Lead Lit Topic: School Community
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Ways to Support Colleagues, Part 1
It didn’t take long for Ruth to want to avoid her daughter’s Sunday school teacher. When our daughter arrived in our home at age four, she had a difficult time...
Nuances of Norms (Part 2)
To grow, people need to be challenged. —Adam Grant “I’m so tired of being treated like a baby,” one teacher whispered to her colleague. She wasn’t as quiet as she...
Shaping the School Culture to Encourage Professional Growth
Shaping the School Culture to Encourage Professional Growth While our tai chi group was going through our flow practice, raising our arms slowly up and down, the front door to...
Principals Are People, Too!
Headed to the office for my weekly meeting with the principal, I found myself replaying my list of discussion points. I knocked on the office door, and after a moment's...
Beyond the Books: A Tale of Empowerment, Influence, and Agency from the School Library
The fourth graders hurried back to the library and circled up with the school librarian, Micki Uppena. “What did you want to share?” she asked. The students had just completed...
Coaching Up: How Teachers Can Support School Leaders ’ Capacity for Positively Influencing School-wide Instruction
“The importance of school principals may not have been stated strongly enough in prior work, particularly from the perspective of state and district leaders and policymakers seeking to move the...
Balancing Ambition with Humility
It’s hard to imagine an instructional leader or a coach who isn’t passionate about change. We like to call them agents of change. What these agents are aware of is...
Developing an Ambitious Vision with Humility
Agents of change and leaders with high levels of ambition know that ambition is the driving force behind progress and innovation. Ambitious leaders set high-reaching goals, dream big, and work...
How to Hire a Great Teacher
In my most recent book, I guide school leaders to better support teaching and learning. It serves as a pathway away from traditional supervision and evaluation practices. The goal is...
Making PLCs Public
One of my favorite aspects of instructional coaching is the aerial view of learning in the school. I get the opportunity, in one walk-through of the school, to see a...
Building Teacher Confidence, Building Leaders: The Power of Observation
Believe you can and you’re halfway there. —Theodore Roosevelt Confidence is a necessary part of our profession. Let’s face it: When we are in front of multiple groups of dynamic...
Connect with a Larger Community!
Human connections are deeply nurtured in the field of shared story. —Jean Houston Eleven years ago I wrote my first article for Choice Literacy. I had written a reflection paper...
Teacher Book Club
Teachers read all the time: assignments, professional books, student writing, all the emails. In the hectic nature of school days, it’s easy to forget when we last made time to...
