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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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Planning Classroom Visits: Organizing Purposefully

Principal Karen Szymusiak has tips for getting the most out of classroom visits, including setting up master schedules that follow similar formats.

Coaching Minute: That’s Me

Heather Rader shares an easy icebreaker to use when you are visiting a class of students for the first time in this quick video tip.

Coaching Minute: A Stash of Student Work

Heather Rader explains the many uses for a stash of student work for literacy coaches in this quick video tip.

The Writing Process Revisited

Shari Frost considers the dangers of a lockstep approach to the writing process in classrooms.

Small-Group Demonstration Lesson: Writing Details in Kindergarten

In this demonstration small group with kindergartners, Tammy Mulligan uses student texts to show children the value of adding details to their pictures and texts in writing workshop.

Coaching Minute: Principals and Professional Development

In this brief video, Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan talk about the challenges of getting busy principals involved in professional development given how packed their schedules are.

Hear It, Clear It Up, and Steer It

Heather Rader finds that when colleagues express frustration through email, responses that address both the people and the problem are the best practice.

Lessons from a Multitasker

Trying to do too many tasks at once causes Jennifer Allen to make an embarrassing error and develop a plan for slowing down and focusing.

Taking a Fresh Look at PLCs

Melanie Quinn finds that a shift in location for her school's Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) makes all the difference in increasing the quality of the meetings.

Coaching Minute: Dress for Success

What message does your attire send? Heather Rader explores this tricky issue in this quick video tip.

Meaningful Transitions During Professional Development Sessions

Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan share ideas for making transitions during professional development sessions lively, meaningful, and respectful.

Coaching Minute: Teachers First

In this brief video, Ruth Ayres explains why listening and asking genuine questions are essential when mentoring teachers.

You Are Not My Mentor

Heather Rader questions why some mentor/mentee relationships don’t click, and what we can do about it.

Cultivating Teacher Leadership

Jennifer Allen explains why it is essential for literacy coaches to expand their work to include mentoring teachers into leadership roles, especially involving curriculum work.

Benefits and Barriers: Helping Teachers Change

Heather Sisson designs a simple template to use in teacher study groups to help colleagues explore barriers to change, and come up with plans for overcoming them.

Coming Apart to Come Back Together

Ruth Shagoury uses a poem from MeKeel McBride with teachers of many different grade levels to help them explore what's falling apart in their teaching, and how to bring it all back together again.

Coaching Minute: Cellphone Fun

Do you want a quick fun way to get to learn a bit about participants in professional development? Heather Rader suggestions a cellphone poll in this video tip.

Engaging That Class

Jennifer Brotherton has flashbacks to her own teaching experiences with a challengng class as she coaches an eighth-grade teacher using a seminar format with students.

Coaching Minute: One Size Does Not Fit All

Ruth Ayres talks about the importance of varying responses to teachers with diverse needs in this two-minute video.

Reaching Boy Writers

Principal Jodi Mahoney and teachers in her school embark on a quest to understand boy writers better, and re-evaluate their writing workshops as they read, talk, and take some risks together.

Helping Teachers Learn to Love the Common Core Standards

Principal Jason DiCarlo realizes you can’t love anything you don’t know well, so he designs a professional development session to help teachers take a closer look at the Common Core.

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