Lead Lit Topic: Tough Nuts
A teacher who refuses to work with her grade-level team to design new units. A principal who is always upending your schedule with new responsibilities. A literacy coach who is in tears because she feels so isolated. A participant who continually interrupts an in-service session with “Yeah but . . .”
Tough Nuts are not easily defined, but you know one when you see it. They are the challenges that sit at the center of your forehead in the dead of night, robbing you of sleep. The stories of how we’ve dealt with these ongoing and immediate challenges are here.
Results
School Leaders and Written Communication
For several years now, I have taught a graduate class for aspiring school leaders. My students are practicing teachers and counselors who have their eye on being principals someday. As...
Literacy and Last Days: Keeping It Simple
“I’m not doing a bouncy house.” That was my initial response when I heard that as principal of our school, I am tasked with coming up with the last-day activity...
Teacher Guilt
Negative emotions like loneliness, envy, and guilt have an important role to play in a happy life; they're big, flashing signs that something needs to change. Gretchen Rubin A...
Benched
We’ve all watched games in which players have been benched. In my own house, we have all kinds of experiences with “riding the bench.” One of our kids isn’t athletically...
Aligning Beliefs and Practices: Homework Policies
A few years ago, after rereading Debbie Miller’s book Reading with Intention, I led our teachers through an exercise of defining their beliefs about teaching and aligning practices. They named...
Sustaining Trust While Maintaining High Expectations
As a principal in a new school, I have been hesitant to start observations of teachers. My big goal this year is to build trust and develop relationships with staff,...
Coaching for Confidence
Every once in a while, even the most capable, talented teachers have a year that tests their skill and sanity. You may find them questioning their decision to continue teaching....
Who Keeps You Up at Night?
Beginning a coaching relationship is a bit like a first dance. You have to watch your partner, understand his or her body language, and listen carefully in order to dance...
From Somewhere to Somewhere
It’s been said that people can be only where they are and that everyone is on a path from somewhere to somewhere. When we are working with our colleagues, however,...
The Stories We Tell Ourselves
In a quest to better myself as a literacy learner and leader, I recently enrolled in a doctoral-level literacy course at a local university. The instructor was kind enough to...
Erasing the Lines in the Sand
Social media is a place of strong opinions. Political. Lifestyle. Educational. In one recent Facebook conversation, a young teacher sought clarification on the difference between book clubs and literature circles....
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...
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...
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...
Conflict: A Coach’s Perspective
“But that isn’t my vision!” The teacher I was working with was getting more and more frustrated. I was serving as the editor of a book being collaboratively written by...
Conflict: A Teacher’s Perspective
Feedback is an essential part of learning. As a teacher, I give and receive feedback. I give feedback to my students so they can reach their learning goals. I receive...
Persevere
When farmers dig trenches, they always have a spotter outside of the trench. This person is watching the dirt, in case it shifts. If they see the dirt move, they...
Bounce-Back Spirit
In the 2008 Big Ten Women’s Indoor Track 600-meter race, Heather Dorniden was favored. The runners ran closely, in a pack for the first two-thirds of the race. If you...
From Worksheets to Workshops
At the beginning of my time at Miami Elementary School, I sent my teachers an email with my calendar and a list of ways I could support them. One item...
Helping with Management Challenges in First Grade
One of the first-grade classrooms I have been working in is particularly challenging because of the students' overall attention span. It's one of those classrooms where it's hard to complete...
