Lead Lit Topic: Guiding Teachers
Here is where you'll find information on guiding teachers.
Results
Learning from a Lesson Study
In this video excerpt from a lesson study group, Jason DiCarlo leads a group of third-grade teachers in a discussion of changes they have made to their teaching based on...
Every Classroom, Every Day
In an article for Educational Leadership titled “Every Child, Every Day,” Richard Allington and Rachael Gabriel offer six essentials every student should experience in his or her classroom on a...
Dear Coach
Dear Coach, Two years ago I found out that elementary teachers across our school district would have the opportunity to work with literacy coaches. Knowing that our district valued literacy...
Being Present
“Look at me. Hey. Hey! Mom! Look. At. Me!” I glanced up from my phone and met my daughter’s narrowed, brown-eyed stare. Her face barely peeked over the counter, but...
Text Sets for Reading Groups in Fourth Grade
Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan support two fourth-grade teachers by suggesting text sets based on assessment data and small-group needs.
Making PLCs Work: Shifting the Tone
Our weekly professional learning community (PLC) meetings were sailing along. Each week they started with pleasantries and chitchat. Usually, someone had curriculum questions that needed to be answered. I tried...
Coaching for Kindergarten Writing
Melanie Meehan meets with kindergarten teacher Katie to talk through the needs of two children who are just beginning to learn how to transfer their stories from home to the...
Professional Development Offerings for the New Year
I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they learn. Albert Einstein A few years ago, my daughter entered a drug awareness contest....
Making PLCs Work: Getting Teacher Input
The teaching staff in my district is given an extraordinary gift each week. Every classroom teacher is given 50 quiet, uninterrupted minutes to collaborate with his or her grade-level team...
Essential Resources for Building Professional Learning Communities
Professional learning communities, or PLCs, have become almost ubiquitous in US schools. Most educators are aware of this philosophy for structuring collaborative teacher learning. Yet common knowledge of the best...
Managing the Email Load
In my role as a principal, I feel like a slave to email pretty much all of the time. I get hundreds of emails a day, and it feels like...
Always “On”: Reconsidering Connectivity
A few months ago, I sat in a training for a new online learning management system my school district is rolling out to our middle school and high school students...
Kindergarten Writing: Helping Advanced Learners
Melanie Meehan meets with kindergarten teacher Hayley to examine student work and talk about how to help young learners who are still in transition from home to school environments. ...
Advice for New Literacy Coaches: An Interview with Susan Avis
Susan Avis chats with Brenda Power about the delicate work of honoring the strengths of teachers while still pushing them beyond their comfort zones to improve skills. A transcript is...
New-to-Grade-Level Teacher Tool Kit
As the end of the year approaches, a few of the teachers in our district have been notified that they will be changing grade levels in the upcoming year. Part...
Loaf and Invite Your Soul
I loaf and invite my soul, I lean and loaf at my ease observing a spear of summer grass. These lines from Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself silenced the high...
A Quilters’ Workshop
Somewhere in the middle of a quilt-themed balanced literacy unit years ago, I taught myself to sew. Before you think too much of it, all I could really do was...
A Writing Marathon for Teachers
Five of us meet on a beautiful Pacific Northwest Saturday morning at a park that overlooks the falls. After we connect about our summers, I begin with an excerpt from...
Coaching Tool: Presentation Binders
In Tammy’s family, we never go out on a hike without our “hiking backpack.” There isn’t anything special about this backpack except that certain supplies are always in it: a...
A Test Run for Difficult Decisions
Making decisions is difficult. Whether it is a personal or professional decision, it can feel overwhelming to consider all the pros, cons and potential effects of one decision. Leaders need...
Meeting Snapshot: Sharing Resources
Jason DiCarlo explains the importance of previewing resources and not just giving them to teachers, as well as linking the text directly to current work. In this video example, Jason...
