy outlines a simple process for building trust and shared vision in the first meeting before the launch of a coaching cycle.

Authentically Curious

Matt Renwick is stunned when a teacher complains that he doesn't take the time to know the staff. After getting over his initial anger, he decides on two strategies to address the problem.

Culture for Coaching Part 2: Resistance to Cycles

Ruth Ayres faces passive defiance when teachers learn they will be participating in coaching cycles as part of a school improvement plan. This is the second installment in a four-part series on building a culture for coaching within a resistant staff.

Culture for Coaching Part 3: Baby Steps for Launching Cycles

Ruth Ayres shares the four components of launching a coaching cycle successfully. This is the third installment in a four-part series on building a culture for coaching within a resistant staff.

The Awkward Chair

Jennifer Schwanke explains how literacy leaders are often in "the awkward chair"—the position of having to explain painful truths to others. She has tips on how to handle the hot seat in meetings and discussions with colleagues and parents.

Culture for Coaching Part 1: Introduction

A failing grade for a school was splashed across the local newspaper and resulted in mandated coaching. It wasn't a recipe for success. Ruth Ayres explains how she built a coaching culture under challenging circumstances. This is the first article in a four-part series.

Professional Reboot

Jennifer Schwanke finds she is jealous of a colleague attending a summer training session, so she attends herself. It's a reminder to her of how powerful professional development can be for school leaders.

Summer Quiet and the Three Rs

Matt Renwick shares his “Three Rs” for literacy leaders in the summer: read, reflect, and recharge.

Coaching Purposeful Classroom Design

Gretchen Taylor helps middle school teachers rethink their instruction by considering areas of the classroom as “zones” for learning, and redesigning them accordingly.

Bringing Order to the Bookroom

Shari Frost visits a school bookroom and discovers many issues with organization and use. If you have a school bookroom, summer is the perfect time to rethink its purpose and procedures for checking out books.

Demonstration Lesson: From Play to Literacy in First Grade

Young children need a place and props for play in their classroom. But how can we transfer this learning from play to literacy instruction? Clare Landrigan works with a first-grade teacher and a small group of students to think through this dilemma in this demonstration lesson.

Motivating Reluctant Writers in Third Grade

Kathy Provost and a third-grade teaching team discuss how to motivate reluctant writers.

Jumpstarting Student Writers

Melanie Meehan shares a simple coaching tool she uses to rev up young student writers.

A Better Hiring Process

Matt Renwick shares five tips for ensuring you have a smooth and smart hiring process.

School Leaders and Written Communication

Jen Schwanke is horrified at the quality of writing she receives when teaching a graduate course for school leaders. The experience gets her thinking about what motivates writers of all ages.

Paraphrasing to Let Teachers Lead

Matt Renwick talks about the importance of paraphrasing and meandering in conversations after classroom observations so teachers can take the lead in their learning.

You Say Tornado . . .

Suzy Kaback shares the power of taking time to honor results late in the school year with teachers in professional development settings.

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