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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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Coaching Minute: Personal Story Barometer

Are you sharing too many anecdotes in your coaching? In this quick video tip, Heather Rader explains the “personal story barometer” she uses to gauge whether a story should be shared.

Getting Instructional Practices Up and Running

How long does it take to help a teacher get a new instructional practice up and running? If you’re thinking through your calendar and how you spend your days, you’ll find Shari Frost’s advice helpful.

Coaching Owls, Larks, and Hummingbirds

Heather Rader finds that understanding whether teachers work best in the morning or afternoon can be crucial in timing professional development.

Teacher Evaluation: A New Role for Coaches

Jennifer Allen discovers she can play a key role as a literacy coach in helping colleagues understand a new teacher evaluation model.

Rubrics and Muggles: Common Frameworks and Instructional Coaching

Jennifer Brotherton finds it is essential to develop a common language for teachers and coaches when teacher evaluation standards are being discussed.

Systems Thinking and Educational Change

Julie Wright shares some tips for using systems thinking in developing plans for instructional change in schools and districts.

Picture It: Celebrate!

Jason DiCarlo shares a 15-minute monthly activity for celebrating literacy breakthroughs with teachers.

Pushing the Pause Button for Reflection: Literacy Chats

Principal Karen Szymusiak finds "literacy chats" are an effective structure for fostering ongoing discussions across grades about reading and writing instruction.

Third-Grade Demonstration Lesson: Multisyllabic Words

In this small-group demonstration lesson, Tammy Mulligan helps third graders decipher multisyllabic words. The video includes a prebrief and debrief with the classroom teacher.

Guess Who’s Coming? Planning an Author Visit

Deb Gaby has many practical tips for planning an author visit as a schoolwide celebration of literacy.

Climbing Gordon’s Ladder with New Teachers

Jennifer Vincent finds that Gordon's Ladder is a powerful tool for mentoring new teachers.

Developing a Collaborative Vision for Leading Literacy Coaches

Heather Sisson finds that summer is the best time for developing a shared vision of guiding literacy coaches with a colleague.

Coaching Minute: Voice Memos

Heather Rader explains how she uses voice memos to help in planning and sharing information in this quick video tip.

Operation Classroom Library

Shari Frost has wise advice for helping new teachers build a classroom library from scratch without breaking the bank.

Planning for a Year of Study Groups

Jennifer Allen plans for next year’s study groups and other ongoing professional development offerings each spring, to give teachers lots of time to choose which groups might meet their needs.

Teacher Blogs in the Digital World

Julie Johnson introduces blogging to teachers in a digital learning class, and shares “mentor blog” resources to help any teacher get started with blogging.

Coaching Minute: Professional Development Matters for Us

In this brief video, Ruth Ayres explains why professional development is important for all of us, no matter your leadership role.

Interviewing a Coach

Heather Rader shares tips on interviewing candidates for literacy coaching positions.

Picture It: Binder Full of Coaching

Heather Rader shares a photo of her coaching binder, an essential tool for staying organized as she moves between the 13 elementary schools in her district.

Coaching in the Moment

Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan explain why unstructured coaching support time may be some of the most valuable to include in your schedule.

Coaching Boundaries: Do You Have Any?

Jennifer Allen realizes she may be provoking unreasonable requests from teachers because she doesn't have clear boundaries for her workday.

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