Lead Lit Article Type: Read It
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Words of Reflection for New Coaches
One afternoon, I opened my work email and found a lovely note from three of our new instructional coaches that had been sent to the whole coaching team. I found...
How the Influences of Reggio Emilia’s Teaching Approach Still Affect My Practice
I started my teaching career more than two decades ago at the American School in Paraguay, where I taught preschool in a bilingual setting. Our pedagogy was based on the...
When the Best Coaching Is Offering Advice
A dialogue is a meeting of the minds, two or more people sharing ideas with each other. It is not a dialogue if I withhold my ideas, and it is...
Three Books that Changed How I Teach and Think About Reading
My school is going through a renovation. Although most of my supplies were boxed up and moved to storage in the building, one set of items I brought home from...
Everything I Need to Know About Teaching Children, I Learned Through Conferring
Have you ever been asked that question, “If you could take only three things to an island, what would they be?” I know my answers change as time evolves and...
How to Let Go of Outdated Literacy Practices
One of the great misconceptions we often carry throughout our lives is that our perceptions of ourselves and the world are basically accurate and true, that they reflect some stable,...
Avoiding Burnout
This article is not about using this summer to get reinspired, or about falling further in love with your work, or about the best books to buy for your students....
Ninja Feedback: Empowering Teachers to Reflect
The greatest feedback I've gotten has been feedback I didn't know I was getting. The most effective coaches and mentors in my experience were those who knew how to ask...
A Word to Aspiring Coaches
Not long ago, my district had a few openings for instructional coaches. The openings were an exciting opportunity, as our schools were considering a return to somewhat “normal” instruction after...
Books Need Space
I’ve always personified objects. I grew up on a farm, and on those stifling hot summer days baling hay, I would beg my father to give the tractor a break....
Three Expectations Regarding Grammar Instruction
Anyone who has ever sat at a desk with an open grammar book and 10 sentences to perform a rote task like identifying the subject, the subordinate clause, or the...
Offer a Mirror: How Coaches Empower Reflection
“I don’t know! It’s just that I get in there and I start teaching it, and then things happen...like someone has a connection or someone doesn’t understand a word and...
The Daily GIF
Each morning, our school’s administrative assistant, Jenni, sends out an email with the morning’s daily update. It summarizes the day’s staff absences and reminds everyone of any big events for...
COVID: What I’ll Keep
As I write this, we are finishing a year of pandemic life, and we educators have lost a lot: time, instruction, resources, security, and even the surety of activities that...
Hiring Teachers for Today and Tomorrow
“Due to retirement, Mineral Point Elementary School is searching for a highly qualified fifth-grade teacher. In addition to appropriate licensure, the highly qualified candidate will possess the following knowledge, skills,...
Insight Before PD
Our students are not going to outgrow us. We have to become better if we want them to be better. Cornelius Minor In my role as an English language...
How Teacher Evaluation Can Support School-Wide Change
Can we leverage teacher evaluation systems to support school-wide change? For example, if our goal is an effective and engaging ELA curriculum, in what ways might formal observations help implementation?...
Harnessing the Power of Change
Camping, real camping, the kind with tents and sleeping bags and stiff backs . . . I don’t really know why I subject myself and my two young sons, Ben and...
Leaders Need Coaches Too
I received a Linkedin message from an educational consultant, wondering if I was looking for a leadership coach. “No, I'm already working with someone right now, but thank you.” He...
Saying No
Before leaving work, I sat down to review the various meetings I'd attended and the tasks I'd done that day, jotting a few notes and follow-up emails I needed to...
Maintenance as Leadership
Every August, a calendar event reminds me to check for hornets' nests on the playground. I go outside and investigate each slide, swing set, and jungle gym, sometimes kicking equipment...
