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The Importance of Creating a Literacy Room (Instead of a Tiny Office)

Melanie Swider finds that her first task in moving from teaching to a coaching role at her school is to think through how she will organize and share resources with teachers. Scratch that—her very first task is convincing her principal that a large room needs to be set aside for professional development resources.

Becoming a Literacy Coach: Principles and Mission Statements

Brian Sepe thinks about what has influenced his coaching, and through that process develops a mission statement and a vision statement to guide his work.

Coaching Minute: Baggies

Melanie Meehan shares her bedraggled baggie—the essential tools she carries with her when she confers with students.

No Cutting Corners in Coaching

A home renovation project gets Kathy Provost thinking about what's essential in coaching well.

Coaching Minute: What’s in My Bag

Melanie Meehan opens her coaching bag to share her favorite on-the-go resources.

Autobiographical Listening

Jennifer Schwanke realizes too often that in attempting to connect with others, we shift the focus away from the person we're listening to. She explains why feedback based on autobiographical listening may be problematic.

Transcribing Conversations During Instructional Walks

Matt Renwick finds transcribing brief snippets of conversation with students during his daily instructional walks ensures the focus stays on students in conversations with teachers.

The Leading Edge

Dana Murphy considers what type of feedback is most helpful to teachers when they are most vulnerable—on the leading edge of trying something new.

On Being Coached

Dana Murphy finds herself analyzing how a colleague encourages her, and in the process reaffirms the value of coaching for everyone.

Voice Notes

Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan use voice notes as a way to be more reflective and systematic in organizing materials after professional development sessions.

The Power of Sketchbooks for Coaches

Melanie Swider finds sketchbooks are a nifty tool for creating sample anchor charts as well as conferring with students and teachers.

Coaching Basics: Routines

Ruth Ayres shares a simple protocol for coaches to use with teachers when they are thinking through changes to routines in their classrooms.

Cultivating Natural Mentors

Jennifer Schwanke thinks back to her painful first days as a teacher in a "mentor-free" zone and shares how literacy leaders can cultivate and foster natural mentorships for new teachers.

Transitioning from Teaching Children to Adults

Erin Ocon makes the transition from teaching children to mentoring adults, and finds that most principles and practices for literacy learning still hold true.

Matching Resources to Teachers: Tools for Coaches

Ruth Ayres explains how coaches can use technology to match teachers to resources in an era when what's available online can be overwhelming.

My New and Improved Writing Toolkit

What's in your bag? Melanie Meehan shares her favorite tools and how she organizes them in her bag for on-the-go coaching in writing workshops.

Systems for Keeping the Bookroom Organized and Manageable

From setups to all-calls to end-of-year reorganizations, here are Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan’s best tips for keeping school bookrooms organized.

Working Together to Expand the Bookroom

Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan outline a process for helping teachers organize, sort through, and expand offerings in school bookrooms. They include inventory and sample ordering templates.

Organizing Mentor Texts

Do you often send out emails to staff asking for help in locating missing mentor texts? Kathy Provost has a suggestion for organizing your professional book library this summer that might solve your problem.

Revising Bookrooms to Support Engagement and Instruction

Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan share a system for organizing bookrooms by levels, genres, authors, and topics. This feature includes dozens of recommended books on Pinterest board links.

Reflections on the First Six Weeks Coaching

Samantha Munnecke chats with Heather Rader about learning and surprises from her first six weeks as a literacy coach.

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