Sneak Peek into "The Coaching Partnership: Collaboration for Systematic Change"

Coaching. It's quite a dynamic role. Being a coach might be uncomfortable and demanding at times. However, it can be pleasurable and gratifying, too. Even though I've just begun my 24th year as an educator, and have an abundance of strategies in my teacher tool belt when working with children, I must declare, when it comes to the world of *teaching adults*, I'm a newbie. 

For numerous years, I've dabbled in supporting adults in a variety of ways, such as supervising student-teachers and mentoring new staff. However, my role as a Literacy Coach for the past (going on) three years has been an entirely unique journey. There have been an abundance of impactful ups, alongside a smattering of setbacks. If I am being honest, mistakes have been made and situations have been approached in a semi-regrettable manner. I say "semi-regrettable" because we all need to endure difficult times to come out stronger in the long run. I guess that's pretty much life, though. Nonetheless, I have learned from all of my experiences and have witnessed some tremendous growth on my end. Tons of self-reflection happening over here!

Apart from having a bit of experience in this role, as well as a Literacy Coach team like no other, another undertaking that has helped me jump start my impact as a coach is reading professional texts. If you were to peruse my blog, you'd see an assortment of posts highlighting some of those texts, many of them being books published by Scholastic. 

My latest read is The Coaching Partnership: Collaboration for Systematic Change by Rosemarye T. Taylor and Carol Chanter. This book is packed with comprehensive tips and suggestions to guide change-agents in increasing student achievement. I've highlighted and tagged much of the book's contents, which support collaboration, inquiry, generative thinking, communication strategies, delivery modes, self-reflection, and, of course, on-going learning.

For my "sneak peek" posts, I usually reveal what's in the Table of Contents. Look below and you'll see the book is divided into three parts: Part 1: Learning Partners, Part 2: Learning Process, and Part 3: Learning Breakthroughs. Within these three parts, you'll find real-life vignettes called From the Field that are accompanied by Questions for Reflection to support professional reflection on the readers' end. You'll also come across suggested supplemental resources riddled throughout its pages referencing useful coaching blogs and other professional book titles supporting coaching partnerships, as well as links to self-assessment surveys to encourage additional learning.  

If you're anything like me, you may find it helpful to view videos of coaches in action or coaching gurus sharing advice. This book provides readers with an online, password protected site containing videos and downloadable resources. Below are images of what the site has to offer. It provides all the tools you'll require to  better help you optimize and implement the coaching partnership system. 

For "sneak peek" posts, I also enjoy sharing tips or advice I've highlighted directly from the book that have served me well. It is my hope to give you better insight into The Coaching Partnership: Collaboration for Systematic Change. I definitely recommend the book!

• A feeling of continuous growth is a wonderful source of motivation and confidence (p.12).

• Administrators determine the value given to coaching and mentoring in their schools (p.13).

• The intent is for each person in the learning partnership to be empowered to improve the outcomes of the partnership (p.24).

• Having a well-thought-out focus for coaching can help target and achieved desired outcomes (p.29).

• If adult learning is valued, then administrators will find ways to carve out time for opportunities for teachers to observe each other, discuss learning, and analyze student evidence of learning (p.37).

• To overcome barriers or negative experiences, in-person meetings are almost always recommended over email, if only for the frequency with which emails can be misunderstood (p.62).

• In the coaching partnership, all are equal in asking for, receiving and giving coaching and feedback (p.63).

• To facilitate authentic discussions that build rapport and trust, we suggest replacing the common "Any questions?" with "Jot down your wonders" (p.66).

• In contrast to norms in school cultures, norms of collaboration are deliberately developed and agreed to. Norms foster collaboration, build relationships, and help avoid interactions that may derail the learning process (p.71).

• The power of coaching is this--you are expected to give people the path to find answers, not the answers (p.83).

• Whether coaching groups or individuals, learn how to take people through the steps of identifying a problem of practices, setting learning goals, learning, gathering and analyzing evidence, reflecting, and refining practice. This sophisticated skill of moving adult learners along a continuum of instructional expertise is the heart and soul of the coaching role (p.95).

• An expert is someone who knows some of the worst mistakes that can be made in his subject, and how to avoid them (p.100).

• Leaders are those who empower others (p.120).

If you're interested in snagging a free copy of your own, drop a comment below to be entered in a giveaway. :) 

Happy Coaching!

Quick PD Idea based on Serravallo's "Understanding Texts & Readers"

Here's a quick idea based on Jennifer Serravallo's new book, Understanding Texts & Readers: Responsive Comprehension Instruction with Leveled Texts. The amazing ladies over at Tiny Tips and Teeny Tales shared an Instagram post about a Text Bands PD they were going to present. I was able to take the idea and run with it, so my staff may also benefit from the book's contents. Thanks, Ladies!

