Lead Lit Article Type: Try It
Results
Cultivating Natural Mentors
When I was hired as a junior high English teacher, my principal was just one year from retirement and had the proverbial “one foot out the door.” He spent his...
Fostering Change with Student Work
As a literacy coach within my district, I find myself promoting district initiatives that require teachers to take on new curriculum. For some teachers this means letting go of cherished...
Coaching Relationships: Move Closer
When I was in graduate school working on my degree in educational leadership, I had a professor admonish us to “Move closest to the person you feel the least closest...
Twitter Book Chats
Cultivating a culture of learning and collaboration among teachers and support staff is a responsibility of all coaches. But everyone is dealing with overstuffed schedules, and finding the ability to...
Because It’s the Right Thing to Do
As a school that focuses on positive behavior, we used to have a token jar that was prominently displayed in the front hall. As classes passed, they could see how...
Taking Breaks
Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live. Jim Rohn When we lead professional development sessions, we often let participants know that we have an...
Launching Meetings with Video
Nothing brings people together more than shared experiences. Jimmy Fallon There is nothing like that awkward silence that inevitably surfaces at the start of meetings or professional development sessions....
What I Wish I’d Known As a New Coach
As I begin my fourth year in my position as our district’s writing and social studies coordinator, I realize my work alongside teachers has changed in subtle and profound ways....
Getting Organized with Google
I find myself doing a lot of traveling as a literacy coach—not only between classrooms, but also between multiple schools. Some hard copies of papers are unavoidable; I always have...
Failure to Norm
As I developed relationships with 36 teachers this year, I was careful to watch and try to understand the dynamics that would help me as a coach. It’s easy (and...
Integrating the Bookroom into Professional Development Sessions
Bookrooms are filled with many learning opportunities, and by browsing the books in focused ways we can build our understanding of text complexity, increase our knowledge of matching books to...
Systems for Keeping the Bookroom Organized and Manageable
A place for everything and everything in its place. Ben Franklin We know Ben Franklin wasn’t referring to bookrooms when he said these words, but we think his wisdom...
Working Together to Expand the Bookroom
The process by which decisions are made is even more important than the actual decisions. We've never found a source for this quote, but it has helped us countless times...
Organizing Mentor Texts
If you are a coach like me, you have several hundred picture books and other mentor texts you use as coaching tools throughout the school year. Over the years, I've...
Keeping Note Taking Fresh for Students
In grades three and up, our teachers and students use notebooks to record their thinking. They use these notes to track characters, ask questions, make inferences, track a theme, and...
Creating Flash Continuums
It is part of my work to guide teams of teachers to create standards-based learning continuums. A continuum is a way to generate a common understanding of a selected standard...
Shifting to Student-Centered Coaching
During my first two years in my position as writing coordinator, a large percentage of my work involved developing curriculum and assessments. My coaching work was mainly for new teachers...
Brain and Movement Breaks for Teachers
Have you ever been facilitating a professional development session and looked out in the crowd to find signs of inattention? Teachers checking their cell phones. Table members engaging in side...
Hiring Teachers for English Language Learners
As our schools become more and more diverse, educators have had to prioritize the needs of students who have limited skills with speaking, reading, and writing in English. As a...
Back-to-School PowerPoints
I remember my husband gently grabbing my arm as I started to raise my hand to ask a question at my daughter’s Back-to-School Night. We had clearly been instructed that...
Breaking Tasks Down into Steps
One summer when I was in college, I had intensive training to work in a camp program that specialized in children with attention and behavior disorders. One of our lessons...
