Lead Lit Topic: Getting Organized
Getting Organized
Results
You’re New to Coaching. Now What?
I’ll never forget my first year as a coach. My position was in a district new to me where I would be teaching kindergarten for half of the day and...
You’ve Done It. What Happens Next?
You’ve done it. You’ve flexed your educational muscles and potificated upon your beliefs and perspectives. Sent the thank-you cards or emails.Then spent the next few days waiting, checking your phone...
Time to Plan
It is not enough to be busy; so are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about? —Henry David Thoreau I’m a mom to four active teenagers. Our...
Coaching Minute: Rethinking Time
Jennifer Schwanke finds that one of the biggest changes in moving from teaching to leadership is control (or lack of it) over her time.
Helping Teachers Develop Their Own Chartbooks
As a coach, I am in many classrooms, and I am constantly reevaluating and restocking the contents of the bag I carry with me whenever I am working with students....
Student Centered and Teacher Driven: Coaching and Instructional Assessment
As I reflected with Joy about our recent coaching cycle, we looked back to our original goals and the pre- and post-data on her students' work. We had seen more...
Celebrate and Reflect
Have you paused yet to celebrate all you've accomplished with teachers this year? Literacy coaches Cathy Mere and Kelly Hoenle take a few minutes to reflect on what has gone...
Peer Observations with a Purpose
“Please clean up the playroom,” I reminded my daughters before dinner. “Done!” they yelled three minutes later as they skipped through the living room. I peeked around the corner and...
Reading Specialists: Using a Common Observation Form
Kathy Provost and Heather Fisher work with reading specialists who are observing individual students to study the transition of skills from targeted support to work in the classroom. The observation...
Dropping In Versus Scheduling
Last spring, severe thunderstorms blew through the Midwest. The winds ripped off siding and loosened shingles, and hail pitted windows and splintered soffits. My house took a beating. Immediately, we...
Developing a Principal and Coach Partnership
One of the most welcomed changes I have experienced as the principal in my new elementary building is having an instructional coach. In my prior district, there were coaches assigned...
How Principals Can Help Build Teacher and Coach Connections
Today I visited a classroom because I needed to talk to a student about something that happened at recess. I walked up to him and whispered, “Hey, can I talk...
Breakthroughs and Barriers: Going Schoolwide with a Literacy Initiative
In our move to Mineral Point, Wisconsin, we purchased an old home in very good condition. It’s a four-square home, built to last. The previous owner was diligent about improvements...
When Email Isn’t Enough
I am my most concise and thorough when I communicate in writing. Experience also tells me it is important to document and archive information. Other people feel this way too,...
Going Google as a Literacy Leader
Our time as literacy leaders is precious. The demands of our day and our positions are limited, especially when we also have a family and a life beyond school. Productivity...
Next-Thing Thinking and Google Keep
When I returned to work after the birth of my first child, I struggled to balance my new role as a working mother. As the coordinator for a local reading...
Professional Learning Beyond PLCs
Professional learning communities, or PLCs for short, is a framework for professional collaboration and data analysis. The structure this approach creates allows for collective inquiry around student learning. Since coming...
Learning and Leading Through Teaching
Covering for a teacher is more valuable than any observation. Putting myself into the shoes of the adult in the classroom is both revealing and humbling as a building principal....
Using Digital Tools for Instructional Walks
For a while, I avoided technology when visiting classrooms for instructional walks. I thought these tools evoked anxiety in the teachers, who might associate digital tools with formal observations. My...
Preparing Teachers for Reading Over Breaks
I have been following the clean eating trend for quite some time and finally took concrete steps to clean up my diet to better protect my health and well-being. I...
Evaluation Season
We just finished hunting season in my hometown. This is a lovely time of year, with hints of winter peeking through sunshine and crackly leaves. But there is a lot...
