When asked for a label, I refer to myself as a MWT: mother-writer-teacher. My mothering and writing have always informed my teaching and in return my teaching powers my parenting and literary passions. I've taught in Korea, at a private school, as a homeschooling mom and a teacher-librarian, but most of my years have been spent teaching elementary students in public school. I now work as an instructional coach and support the everyday hard work at thirteen elementaries (my lucky number) with an amazing team of coaches. My motto is "Stay Curious" - and I think the "apple for the teacher" should be an avocado instead.

Pencil Plans Heather Rader You are about to get really honest with yourself and no one else has to hear your confession. Begin by envisioning your workroom. Picture yourself standing in front of your copier right now. What color is the copy button? Where is the paper tray? Can you picture it? Good. Now here's the question: How many times have you messed up your copies? Maybe you've forgotten to remove the blue paper before printing need-to-be-on-white assessments? Or maybe you've selected one-to-two sided copies when you really meant two-to-two sided copies so you ended up with double-sided copies with only half of your pages? Perhaps you've even tried to copy paper with dark edges that stick to the roller and cause an operator-related error? . . . more Supporting Successful First-Year Coaches Heather Rader It's Friday, a little after noon, and Cristina Charney, Heather Sisson, Becky Lee and I are tucked around the small circle table with our lunches in my office. We are talking about where we've been and where we are going. Cristina and Becky work as district-based coaches, and Heather works as a site-based coach at a brand new elementary school. What an adventure this year has been. . . . more Making Connections as a Reader and a Scientist Heather Rader My son recently attended a science fair at a local university as a requirement for the seventh grade. He did an experiment of his own design called "Where the Wild Winds Are: Testing Wind Speed at Different Elevations." With my husband's assistance he constructed an anenometer, which is a device to measure wind speed. Picture a two-foot high propeller with four blades and small hemispheric cups to catch the wind and spin. Jamin has always loved weather. While he did a great job collecting data, creating a three-paneled presentation board and discussing his findings, I know that science goes far beyond the annual fair project. . . . more What Velcro Can Do: Science, Literacy and Coaching Connections Heather Rader "You aren't going to be the science program police, are you?" Donna said in response to my prompting about where science fit into her day with fourth graders. Our science program includes kits and lots of hands-on work. . . . more Procedural Writing in Math Heather Rader Truly, I love a good story and interesting anecdotes, but only when I'm reading for that purpose. Right now what I'm interested in is accurate measurements, clear ingredients, and a step-by-step easy-to-follow guide. The word choice should be precise language of the discipline (in this case, culinary) and the voice should be clear and factual. Still, while procedural writing is "just the facts ma'am" simple, it's not as cinchy to teach. . . . more Math, Writing, and Coaching to Learn Heather Rader Lisa, like many intermediate teachers, works in a departmentalized arrangement. She begins the day with her homeroom kids, and then about every 80 minutes she rotates through three different groups of fifth graders for literacy. Lisa was excited to learn more about writing in the content areas, as well as the connections that might build with other members of her teaching team. . . . more Wii Summary Heather Rader What I find, and was true in Ingrid's classroom, is that some complex skills like summarization are taught in only two modes: all teacher (I-do) or all students (you-do). In the I-do mode, teachers can easily be disillusioned that the kids get it because the smart ones offer to answer our questions and everyone else nods to make us happy when we ask, "Does that make sense?" In the you-do mode, that illusion falls apart with a chorus of "I don't get it" or work that misses the mark. That's where the students were when Ingrid deemed the progress "awful." In between those two modes is an entire continuum of we-do . . . more A Sponge is a Summary Heather Rader When I'm working with a concept that I know may be difficult to grasp, I like to hook kids' attention with a metaphor or an analogy. While doing the dishes, I thought about how a sponge holds water, but when you squeeze it, you are left with the right amount of dampness to wipe down a counter. The point of a sponge is to be moist without being over-saturated. Ah-ha, I thought: a sponge is a summary. We take hold of saturated text and squeeze out all the unnecessary details, keeping what we need. Although there are limitations to my metaphor, it seems to work for kids until they come up with their own connections. . . . more Getting and Giving Student Feedback Heather Rader When I consider "Who is the best educated and the most experienced thinker in the classroom?" The answer is the teacher. If I am understanding how the students are making meaning, I can adapt the questions, lessons and interventions. The only way for me to have access to that information is to get it in the form of kid talk, lots of it, and later, in writing too. Schema, 10:2 Theory and Exit Slips are ways to constantly seek feedback of students' understanding. . . . more There's Been a Misblunderstanding Heather Rader I believe there are two misblunderstandings at play here and in many of our classrooms.  