Lead Lit Topic: Guiding Teachers
Here is where you'll find information on guiding teachers.
Results
Picture It: Reorganizing a Professional Book Library
We recently began organizing and preparing for the upcoming school year. This is a picture of our professional text library, reorganized with purpose and efficiency in mind. What was...
Taking Breaks
Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live. Jim Rohn When we lead professional development sessions, we often let participants know that we have an...
Launching Meetings with Video
Nothing brings people together more than shared experiences. Jimmy Fallon There is nothing like that awkward silence that inevitably surfaces at the start of meetings or professional development sessions....
Meeting Snapshot: Checking In
Jason DiCarlo launches the monthly lesson study with the first-grade team by checking in on learning since the last meeting—what was applied from the previous study (especially when it comes...
Sign-In Sheets, Professionalism, and Being Human
You could feel the tension in the air as she quietly slipped in, trying to find her place without disrupting the session. Many of the professional development sessions we facilitate...
What Am I Doing Here?
The yellow school bus pulled up to the front doors of the school, and the teachers eagerly boarded. As we settled into our seats, a microphone switched on and the...
A Good Coach Is a Good Wingman
During World War I, the US Air Force started using a wingman pattern for their fighter jets. The wingman flies off the right wing and slightly behind the lead. The...
Breaking Away from the Team
Since the start of my teaching career, the professional learning emphasis has been on collaborative teamwork, ideally centered on student work, with the purposes of developing teaching teams’ shared expectations...
Struggling Teachers? Don’t Force It
Instructional coaches can find themselves in a difficult position when their supervisor, the building principal, requires a struggling teacher to access coaching. The circumstances become even more complicated when accessing...
Honesty with Adult Learners
Over the past few years, I’ve learned that when leading professional development for adults, it’s important to treat them as colleagues and to acknowledge that we are all learners together....
Failure to Norm
As I developed relationships with 36 teachers this year, I was careful to watch and try to understand the dynamics that would help me as a coach. It’s easy (and...
Meeting Snapshot: Norms
At the start of this meeting before a demonstration lesson, Jason DiCarlo reminds the first-grade teaching team of the norms they have agreed to use throughout their time together: 1....
Integrating the Bookroom into Professional Development Sessions
Bookrooms are filled with many learning opportunities, and by browsing the books in focused ways we can build our understanding of text complexity, increase our knowledge of matching books to...
Study Group Gifts
Jennifer Allen explains why she always budgets for small study-group gifts, and shares how they build connections between the groups and teaching practice.
What Matters Most: Building Relationships
When I began my job as a literacy coach, I had a steep learning curve ahead of me. I was eager to learn, so I bought several books about coaching...
Coaching Minute: Videos in the Selfie Age
In this quick video, Kathy Provost and Heather Fisher share an alarming experience: young teachers pulling out phones and other devices to take videos of instruction without permission. They discuss...
Coaching Debrief Early in the Year
Heather Rader observes Sean Moore teach a writing lesson to his second graders early in the year. This video of the debrief session highlights Heather's open-ended questions and listening strategies....
What’s Not on the Study Group Agenda
When we think of designing a study group, environment matters. Environment is that other essential piece that doesn’t make its way onto an agenda. We want teachers to come to...
Listening and Storytelling
Every spring I spend a few months working with a group of new teachers. And every spring, the image of a bridge returns to me. This mental picture of a...
Toolbox Activities in Study Groups
"Toolbox" activities have subtly worked their way into our study group agendas over the last year. These quick activities are an opportunity for the group to try out some of...
What I Know for Sure: Reflection and Core Beliefs
Last summer, I read this tiny book by Oprah Winfrey called What I Know for Sure. As she writes in the first chapter, she reflects on all the lessons she...
