Lead Lit Topic: Collaborative Teaching
Whether you’re collaborating with a veteran teacher who is confident about her classroom, or a novice who is completely overwhelmed with management issues, structuring collaborative teaching is one of the most fulfilling and important responsibilities for any literacy coach. Here are some possibilities for making the most of your collaborative time with colleagues.
Results
Teaching Advanced Second-Grade Writers: A Collaborative Lesson
Literacy coach Kathy Provost and second-grade teacher Jen Volpicelli teach a lesson for second graders who are moving beyond grade level expectations in their writing. This is the second video...
Teaching Advanced Second-Grade Writers: Designing the Lesson
Literacy coach Kathy Provost and second-grade teacher Jen Volpicelli design a lesson for second graders who are moving beyond grade-level expectations in their writing. This is the first video in...
No Cookies: Reflection and Celebration
At the beginning of the year, I started a coaching cycle right away with one of our district’s fourth-grade teachers. We had studied the data of the cohort heading her...
Collaborative Teaching: Debrief
Literacy coach Kathy Provost and second-grade teacher Jen Volpicelli debrief after teaching a lesson on opinion writing to Owen and Laura. This is the third video in a three-part series.
Collaborative Teaching: Opinion Writing
Literacy coach Kathy Provost and second-grade teacher Jen Volpicelli teach a lesson on opinion writing to Owen and Laura. This is the second video in a three-part series.
Planning for Collaborative Teaching
Literacy coach Kathy Provost plans for small-group instruction with second-grade teacher Jen Volpicelli. This first video in a series is excellent for thinking through how coaches can make their planning...
Repertoire: A Coach’s Perspective
In my writer’s notebook, I keep a list of words I love. One of my favorites is repertoire. I love spelling it. I love the way it sounds. And I...
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...
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...
Seizing a Coaching Opportunity
As one of the adults in the building who clips a walkie-talkie to my waistband, I smugly expected a class of fifth graders to listen to me. That bubble was...
Four Ways to Breathe Life into Classroom Charts
Charts are an incredible resource for developing independence in classrooms. When used effectively, charts document the teaching that has happened in the classroom and allow students to revisit lessons. Sometimes...
Reframing Questions to Build a Reading Community
On a cold December morning, a group of teachers came together to talk about reading workshop and how we could support our readers as they grow. One question emerged: How do...
Student-Centered Coaching: Collaborating with Teachers
A teacher who earlier shared that her team has a focus on nonfiction writing is at the copier. I greet her and say, “I was thinking about your team as...
I Should Have Stopped at the Staples
As a fourth-year literacy coach, I like to think that I have lots of experience under my belt to share with new teachers and can be more of an "expert"...
Everyone Needs a Carly
This is kind of one of those “I’m leaving the classroom” pieces. But it isn’t. This “leaving the classroom” piece, mercifully, is driven not by the demons of standardization, defunding,...
Preparing to Model Writing Workshop
Of all the work I do as a coach, I continue to believe modeling makes the biggest difference in transforming instructional practices. I used to spend hours secluded in my...
Collaborative Conferring
Earlier in the year I was asked by a group of kindergarten teachers how they might be able to streamline the process of organizing the notes from their student conferences...
The Writing Process Revisited
Melanie is one of those super-organized teachers. Her classroom has labeled, color-coded book bins arranged in alphabetical order on the bookshelves (fiction: red, informational: blue, poetry: yellow). Her students all...
Throw It In, Stir It Up, See What We Get: English Language Learners Tackling Complex Texts
“Being able to read complex text independently and proficiently is essential for high achievement in college and the workplace and important in numerous life tasks.” Appendix A, Common Core English...
Picture Walks Gone Wild: Supporting Teachers in the Appropriate Use of Picture Walks
Rita was literally sitting on her hands and biting her lips to keep them clamped shut. I checked the clock on the wall again. Rita was right – this picture...
No Time for Collaboration
A literacy interventionist, Marnie, double-checked her notes. She had it right. Andy, a fifth grader, was indeed reading Poppy (Avi, 2005). Andy kept calling the main character Bobby instead of...
