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Coaching Support Structures

Some literacy leaders receive extensive training for working with adult learners, but most of us do not. As you move between the stances of coach, collaborator and consultant, you’ll need support structures in place for defining your role, communicating with administrators, advocating for your position with a school board and more. Here you’ll find reflections and how-tos that respond to the question, “Who coaches the coach?”

Latest Content
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.

Advocating for English Language Learners

Of all the skills teachers of English language learners need, knowing how to advocate for students may be the most important. Jennifer Schwanke explains why.

Hiring Teachers for English Language Learners

Jennifer Schwanke shares interview questions and ways to analyze candidate responses when hiring teachers of English language learners.

Back-to-School PowerPoints

Kim Campbell helps new teachers develop presentations to introduce themselves to parents during open houses in the days before school begins.

Coaching Minute: Working with New Coaches

In this brief video, Amanda Adrian talks about the importance of considering how to integrate new coaches into ongoing study groups and teams that have worked together for years.

Coaching New Teachers

Brian Sepe explains how literacy coaches can best support new teachers.

Coaching Minute: Supporting New Coaches

Kathy Provost and Heather Fisher share tips for how veteran coaches can support new colleagues in this short video.

Developing Coaching Skills Together

Dana Murphy explains how she works with other literacy coaches in her district to develop a "toolbox" of coaching skills and strategies together.

Changing Two Words

Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan explain how two simple word changes have made all the difference in building rapport with teachers.

Empowering the Reading Team

Kathy Provost explains how and why she transferred more responsibility for professional development to reading specialists. In her district, elementary reading specialists now lead literacy professional sessions for paraprofessionals.

Hiring for Literacy: The Big Picture

Jennifer Schwanke explains why leaders need to have a thoughtful hiring process in place when seeking excellent literacy teachers.

Hiring for Literacy: The Interview

These interview questions from Jennifer Schwanke are accompanied by a guide for what to look for in the answers from candidates, as well as potential red flags.

Wild Reading: A Coach’s Perspective

Kathy Provost suggests a fun way for coaches to help students and teachers find joy again during independent reading.

Coaching Minute: Dividing Responsibilities Among Coaches

Kathy Provost and Heather Fisher explain how they worked to divide responsibilities fairly and efficiently over time.

Coaching Minute: Building a Coaching Rapport

Literacy coaches Ruth Ayres and Deb Gaby chat with second-grade teacher Cathy Laker about building trust in coaching and teaching relationships.

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