Lead Lit Article Type: Try It
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The Instagram Project
“So, what have you been reading lately?” I have learned the power these seven words hold to invite readers to share their reading lives with others. As a literacy coach,...
That Student: Ending the Year with a PD Celebration
Students teach us how to be better. Every year we learn a lot from the children in our classrooms. To celebrate our students making us better, our last staff meeting...
Peer Observations with a Purpose
“Please clean up the playroom,” I reminded my daughters before dinner. “Done!” they yelled three minutes later as they skipped through the living room. I peeked around the corner and...
Coaching in Proximity: The Sherpa Mind-Set
Standing in the back of the room, I could see and feel the building anticipation. There was the wild-eyed look of a teacher who is no longer sure what question...
Embedding Reading into Staff Meetings
In a New York Times article, writer Virginia Heffernan questions the necessity of meetings. “They’re boring. They’re useless. Everyone hates them.” She interviews a number of organizational leaders about this...
Going Google as a Literacy Leader
Our time as literacy leaders is precious. The demands of our day and our positions are limited, especially when we also have a family and a life beyond school. Productivity...
Next-Thing Thinking and Google Keep
When I returned to work after the birth of my first child, I struggled to balance my new role as a working mother. As the coordinator for a local reading...
A Book Tasting for Teachers
Where do you turn when you need your next book to read? If you are like me, you have a few methods up your sleeve to ensure your next book...
Settling In
“Okay, writers, off you go,” Mrs. Smith says with a smile and a wave of her hand. The first graders scurry to their writing spots and open their writing folders...
Never Too Late to Get to Know You
Has your staff started down the trail of the winter doldrums and grumpy-pants syndrome? What is it about this time of year? The holidays are over, and spring break feels...
Learning and Leading Through Teaching
Covering for a teacher is more valuable than any observation. Putting myself into the shoes of the adult in the classroom is both revealing and humbling as a building principal....
Using Padlet in Coaching
As I sat in my office one morning planning for an upcoming professional development session on sketchnoting, I was struck by how technology has changed the way I work and...
The Intersection of Social Studies and Language Arts
I was part of a team that worked on new social studies content frameworks in my state, and we talked to many teachers throughout the state. We heard the refrain...
Planning for Monthly Literacy Team Meetings
You hit home runs not by chance, but by preparation. Roger Maris October is when the "honeymoon period" has usually ended for teachers. It's the month when students show...
More Productive Workshops
As we turn the corner from the beginning of the year, many writing workshops become humming hives of productivity and progress, and some don’t quite get off the ground. What...
Building Specialist Capacity
Specialized teachers and paraprofessionals are tremendous resources for classrooms, and the many adults who work in schools want to teach meaningful lessons to students. They just don’t know how. One...
Building from Strengths
“It’s going to be a wonderful day.” When I wake up, before I even get out of bed, I try to say those words to myself. I feel silly, but...
Breathe
Every now and again, just as I’m feeling confident and sure of my skills as a leader, someone will come along and do something so simple, so perfectly appropriate, that...
Who Are “They”? Word Choice and Student Learning
Like many of us, I first became a student of words with Peter Johnston’s Choice Words; he taught me how even subtleties in language have powerful effects. More recently, my...
Being Selfish About Meeting Norms
Writing norms helps create groups that are able to have honest discussions that enable everyone to participate and be heard. Joan Richardson I have found myself thinking about the...
Getting Emotional
Although I aspire to be a leader who is always strong, stoic, and sensible, I occasionally succumb to the emotional toll of my job. At least once a year, it...
