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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 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.

Using Meeting Minutes as a Reflective Tool

How are you using your meeting minutes? Jennifer Allen discovers they can be a surprisingly useful tool for building common language and goals across grade-level teams.

Coaching Minute: Music

Heather Rader talks about the power of music in setting the tone for professional development in this quick video tip.

Intentional Agendas: Planning for Teacher Learning

Julie Wright finds she uses the same principles to design professional development agendas and literacy workshops.

Coaching Minute: Celebrations

Ruth Ayres talks about the importance of celebrations for coaches, teachers, and students in this brief video.

Puppies and Babies and Kittens, Oh My! Support for Maternity Leaves

Are you experiencing a new “baby boom” among teachers in your school? Melanie Quinn has advice on assisting in classrooms where teachers are going on maternity leave.

Determining Importance: Demonstration Small-Group Lesson in Third Grade

Tammy Mulligan leads a demonstration small group with third graders on determining importance. The video includes a prebrief and debrief with the teacher.

Welcome Visits

Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan explain why “welcome visits” are so important for building relationships, and how they make these visits an integral part of their professional development programs.

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.

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