Lead Lit Topic: Guiding Teachers
Here is where you'll find information on guiding teachers.
Results
Breathe
Every now and again, just as I’m feeling confident and sure of my skills as a leader, someone will come along and do something so simple, so perfectly appropriate, that...
Build More Lingering into Coaching
I recently spent some time at the counter of my local bank. I had misplaced my ATM card and was requesting a new one. What I thought was going to...
Who Are “They”? Word Choice and Student Learning
Like many of us, I first became a student of words with Peter Johnston’s Choice Words; he taught me how even subtleties in language have powerful effects. More recently, my...
First-Grade Team: Exploring Student Engagement
Heather Fisher leads a first-grade team monthly meeting where everyone shares strategies they are trying for fostering more student engagement.
Making Meetings Purposeful
We’ve all heard the jokes and complaints: When I die, I hope it’s in a meeting. That way, the transition from life to death will be barely noticeable. I just...
The Children Are Communicating. Are We Listening?
“Look at this photo of Cutie Jarius!” Erin’s email read. And there he was, standing proudly in front of “Morning Message” scrawled in a kindergarten hand. Robert Fulghum says all...
Being Selfish About Meeting Norms
Writing norms helps create groups that are able to have honest discussions that enable everyone to participate and be heard. Joan Richardson I have found myself thinking about the...
Coaching Minute: Case Study Observation Form
Literacy coaches Heather Fisher and Kathy Provost talk about how their work with reading specialists has evolved by having the specialists focus on case studies of individual students, rather than...
Do or Die
Don’t be shy about asking for help. It doesn’t mean you’re weak. It means you’re strong. Last spring, a panic-stricken teacher I have worked with informally entered my office. His...
Getting Emotional
Although I aspire to be a leader who is always strong, stoic, and sensible, I occasionally succumb to the emotional toll of my job. At least once a year, it...
No Substitute for Owning the Learning
I love weekends when I’m not in school because I am able to attend a water aerobics kickboxing class. The instructor is knowledgeable, she keeps the class up-tempo, we focus...
Be Someone Who Writes
At a recent roundtable presentation, the facilitator asked us to think about our core beliefs when it comes to literacy, teaching, and learning. Although I agreed that everything I was...
What We Lost
I’m always looking for easy ways to help teachers write. I believe teachers need to write if they want to know how to teach writing. You don’t need to write...
Sketchnoting in Professional Development
Not too long ago, my son came home from school, threw his book on the table, and declared, “I’m never writing another reading response again!” Surprised, I asked him what...
The Evolution of a Coaching Tool Kit
My instructional coach tool kit has evolved. When I first began, I used my wheelie cart. I thought I needed to have everything, and sometimes I did need to have...
Bonding with a Collective Biography
This is the time of year when literacy coaches and school leaders bring together groups of teachers and specialists to work on collective projects all year long. If you want...
Kid-Watching as a Coaching Move
“So, what do you do, exactly?” people outside the field of education often ask me when I tell them I am an instructional coach. I have been answering this question...
Coaching Minute: Student Observation Form
Kathy Provost and Heather Fisher talk about the value of trying out a student observation form first among the coaching team before using it in classroom observations with teachers. ...
Meeting Mind-Set
“These meetings are a waste of my time.” I frequently hear this from colleagues. Sometimes, I even think it myself. In a recent conversation a dear friend and colleague said...
Allocating Services
Each autumn, a few weeks after the school doors have opened again after summer break, we gather a group of teachers, support staff, and administrators to consider our literacy data...
Telling Our Story
It was a few years ago when our principal called us all into the media center for a bit of news. One of my favorite games is Guess the News,...