There is a myth that teacher talking is the same thing as teaching. We need to switch our focus from what the teacher is saying and doing to what the students are saying and doing. Just because she said it, doesn't mean she taught it. If kids aren't doing something independently (like fourth graders generating a paragraph), we can begin where they are at. . . . more You Get What You Ask For: The Art of Debriefing Heather Rader I started out as a question collector. I used questions from the University of Kansas, Cathy Toll and every coaching article I put my hands on. I typed every word that came out Literacy Coach Katherine Casey's mouth during trainings. I thought that somehow if I collected enough good questions, that I would know what to ask and how. The truth is, while the list focused my attention on questioning and I have kept a couple of gems, I didn't really get good at it until I started paying more attention to the responses from teachers to my questions. My inquiry skills didn't come from a list or my mouth; my questions came from my ears. . . . more Writing Do-Overs: ERPs in the Classroom Heather Rader We loved do-overs on the playground, but young writers don't have the same enthusiasm for do-overs in writing. When I was teaching I thought maybe it was just my students, but now as a coach, I see the trend in many writers. When I go into a classroom to work on revision, I ask the students to answer three simple questions on a half-sheet pre-assessment. . . . more Extreme Makeover: Revision Edition Heather Rader Once upon a time in my third-grade classroom, I had an eight-foot pencil poster on my wall that listed the steps of the writing process from prewriting at the point to a publishing ferrule (the crimped metal band that connects pencil and eraser). About half-way down that pencil was the bold word "revising". It came after drafting and before editing and it was not, shall we say, beloved in our classroom. . . . more The Over-Prompting of Young Writers Heather Rader I have been teaching long enough to remember a time before our large-scale state writing assessment when the word "prompt" wasn't connected to writing. Yet after receiving our first set of unfortunate writing scores years ago, my team bought a Book of 101 Everyday Prompts. Our well-intentioned assumption was if teaching kids to respond to a prompt helped, then having them practice more would really increase their success. Some teachers tell me their students respond to a writing prompt every day. Here are a few prompts I've read student responses to . . . more A Coach's Perspective: No More Flying Pig Prompts Heather Rader The search for great prompts was pointless. There may just be bad prompts and not-so-bad prompts. Along with other teacher leaders, I seek not-so-bad prompts with multiple entry points. . . . more How to Be of Use: Starting Strong Heather Rader After I ask the question, "What do you already know about coaching?" teachers often tell me "Very little." There is also misinformation that coaching is only for the struggling or new educators, not teachers at the top of their game. Sharing with teachers a "This I Believe" reveals my intention and they appreciate repetition of my mantra, "I believe all teachers deserve coaches." . . . more How to Use a Coach: Four Things to Consider Heather Rader I'm not an expert in the classrooms I enter, but I often know enough to help a teacher move forward. As an instructional coach, I've worked with first year teachers, a thirty-two year veteran and many stages in between. Some teachers seem instantly comfortable with the coaching arrangement while others because of apprehension, misinformation or just being new to the process learn "how to use a coach" to their advantage through the process. . . . more Sarcasm Is a Useful Teaching Tool--NOT Heather Rader Technically, sarcasm is defined in the American Heritage Dictionary as "a cutting, often ironic remark intended to wound" and "a form of wit that is marked by the use of sarcastic language and is intended to make its victim the butt of contempt or ridicule." From its Latin and Greek roots it means "to bite the lips in rage." These words: wound, victim and rage suggest that the speaker has poor intentions. On the contrary, I don't believe any teacher gets up in the morning and says, "I'm going to go be a negative influence in the lives of children today." Not at all. So why do teachers use sarcasm with kids? In our conversations here is what they tell me . . . more A Coach's Perspective: Is Sarcasm in Style This Season? Heather Rader This isn't the first time I've encountered sarcasm in the classroom and while these are fifth graders, I've heard it all the way down to classrooms of five-year-olds. Like a Magic Eye picture that begins to emerge as I relax my focus, I see a positive correlation between teachers who are resistant to coaching and also struggle with classroom management. A commonality I've found among teachers struggling with classroom management is the element of sarcasm in their classrooms. . . . more