Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Tag It! Metaphors

I thought I would try a new way to blog on this site - since I have been so lax in the traditional way!! Twitter and RSS feeds and other avenues feed my information stream and until a giant writing thought comes out - I often leave the blog alone. But I realize that the entire point of blogging is to share what we learn in more than 140 characters but not too much more.

So - on ocasion, I will post a "Tag It" feature - something that I saw that I "tagged" on my delicious account that I want to reference later for use in writing. If I tag it for me - you might want it too!

Here we go!

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Wonderful Teacher Leaders

I am sure that you all have them in your districts. Those teachers who rise above the others in their understanding of what works, how to reach and teach kids, how to make connections and who have a passion for teaching and learning. I am listening to five of them at a regional meeting as they share their work as literacy coaches. Three others are sitting with me in the audience, nodding their heads as they talk and picking up tips to take back to their districts. (Thank you Melodee, Karen, Jennifer, Darlene and Jill for sharing today!)


They are raising some very important points about the work but a pretty common thread is the support of administration. Good coaching takes time - time to build credibility and trust with the teachers, time to find out what works in the district and how to use that to work on the things that don't. Yet - in this time of financial crisis - these folks are often first on the line to have the positions eliminated. Don't worry about them - they will go back to their classrooms. But they will only impact 30 kids - not hundreds.

As districts prioritize budgets, I hope they continue to support these leaders!