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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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Choice Professional Development Sessions

Melanie Meehan tackles a professional development session scheduled at a tough time of year by turning it into an opportunity for participants to share their growth and learning.

Looking Back and Planning Forward

Cathy Mere finds that the last weeks of the school year are the best time for literacy coaches to reflect on long-term goals attained and missed, as well as to plan next steps.

Case Studies All Year Long

Kathy Provost and Heather Fisher talk with reading specialists about the value of following a case study over an entire year.

Building Self-Evaluation Skills: What’s Your Signature Move?

Signature moves are developed over years, not days. Gretchen Taylor explains how they can define literacy leaders in positive and negative ways.

Grammar Instruction in Fourth Grade

Melanie Meehan coaches a fourth-grade teacher who is trying to improve his grammar instruction.

First-Grade Demonstration Group: Why Read?

A first-grade teacher shares a guilty secret: she isn't sure some of her students have an innate sense of the value of reading. Clare Landrigan leads a demonstration group to examine the issue and brainstorm solutions.

Conference Records That Stay with Kids

If we want to teach everyone in the school to be student centered, conference records need to stay with kids. Ruth Ayres explains how this works.

A Checklist for Reflection

Brian Sepe develops a simple reflection checklist to plan next steps, calm his mind, and transition from school to home.

Developing Life Skills vs. Teaching to the Test

Melanie Quinn and the teachers she works with face the hard truth of low test scores in their school, and develop reflective practices to tackle the issue.

Coaching Minute: Lesson Planning Form

Kathy Provost and Heather Fisher talk about the value of using a lesson planning form with teachers as a shared record of plans, action, and reflection in coaching sessions.

“There Are Words All Over Our Hallways!”

Jennifer Allen shares a practical strategy for building vocabulary and interest in word study throughout a school.

Reflecting and Planning for Summer Reading

Tammy Mulligan helps Katie, a sixth grader who lacks confidence in her reading abilities, reflect on her strengths and make plans for summer reading. This demonstration conference includes a prebrief and debrief with Katie’s teacher.

Teacher Guilt

Feeling guilty about the quality of instruction is a common state for teachers. Kathy Provost gives some practical tips on how a literacy coach can help build teacher confidence in authentic ways.

The Power of Mini-Charts

Melanie Meehan finds that the effectiveness of the charts she uses in coaching is magnified by shrinking them down and sharing them with many teachers.

Word Study Kick-Off

Julie Wright details a half day (2-1/2 hour) professional development session to build interest and skill in word study among teachers.

Professional Development Choice and Follow-Up

Melanie Meehan finds that including choice and reflection in professional development options leads to more classroom changes over time.

Exit Slips for Reflection and Planning

In this video, Kathy Provost and Heather Fisher use exit slips to assess the success of a professional development session and plan next steps.

Poetry Love

Why not poetry? Melanie Meehan asked herself what genre might work best for a summer writing academy for students. She explains why poetry is the perfect summer genre for students who might be reluctant to receive extra support.

Planning Next Year’s Professional Development Offerings

Jennifer Allen shares her topics, schedules, and plans for study groups in 2017-2018.

Benched

Ruth Ayres explores what literacy coaches can do when they are sidelined or marginalized by difficult conditions in a school.

It’s Not About Us

Matt Renwick realizes that sometimes we have to ignore our path as learners to help teachers find their own way to better instruction.

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