Lead Lit Article Type: Read It
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My New Favorite: Paraphrasing
For years I sang songs to my son about “my favorite boy” and to my daughter as “my favorite girl.” Then I had another girl—and I kept singing. One day...
What is the Evidence?
The first and most brutal fact that must be confronted in creating professional learning communities is that the task is not merely challenging: it is daunting. It is disingenuous to...
Parallels Between Student Learning and Staff Development
"So, what are you working on now?" This is a question I seem to get a lot, and despite years of practice, it's always a tricky one. You see, I...
Supporting Successful First-Year Coaches
It's Friday, a little after noon, and Cristina Charney, Heather Sisson, Becky Lee and I are tucked around the small circle table with our lunches in my office. We are...
Not That Into Me
For the past 11 years during the holiday season my husband and I have watched the movie Trapped in Paradise with my brother. The movie stars Nicholas Cage, Dana Carvey and Jon...
Undercover Coach: Making Time to Work with Children
Have you ever watched the television show Undercover Boss? Each episode shows what happens when a high-ranking official of a company attempts to do an entry-level job in the company for...
What Coaches Carry (Part 1)
As I prepare to mentor three new coaches this year in different assignments: elementary building coach, secondary reading intervention coach and middle grades math coach, I sit down to have...
What Coaches Carry (Part 2)
In part one of this series we began the conversation about what to carry to be prepared for the varied work of teacher leadership -- from teaching and one-on-one coaching,...
Eight Tips for Building Relationships: A Tale of Two Literacy Coaches
I stopped by Monroe School to see the literacy coach, Kate, before the school day began. I was in her office for about five minutes when second-grade teacher Leah burst...
Ways to Avoid Coaching Traps
When we first began providing staff development to schools, our mentor at Tufts University shared the book Strategies for Teacher Collaboration by Loviah Aldinger with us. We each carry a well-worn copy...
Troubleshooting Coaching Cycles
Last summer, we were fortunate to host Diane Sweeney at our coaching summer institute. Diane introduced us to the idea of coaching cycles. She assured us that coaching cycles would...
Sales Clerks and Literacy Leaders
Shopping for the perfect outfit is always an exhausting task. I seem to always encounter the hovering salesperson. She's the one who shows me the outfits I would never buy, and suggests...
Navigating Conversations
The thought had been weighing on my mind for a while. I needed to have a conversation with my principal. It is my job as a coach to keep a...
Prepping a Fieldwork Site: Strategies for Launching Quality Partnerships
What does this space encourage? —James Clear, Atomic Habits Over the past 10 years, the teacher preparation program at my university has devoted a lot of time and energy to...
Same Candy Bar, Different Wrapper: Professional Books That Change Instruction
Kylene Beers, a literacy advocate, author, and educator, passed away this summer. She had a lasting impact on my classroom, and I know many other educators around the world express...
Teaching from the Heart
I was thrilled when I got a new job teaching preservice teachers at the local university. As I anticipated my new role, I had visions of students huddled together, engrossed...
When Coaching Fails: How to Help Educators Who Resist Help
It’s Year 5 in my tenure as principal at a previous school, and a teacher continues to use worksheet packets for literacy instruction. This, in spite of the fact that...
Overcorrecting
Hey Suzy, Thanks for spending time with me and my kiddos today. I agree that they’re starting to understand how to “go back to the text” to support an opinion....
Teacher Booklist
Over the past 23 years, I have amassed quite a collection of books full of educational research, ways to help students read, strategies for developing writers, and inspiration for writing...
Pedagogical Clarity in a Time of Changes
Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced. —James Baldwin Many songs, phrases, and quotes have been written on the subject...
When Coaching Fails: How to Help Educators Who Resist Help
It’s year five in my tenure as principal at a previous school, and a teacher continues to use worksheet packets for literacy instruction. This, in spite of the fact that...
