Lead Lit Article Type: Try It
Results
A Yearlong Coaching Calendar
I took a deep breath and positioned my fingers over the keyboard. It was the beginning of November, and it was time. I had just completed two successful coaching cycles...
Conferring Matters: A Coach’s Perspective
“Do you have time to talk with me about conferring?” a teacher asked me at the end of the day. I smiled because it was the same question I’d been...
Reading Invasion
Imagine roughly 400 people—staff and students—walking out into the green space on your campus. Now imagine every one of them with a book in hand. Next, they all take...
What We Lost
I’m always looking for easy ways to help teachers write. I believe teachers need to write if they want to know how to teach writing. You don’t need to write...
Sketchnoting in Professional Development
Not too long ago, my son came home from school, threw his book on the table, and declared, “I’m never writing another reading response again!” Surprised, I asked him what...
DIY Notebooks for Literacy Coaches
Wednesdays have become my favorite coaching day of the week. Why? For the past few years on Wednesday afternoons, I have been coaching a group of literacy teachers working to...
Kid-Watching as a Coaching Move
“So, what do you do, exactly?” people outside the field of education often ask me when I tell them I am an instructional coach. I have been answering this question...
Coaching as Inquiry
As coaches we are always trying to gauge our effectiveness, always working to learn and grow, always looking for the answers to our questions about the work we do alongside...
Using Concern Forms for Feedback
The practice of having playground balls kept in classrooms or just outside the door is disruptive and unnecessary. The biggest problem is the continuous bouncing of balls in the hallway...
Graphics and Coaching Opportunities
An email from the principal. A curriculum memo from the assistant superintendent. The monthly newsletter from district office. Teachers are bombarded with Very Important Information every day. I wanted to...
Authentically Curious
When I first received the note from a member of the staff, my initial reaction was shock. "I feel like I don't really know you, nor do you really know...
Summer Quiet and the Three Rs
There are two types of quiet in schools: school-is-in-session quiet and summer quiet. School-is-in-session quiet is when students are in their classrooms, working on their personal reading and writing projects...
Coaching Purposeful Classroom Design
Candace scrolled excitedly down the page of the website filled with colorful stools, crisp conference tables with charging stations, and nifty caddies. “Ugh—I could spend my entire paycheck here!” she...
Jumpstarting Student Writers
When I was in high school, I dated a guy who owned an antiquated MG. Although the car was extremely cute, it was also extremely inconsistent, and it frequently required...
The Power of a Plastic Frame
When we were clearing out my grandmother’s house, she had hundreds of plastic frames—the ones you buy in a drugstore for about a dollar each. As I sorted through the...
Dealing with Side Conversations
It happens almost every time. Someone (maybe it's you?) is leading a professional development session for teachers, and a side conversation is happening at one of the tables. The presenter...
Choice Professional Development Sessions
Back in August, our district offered K-3 teachers a selection of workshops. The language arts consultants, reading specialists, and I (the writing coordinator) put together a collection of offerings that...
Looking Back and Planning Forward
When I was a classroom teacher, I had two things on my mind when the calendar turned to spring: a strong finish with my students and the changes I wanted...
A Checklist for Reflection
Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. Soren Kierkegaard It's 4:30 p.m. on a Thursday in the dead of winter. I should go home...
“There Are Words All Over Our Hallways!”
For students who are quickly becoming independent readers, they need to see the word about ten times before it moves into their bank of easily recognized words. However, our dependent...
The Power of Mini-Charts
I spend a lot of time making charts. I have filled multiple sketchbooks with charts over the years—anchor charts, strategy charts, and learning progressions. These sketchbooks have become invaluable to...
