Lead Lit Topic: Getting Organized
Getting Organized
Results
Micro-Wins: The Data Graphs Don’t Show
It can be daunting to look at the data charts and test scores. It is hard to see those red lines and dots running across the page in a straight...
Grow Your Own Confidence and Humility as a Coach
Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less. —Rick Warren Coaches are usually hired because they have extensive knowledge and experience. The trust that is...
Senior Send-Off
“Ms. Messenger!” I hear as I walk out of Costco. There stands former student Henry, now over 6 feet tall. We spend our two-minute conversation beaming and catching up. It...
Cool Things Happening This Year: Celebrating Greatness from Within
“Something cool is going to happen for you today!” As I gripped the steering wheel on my morning commute, I heard these words echo out from the car speakers. A...
Beyond Compliance: A Framework for Supporting Literacy Engagement and Empowerment
“We should purchase a couple of books on ADHD, so that I can share them with my friends and they can understand what it’s like to be me.” This quote...
Tips for Hosting a Student Teacher
Watching my youngest daughter work on her undergraduate degree in education reminded me how important it is to open my classroom door. Hearing her talk about the students and teachers...
Circle Up: Whole-School Read Alouds to Promote Student Wellness
Early in my first year as a librarian I was approached by our school social worker about an idea she had for classroom read alouds centered on wellness themes (kindness,...
Library Choices for All: Providing Activities for Every Student
It’s a typical day in my library, and the students have finished checking out books. Today we read Unplugged by Steve Antony. The book is about a robot who gets...
Embarking on a New Curriculum: What I Must Carry with Me
"The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change [their] future by merely changing [their] attitude." — attributed to Oprah Winfrey I am next in line to...
Coach-Principal Meeting Template
An Agenda Template to Streamline Principal-Coach Meetings Every administration and their building needs are different. For coaches, traveling between buildings can often feel like whiplash. The building goals are different....
Trying Something New
I hear that some people thrive on change. They get excited about new opportunities; they seek out ways to shake up their lives; they love the challenge of fitting themselves...
Take It on the Road… I Dare You!
Some of my favorite moments come from the time I spend with family and friends at our seasonal campground—a place where adventure is always just around the bend. It’s my...
How to Build Your System for Knowing, Thinking, and Writing
Your notes deserve better than to be forgotten. When I started my new position as a systems coach for an educational service agency, my first project was to develop a...
Teachers as Leaders: Five Ways to Create the Conditions for Change (Part 2)
In Part 1, we introduced the five Vs and shared a process of using models to navigate the unpredictable terrain of school-wide change. The five Vs offer a pathway that...
Teachers as Leaders: Five Ways to Create the Conditions for Change (Part 1)
As I waited in an office lobby on a Friday afternoon to meet with a principal as an external coach, I remembered how demanding the work of positional leaders can...
Gaining Confidence One Move at a Time
After I'd had a long afternoon of facilitating a professional development experience, a teacher approached me, saying, “There was something different about you today.” Oh no, I thought. Different how?...
Pay Attention to What You Pay Attention To: Leveraging the Power of a Door
When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. —Wayne Dyer When I decided to eat more protein, there was suddenly more information about...
The Difference Between Change and Transition
I stopped at our local pharmacy's new location to pick up a prescription. The owners had moved into a brand-new medical clinic, which includes a wellness space, physical therapy, and...
Goals Create Direction
You feel stressed because you don’t have a goal. This simple truth resonates deeply in our schools today. Many of our colleagues are stressed—overwhelmed with classroom behaviors, daily demands, and...
The Coach’s Notebook: How to Capture and Organize Your Notes to Support Your Practice
Part of my work as a systems coach is documenting my conversations with leaders and teachers around their goals for building more equitable outcomes for students. We use a Google...
Hosting School-Wide World Read Aloud Day Author Visits
Students were all sitting, glued to the large whiteboard screen as author Lynn Plourde read to them through Skype. When she was finished, the students turned and talked to one...
