Just as teachers rely upon a gradual release of responsibility model to ensure effective instruction, many coaches begin moving toward similar models once they’ve established agreed-upon learning targets for their efforts with teachers. I was first introduced to this model through my study of Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey’s work and then again when I [...]
Carol left a comment on yesterday’s post which left me thinking again about vision and action. I’ve written about this before, because in my experience this is as essential as it is complex. Defining literacy is no easy task, and articulating a vision for supporting the development of it within a district is a tremendous [...]
Literacy Coaching is relatively new to our region, and while schools outside of our area may have established coaching models long ago, the opportunity to support teachers in this capacity is something that many districts in our area are just beginning to make happen. It’s exciting to be on the ground floor of this work [...]
One of the things that I am most excited about this year is returning to my work as a literacy coach. Over time, I’ve found myself doing fewer and fewer single-event workshops and devoting more time to sustained initiatives like coaching because they provide me the opportunity to create consistent, job-embedded learning opportunities for teachers [...]
So…….as I was chatting with Alyssa and Sarah last weekend, they spoke to what many of us call authentic learning. Of course, they didn’t use that phraseology–they spoke in their native tongue, describing how some of what kids are asked to do in school is “boring” or “rushed” or “just for a grade”. They [...]
Jenn tipped some of us off to the official word on this last night. Read more at her place, and share your thoughts in the comments. Lots to digest and plan for there.
Know what I’ve been rediscovering over the last few days? Developing a useful analytic rubric that produces valid information is challenging. Really. Challenging. I’m going to guess that anyone who has been charged with the task of designing such rubric knows the level of frustration thinking to which I refer. In fact, I’m realizing that [...]
“Responding to students’ papers is like composing, like looking at the mess of my experience and ideas and trying to tease some patterns and order out of it. When I’m responding, really responding to a student’s mess of a paper, I’m thinking like a writer: figuring out what I have to say about the paper, [...]
It used to be that I spent Sunday mornings with a cup of tea and the newspaper. Now, I’m typically catching up with the posts that are in my reader and enjoying leisurely conversations online around all matter of things. Yesterday, a number of people were tweeting and blogging about grades, grading, and report cards. Then I [...]
I work with many teachers whose students do not have access to computers outside of the classroom.
I work with some whose students do not have access to computers inside of the classroom.
And I know that at least ONE school in the area just received it’s first shipment of desktop computers LAST YEAR. Teachers in this [...]