Lead Lit Topic: Coaching Support Structures
Some literacy leaders receive extensive training for working with adult learners, but most of us do not. As you move between the stances of coach, collaborator and consultant, you’ll need support structures in place for defining your role, communicating with administrators, advocating for your position with a school board and more. Here you’ll find reflections and how-tos that respond to the question, “Who coaches the coach?”
Results
Supporting New Teachers and Appreciating Their Gifts
The research is clear and the statistics are grim. The most important factor that influences student achievement is the skill of the teacher, yet we lose more than 50 percent...
Keeping It Real for Students: Never Underestimate the Power of Reflection
Katie is a veteran teacher who willingly shares she is learning all the time. Her stance has evolved over time from the traditional preparation she received in her pre-service program...
Simplexity: Finding Your Focus
Simplexity - Finding the smallest number of high-leverage, easy to understand actions that unleash stunningly powerful consequences. Michael Fullan, in Motion Leadership As I approached 279 Newbury Street in Boston, I...
Tips for More Effective Debriefing Sessions
We do a lot of demonstration lessons in our coaching work. Lately we have been reflecting on how we structure these sessions. We find the debriefing of the lesson to...
From Teacher to Coach: Building Community in the Early Days
It's late August and next week I start my position as Instructional Coach. I am not new to working with teachers. I spent six years in higher education working with...
Busywork?: From Classroom Assistant to Agent of Change
It’s the day before school starts, hours before the kindergarten classrooms will be filled with parents and students excited to meet their very first teachers at a meet and greet...
Heather Sisson’s Coaching Space
Literacy coach Heather Sisson has a shelf of resources available to teachers in her coaching space. A simple checkout system puts everything from cooperative learning books to mentor texts...
Overwhelmed Coach
Everyone in education feels overwhelmed from time to time. Coaches can feel extremely stretched at particular times throughout the year. The months of November and March are the most intense...
Transcription: A Lens for Reflection
Having my picture taken is something I dread. Mostly because I know that later I’m going to have to look at the photo and I’m sure I won’t like what...
Evocative Coaching with Bob and Megan Tschannen-Moran (PODCAST)
Bob and Megan Tschannen-Moran are the authors of Evocative Coaching: Transforming Schools One Conversation at a Time. In this podcast with Heather Rader they talk about their work with teachers and...
Jennifer Allen on Working with Veteran Teachers (PODCAST)
In this podcast, Jennifer Allen talks with Franki Sibberson about mentoring veteran teachers. A transcript is included below the player. Franki Sibberson: What is your role in working with...
Jennifer Allen on Working with New Teachers (PODCAST)
Franki Sibberson chats with Jennifer Allen about the joys and challenges of working with new teachers. A transcript is below the player. Franki Sibberson: What have you found to be...
Concise, Conversational, and Consistent: Explaining the Work of Literacy Coaches
I get asked questions about my job in a variety of ways: “So you’re a teacher?” “I heard you’re a coach. What sport?” And my recent favorite: “Then you get...
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...
Can I Quote You on That?: Capturing Classroom Conversation
Sometimes inspiration for my teaching life comes from seemingly disparate experiences in my personal life. I spent a recent Saturday afternoon surrounded by a gaggle of giddy women who had...
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...
Tips from Literacy Leaders for Closing Out the School Year (ROUNDUP)
Here are some suggestions from Choice Literacy contributors for the best ways to close out the year, with everything from personal organizing tips to family events. Heather Rader, Instructional Coach...
Making the Case for Literacy Coaches
It's that time of year. School districts are examining their budgets for the upcoming school year. Due to the troubled economy, many of them are finding that they are not...
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...
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,...
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...
