“Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.” CCR.W.6 Last week, I had the honor of visiting Molly Koelle’s classroom. Molly is a teacher at Roy B. Kelley Elementary School in Lockport, New York. I’ve been supporting teachers and administrators there for several years now, and [...]
It’s been interesting, what I’ve learned about the schools and the kids and the teachers that I’ve worked with since I’ve made walk-throughs a fundamental part of planning professional learning experiences and assessing the impact that the work might be having. Might is an important word. I began asking to walk through buildings and visit [...]
One of my friends retired recently, and while we were out celebrating her new future, she got to thinking about the number of kids she taught during her thirty year career. Her estimated total hovered somewhere around 3500, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she still remembered every student’s name, where they went on to [...]
This week, several people in my professional learning network have asked me to stream my demo lessons and share more photos of the work that I do inside of schools. Explaining why I can’t do that in 140 characters or less on Twitter is something of a challenge, so for what it’s worth, I’m sharing [...]
Hey–there is an interesting conversation taking place over here. I jumped in because the issues raised here are particularly relevant to the work that I….and a whole lot of other people I know…..do. A theme has been emerging from my own learning over the last few years, and Bass digs into it in ways that [...]
Last week, I had the opportunity to facilitate the first session of WNYLIT, a new forum for literacy leaders in our area, hosted at the Carrier Center in Angola, New York by the fine folks at Erie 2 BOCES (thanks Theresa)! Twenty literacy coaches, administrators, and teachers came together to explore the benefits and challenges [...]
The folks over at Common Craft have gifted us with another gracefully simplistic video–this one is about augmented reality. This has everything to do with literacy. It has everything to do with learning. Imagine the possibilities. They already exist.
Last week, I invited a fellow of the WNY Young Writers’ Studio and literacy-coach-in-training to accompany me on a visit to Long Island, New York, where we met with junior and senior high school writing teachers. A portion of this visit was spent exploring the Studio model and some of the more powerful practices that [...]
As an independent literacy coach, the districts that I serve contract with me to provide coaching inside of their schools as they work to identify those who may want to assume these positions internally over time. Part of my work involves supporting potential coaches as they learn more about what this work entails and how [...]
I spent the better portion of last week on Long Island, introducing Studio to junior and senior high school teachers and exploring writing instruction and practice with them in a variety of settings. Part of our work unfolded in workshop sessions, there were several conversations with diverse groups, and we spent extended time coaching in [...]
