A few weeks ago, I was invited to share the progress of a curriculum design and mapping initiative I am facilitating in a local district with the members of the Western New York Middle School Principals’ group at their monthly luncheon. As I began planning for this conversation, I was tempted to focus on the driving forces behind this work, the processes that we’re using, and the core map that we’ve recently drafted. This isn’t…
….the domain of the National Writing Project and under investigation at their new website, which offers news, resources, and spaces for conversations to unfold. Go see!
This video has gone viral in my facebook community and for good reason: Buffalo is a fantastic place to live and work and raise a family. I love it here, and I guess the proof of that lies in the reality that each time my husband and I consider moving out of state, the only thing that really keeps us back is our love of this unique little city that we’ve always called home. So…
Over the last year, I’ve been facilitating a departmental redesign with a small group of high school Business teachers. I blogged about it a bit just after we began this work, and last month, teachers sent the new outcomes for each endorsement and their course descriptions to press. As an instructional coach, I’ll be working with them throughout the rest of this year to design new courses and co-plan in ways that will help to…
Where did last month ago? I can’t believe it’s November already! The good news is that I’m finding myself emerging from a bit of dry season as a blogger, and ironically, making that happen required me to take my own advice: spending less time behind the screen and more of it out there living life and trying to soak up some new experiences seemed to do the trick! My head is swimming with stuff I’m…
Where do great writing ideas come from? They’re often inspired by our own experiences, the things we read or hear or see, or the thoughts and feelings that are stirred up in response to those we connect with each day. Still, defining an idea worth investing yourself in can be challenging, and that’s why it’s often important to connect the things we love to do beyond writing to our writing. When I’m conferring with…
WNYLIT is a forum for local literacy coaches and leaders held four times a year at the Carrier Center in Angola. Eager to meet and learn from those who share my passion and interest in literacy and instructional coaching, I began facilitating these sessions last year at no cost. Despite the beating our districts sustained budget-wise, we’ve managed to keep moving forward as a group and even grow our membership a bit. I’m looking forward…
Like many of my colleagues, I believe that great learning is often framed around the pursuit of essential questions. So when I stumbled upon dropping knowledge last week, I bookmarked with the intention to share here. I see so many potential uses for kids and teachers. For instance, which of these questions align with your work? Which ones are you or your students willing to share? Browse themes, drag and drop these postcards into your…
I just finished the last of five very different but very meaningful “opening week” sessions inside of the schools that I work in long term. It’s inspiring to watch teachers begin the year by engaging in collaborative goal setting and planning for a year of individual or team-directed professional development, particularly when not so long ago, conversations like this seemed close to impossible. Everything from wonky scheduling to tight resources to lack of protocols to…
Alice came to a fork in the road. “Which road do I take?” she asked. “Where do you want to go?” responded the Cheshire cat. “I don’t know,” Alice answered. “Then,” said the cat, “it doesn’t matter.” ~Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland Many of us use the start of the new school year to refine our vision of the difference we hope to make in our buildings and in the field as a whole. How…