David Coleman’s mock lesson relevant to King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail offers initial perspective about what instruction with the Common Core might look like. It also raises some important questions, which many of the teachers that I am working with raised throughout our unit design sessions this fall. The teachers that I am working with [...]
This is the sixth and final post in a series about research and writing in Heather Bitka’s kindergarten classroom. To learn more about this project’s purpose and outcomes, you might want to read the first post. If you are interested in understanding how this project enabled the teachers and coaches involved to position themselves as [...]
This post is the fifth in a series about research and writing in Heather Bitka’s kindergarten classroom. To learn more about this project’s purpose and outcomes, you might want to read the first post. If you are interested in understanding how this project enabled the teachers and coaches involved to position themselves as learners, you [...]
This post is the fourth in a series about research and writing in Heather Bitka’s kindergarten classroom. To learn more about this project’s purpose and outcomes, you might want to read the first post. If you are interested in understanding how this project enabled the teachers and coaches involved to position themselves as learners, you [...]
“What have we been studying in kindergarten this spring?” Heather asked her students. “Things that hatch!” They sang. “And how have we been doing that?” Heather asked. A jumble of ideas poured out of them at once, and fingers were pointing to different corners of the room, where a bunch of creatures were in the [...]
Today’s post is the second in a series relevant to the learning that has transpired in Lockport teacher Heather Bitka’s kindergarten classroom this spring. I introduced Heather in this post. The prologue to this learning experience, which explains our work as co-learners with greater depth, can be found here. This post speaks to the common [...]
Last week, I introduced you to Heather Bitka, a Lockport Elementary Teacher that I have been co-planning an integrated writing unit with this spring. This experience enabled Heather, myself, visiting instructional coach Sheri Barsottelli, and classroom aide Kay Shanley to pursue a variety of questions as learners. Who were our teachers? A classroom full of [...]
In recent years, I’ve come to know a number of instructional coaches and quite a few people near and far who may not own that particular title, but who function in ways that are very much like an instructional coach. This is challenging work for a variety of reasons, and while I’m grateful for the [...]
Last week, Lou Cercone introduced me to his 9th grade English students at Lockport High School, and we spent two short days beginning to define what quality idea development looks like together. Writing instruction is a district-wide learning focus, and Lou was interested in observing a lesson that was reflective of what we’ve been learning [...]
Fellow literacy coach Sheri Barsottelli and I visited with Heather Bitka and her kindergarten students at Roy B. Kelley Elementary School today, and when we got there, we learned that THEIR CHICKS WERE BEGINNING TO HATCH! As you might imagine, this made for quite an exciting start to the morning. What was even more fun [...]
