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The DIBELS Divide (LITERACY COACH CONFIDENTIAL) We have a new curriculum coordinator who requires the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) as our primary assessment tool. I am an experienced teacher, confident about the assessments I use. . . . more When Do I Launch the Writer's Notebook? Aimee Buckner It's the end of July, and where I'm from -- down South -- teachers are scrambling. Scrambling for last minute trips to the beach. Scrambling to clean out the closets they swore they'd get to this summer. Scrambling to school supply sales. Scrambling to get classrooms unpacked and ready to go. Students will be walking through the school doors in two short weeks. . . . more Changing the Learning Landscape: Organizing My 6th Grade Classroom (PHOTO ESSAY) Ann Marie Corgill It's that time of year when many of us are headed to a classroom that's been packed away for the summer, thinking, "HOW am I going to get this room together and unpack all these boxes and move this furniture?!" and "How can I make this room beautiful and purposeful for the students?" It's a big job, and even if you've been teaching for many years-or if it's your first teaching job ever, setting up the classroom and preparing that learning landscape can sometimes be overwhelming. . . . more Literacy Coach Confidential: Teachers Resent Me - What Can I Do? I was hired at a time when budgets are down. Class size is up, money for everything from field trips to new books is nonexistent. My salary isn't paid from those accounts, but it doesn't seem to matter to my colleagues. How can I gain the teachers' support, so I can help them? . . . more Tracking Young Children's Writing Growth and Development in Writing Workshops Andie Cunningham and Ruth Shagoury It's important to us to be aware of each child's writing growth as they progress through the year. Knowing what a child is attempting, experimenting with, and mastering helps us plan appropriate instruction. Understanding what they are writing helps us build on children's needs and celebrate their strengths. Here are the assessment tools we use regularly... . . . more From Page to Screen: My Top Ten Film Adaptations of Children's Books Shari Frost What does it take to make a "one in ten" film adaptation of a children's book? Why do so many film makers go wrong? . . . more Letting Go and Holding On: Evaluating Our Work as Literacy Coaches Jan Miller Burkins As a literacy coach, I am very interested in the progress of our students and value that data as an indicator of the success of my work. I also solicit more direct and specific information about how the teachers felt about the job I am doing as their literacy coach. So, I developed a feedback form for teachers to complete and return to me anonymously. You can access it at this link . . . more Understanding the "Silent Period" with English Language Learners Andie Cunningham and Ruth Shagoury If you have a new English language learner in your class who is not speaking, don't worry. According to language researcher Stephen Krashen, most new learners of English will go through a "silent period," where they are unwilling or unable to communicate orally... . . . more Defining Beliefs and Aligning Practices: Debbie Miller Interview (Part I) In her new book, Teaching with Intention: Defining Beliefs, Aligning Practice, and Taking Action, Debbie Miller advises teachers to slow down and think about what's really important in literacy teaching and learning. Debbie is good at taking her own advice -- she spent six years crafting this book. Written during a time of transition for Debbie from full-time teaching to full-time consulting with teachers across the country, the book is an honest, funny, and wise companion to Reading with Meaning. . . . more Professional Development Needs Assessment Inventory Gayle Brand As part of my work as a literacy coach, I distribute a Professional Development Needs Assessment to every classroom teacher. My hope in giving out this inventory is to see where teachers need help and plan professional development accordingly. . . . more Three Little Phrases No Literacy Coach Can Live Without Brenda Power If there are three skills any literacy coach needs, they are the ability to engage with colleagues, diffuse hostile situations, and connect with people who have a different world view. Engage, diffuse, connect. Three powerful verbs to live by. But there are moments in my professional life when the best word to describe my stance at that moment might be disengaged. Or (emotionally) charged. Or disconnected... . . . more Strategy Instruction for Beginners: Advice from Ellin Keene (AUDIO) Ellin Keene The starting point for strategy instruction is understanding your own reading process. In this interview, Ellin Keene talks about how teachers can use their own reading histories and processes to develop lessons and tools for reaching students. . . . more The Dog Ate My Study Group Plans! Four Instant (and Fun and Reflective) No-Prep Teacher Workshops (E-GUIDE) If you're leading a workshop today and you've got nothing prepared, here are some activities guaranteed to interest virtually any group of colleagues and spark some lively discussion. These are the ones we pull out in those rare situations when (for whatever reason) we haven't had time to prepare anything... . . . more Organizing the Classroom Library: A Dialogue Between Aimee Buckner and Franki Sibberson I thought before moving I gave away a lot of books. It seems I keep unpacking more and more. I realized that I don't think I've weeded out books - ever. So I have more than a decade's worth of books to go through.. . . . more Under, Over and Beyond Words: Strategies for Observing Talk in Classrooms Talk is the engine that drives learning in virtually any classroom. By focusing on conversation, colleagues and coaches can assist their peers by teasing out some of those patterns that are most helpful to (or most inhibit) the growth of the learning community... . . . more Getting Started with Your Own Writer's Notebook Aimee Buckner I am a great "faker." My mother still doesn't know how often I was faking being sick and when I really was sick. I faked writing. My first two years teaching school, I had a notebook. I probably filled five or six pages and had dribbles of scribbles here and there throughout the notebook. I'd misplace my notebook in the classroom or just lose it all together. . . . more Honor Books: Helping Children and Families Build Bridges Between Home and School Andie Cunningham The students I teach come from home environments of limited resources, but their years of family and life experiences are rich. Many of these families only recently immigrated to America, so there is a wealth of languages and cultures to tap in these homes. . . . more Creative Literacy Events for Families Brenda Power If your program for families has been centered on a few tried and true events you rarely vary over the years, you might want to mix it up with a new event or two this year to see how it changes your attendance and outreach. Traditions are wonderful, and I'm not knocking them - I know I look forward as a parent to the fall Open House, the winter concert, and the spring book sale. But a new format can lead to something so successful it sparks a new tradition in your classroom or school, and builds a stronger home-school connection. . . . more Reading Comprehension Posters: What, Where, and Why Andie Cunningham Several years ago, I started creating permanent posters to use in my reading comprehension strategy work. My hope for the large posters was two-pronged. I wanted the posters to serve as a visual reference, a way for us to all narrow our focus over and over again when we turned to strategy work. The second hope was to show the children (and classroom visitors) how important the strategies were to all of our classwork... . . . more What Are the Seven Reading Comprehension Strategies? A "strategy" is a plan developed by a reader to assist in comprehending and thinking about texts, when reading the words alone does not give the reader a sense of the meaning of a text. In recent years, reading comprehension strategy instruction has come to the fore in reading instruction at all age and grade levels. By helping students understand how these flexible tools work, teachers enable readers to tackle challenging texts with greater independence... . . . more Writing Conference Principles When we were first learning to confer with students of all ages, we devoured books written by Nancie Atwell, Donald Graves, and Lucy Calkins. Each of these teachers had their own twists on the essential elements for high quality student-teacher conferences. Over time, we integrated and distilled their ideas into a few core principles... . . . more