At NYSEC last week, I had the good fortune to drop into Jake Halpern and Peter Kujawinski’s session. Listening to these men speak to the joy they were able to reclaim for themselves as they worked on a project that made them feel 13 again was beyond inspiring. I took away something much more important [...]
Wow–what a busy few weeks it’s been! I know I haven’t been around these parts (or others) often enough lately, and I’m missing that. I’ve been off keeping up with my own learning and the lives of my family and friends recently. Do you ever notice how the lessons you learn through very different life [...]
John Harmon and Victor Jaccarino, leaders of the New York State ELA/ESL Standards Review Panel, offered an overview of the revision process and addressed questions at the annual New York State English Council conference in Albany today. Those of us who were in attendance were also able to take a peek at the drafted document, [...]
I began shifting away from light coaching about three months into my first coaching experience. Doing so was frightening. I was afraid that insisting on evidence-based goals, using formative assessment to inform our work, and saying no to requests that were not aligned to students’ needs (which was our purpose) would increase levels of resistance [...]
On page 21 of his new book, Coaching: Approaches and Perspectives, Jim Knight begins outlining critical differences between what he defines as coaching heavy and coaching light. I appreciated the clarity provided from the outset around the notion that coaching light is often our entry point into this work with teachers. Coaching in this way [...]
When groups of learners come together to collaborate, the honeymoon is usually pretty sweet–and oftentimes, short lived. When I first began facilitating group learning experiences, I sometimes found myself thrown off-guard by shifting group dynamics and the uncomfortable challenges that these changes entailed. I learned that it was all pretty normal and healthy though. Whether [...]
My learning and my work as a literacy coach is significantly enhanced by the people of the web. Here are some of my favorite tools that allow me to connect with them. Where did I learn about them? Online, of course!
My blog is a vehicle for communicating with those that I coach. Posts are often [...]