Lead Lit Topic: Study Groups
Teacher study groups are as diverse as the teachers who participate in them. They can be an informal, low-key coffee klatch designed to relieve the daily stress of teaching or a highly structured inquiry group with definite participant protocols. Most study groups are somewhere in-between, with colleagues getting together regularly to discuss books, view videos, and support each other as they test out new literacy instruction strategies in their classrooms. Here you’ll find inspiration and ideas from study group leaders who coordinate book groups, design workshops, and develop structures for helping colleagues transfer professional learning to the reality of the classroom and sustain it.
Results
Book Buzz in Study Groups
Jason DiCarlo turns a third-grade study group over to a participant to share her enthusiasm for The Joy of Planning by Franki Sibberson, the book the group is using for...
Observation Visits: Getting Comfortable with the Unexpected
In this brief video excerpt from a leadership meeting focused on peer observation, teachers talk about taking risks and being comfortable with observation when things don't go according to plan.
Literacy Specialists and Case Studies
There are always a few students who puzzle even the most seasoned reading specialists. Even though these specialists carry a large bag of tricks, they don’t always know exactly what...
Talking Too Much
In this brief video excerpt from a meeting about colleague visits, teachers consider the thorny issue of why they talk so much when they want to listen more.
The Habit of Reflection
In this quick video excerpt from a teacher meeting on peer observations, the participants talk about why developing the habit of reflection after instruction (either alone or with colleagues) is...
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...
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...
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...
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 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...
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...
Better Meetings Through Reflection
Think of the hours most of us spend in meetings. There are professional learning community meetings, staff meetings, grade-level meetings, curriculum meetings, data meetings, student intervention meetings, study group meetings,...
Picture It: A Mentor Text Is Like . . .
Looking for a way to assess the effect of your professional development sessions on teachers? Try having them compare your area of focus to an everyday object. This picture is...
Picture It: Museum Walk with Quotes
When transitioning from one focus to another in a professional development session, we find that using quotes gives teachers a taste of new learning through another person's perspective. At the...
Takeout Book Club
Book clubs are a rewarding opportunity for educators to continue growing in their profession while reading the latest in professional resources and collaborating with colleagues. But with the hustle and...
Twitter Book Chats
Cultivating a culture of learning and collaboration among teachers and support staff is a responsibility of all coaches. But everyone is dealing with overstuffed schedules, and finding the ability to...
Expanding Study Group Communities
Jennifer Allen explains how a simple bulletin board in the literacy room can expand the learning from individual study groups to the whole school teaching community.
Study Groups That Nourish the Soul
The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances; if there is any reaction, both are transformed. Carl Jung Steven Wozniak was part of a...
