Recently I had a new experience as a book reviewer. For those who may not know this, I do book reviews on Instagram. This part of my career started with me reviewing books that I already owned or ones that I bought for my classroom or to use in workshops. The idea was to connect the books to curriculum in classes. I use the term…
As someone who advocates for using literature to introduce, reinforce and provide examples for learning, it should come as no surprise that I see value in a faculty book study. I am currently leading two different faculty book studies at two different client schools. One study is exploring teaching techniques, using Teach Like a Champion 3.0 by Doug Lemov. The other book study is focused…
Guest Blog Post by Reba Gordon Sometimes I wonder if I am doing enough in my library. I’m convinced I need to always have big and bold projects and initiatives. (Author Visits! Book Tastings! Contests!) Lately I’ve found that sometimes the quietest ideas have the loudest impact. I was recently asked to step in and teach a weekly mini 30 minute “discovery course” in…
Constructive Criticism. What an interesting concept. Telling someone something they did wrong but for the purpose of helping them. Isn’t that what every child says when they are mean to someone? ‘I was only trying to help them.’ Yet we as educators do this all the time with students. And as an educational coach, this is my job! The trick is how to say the…
Recently one of my client schools had their monthly faculty meeting. I am leading a book study with them using, The Growth Mindset Coach, A Teacher’s Month-by-Month Handbook for Empowering Students to Achieve. This month’s theme was Feedback is a Gift – Accept it. I love that idea! So often we give feedback to our students and they smile and never think about the feedback…
Last week I “walked” a group of new faculty through my client High School’s student information system. The week before I supported a colleague in leading a group of new faculty through my Elementary School client’s student information system. Prior to that session, I did a nuts and bolts workshop for new teachers. These are adults, can’t they figure out these systems and protocols? Why…
Reflection. Such an important part of one’s growth but something we don’t often take the time to do
During a recent client faculty meeting, we continued our discussion on the Power of Teacher language (from Responsive Classroom). One focus was on Active Listening. You may be surprised in a Book Study of language that the idea of listening comes up in every chapter. Active Listening defined by The MINDUP Curriculum: “Being able to listen in a focused way to what others say and to…
Twice this week the idea of managing time has been a discussion that I have been a part of. Both of these discussions have mentioned the idea of what a time frame feels like.
Short cuts. We all want to take short cuts. And sometimes short cuts are useful. Don’t we love when we learn a new short cut to drive to our favorite places. But most of the time, a short cut does not help. This is particularly true in school. Students often love short cuts, like when they use the computer to find math or social studies…