The images below show a simple chart that explains the characteristics of Plot/Setting, Characters, Themes/Ideas, and Vocabulary/Figurative Language at each text band ranging from Level J to Level W. The chart shown is geared toward fictional texts. I'm optimistic the contents can better support teachers in conferring more productively with students because they will be able to see how the demands placed on the reader change as the complexity increases. I'm hoping to create a similar chart dedicated to informational texts. Coming soon!

Enjoy. :)

Sneak Peek into "From Striving to Thriving Writers: Strategies That Jump-Start Writing" (& Giveaway!)

I've been a huge fan of Stephanie Harvey for many years. It all started with her book, Strategies That Work: Teaching Comprehension for Understanding and Engagement. Since then, she's among a handful of literacy gurus I admire and closely follow to gain perspective from and to become better equipped in best and next literacy practices. Last year, I read her (and Annie Ward's) book, From Striving to Thriving: How to Grow Confident, Capable Readers and raved about their suggestion to *table the labels* to empower children to grow as readers. 

When I got wind of a new Striving to Thriving professional text hitting the shelves, I was interested in taking a peek. I learned much from the first book dedicated to striving readers, including more on the complexities of language learning, but I also had many personal beliefs validated. When my copy of From Striving to Thriving Writers: Strategies That Jump-Start Writing arrived, I was instantly able to see its value.

Stephanie Harvey, Sara Holbrook and Michael Salinger joined forces to write the book. On page 6, it states, This book is about helping our students harness the power of language to accomplish their own purposes for writing: to tell a story, to investigate an issue, to prioritize information, to persuade a reader, and to generally inform. 

If you were to peek into the Table of Contents, you'd notice 27 writing frameworks designed to differentiate for and support striving writers, as well as to improve and integrate writing across the curriculum. The frameworks are divided into three parts: Learning About Language, Learning Through Language, and Using Language to Learn About Self. 

Each framework provides a suggested starting grade-level (Kindergarten through 6th and up) and focus skills. For example, the first three frameworks listed in the picture below are for 'Kindergarten and up': Picture This, Refrain Again, and Scaffolding Into Sharing. Depending on the framework, the focus skills covered may include Persuasive, Descriptive, Research, Vocabulary, and Figurative Language. Take note of Sara Holbrook's tweet below about the grade level suggestions for the frameworks. Teachers know their students best! :)

In order for students to become better equipped writers, they need to write... A LOT...and OFTEN. Voluminous writing is the key to moving writers forward. Holbrook and Salinger discuss 3 ways to support writing in volume: 1. Embed writing in all content areas. 2. Pre-write to get it right. 3. Take it one version at a time. Click HERE to learn more.

The book provides readers with an online, password-protected site that includes downloadable resources available to help educators support students with voluminous writing. The resources include graphic organizers ("GO sheets") for students to use during the pre-writing stages, as well as professional videos of the writing frameworks in action to view firsthand. Having these resources at the tip of our fingers can allow the frameworks to be implemented straightaway. The videos allow readers flexible opportunities to grow professionally, even while at home! Below are a handful of screenshots depicting the online resource site. 

The authors caution in their tweets below that GO sheets are not worksheets, but engaging and valuable outlines for students!  

Below is a peek into the first framework: Sentence Variety Pack: Crafting Engaging Text. You can get a better sense of what the book offers, including online slides to support implementation of the framework, lesson extension ideas, sample stages of students' writting and assessment checkpoint rubrics. Jackpot! 

There is so much more to the book than I've briefly overviewed. I look forward to putting these frameworks into practice with students in the upcoming weeks. I highly recommend you snagging a copy for yourself! Additionally, there's a blog post written by Larry Ferlazzo in Education Teacher Week titled Writing Frames Are The Recipes of Writing. Within the post, Holbrook and Salinger answer the following question, How can we use "writing frames" and "writing structures" without students feeling like they always have to do formulaic writing? If their response interests you, click HERE to read more. 

Leave a relevant comment below for a chance to acquire a free copy for yourself! :)

P.S. Check out the authors on Twitter, @saraholbrook, @michaelsalinger, and @Stephharvey49, as well as the content linked to the hashtag #FromStrivingtoThrivingWriters! They're visible and welcoming!

Happy Writing & Happy Thanksgiving! 

A Peek into Some Emergent Strategies from Serravallo's "The Writing Strategies Book"

Have you perused Jennifer Serravallo's The Writing Strategies Book: Your Everything Guide to Developing Skilled Writers, yet? After getting my hands on The Reading Strategies Book: Your Everything Guide to Developing Skilled Readers back in 2015, I was ecstatic when I heard a writing version of the book was in the works. I waited on pins and needles for it to be delivered, since I preordered months beforehand. Once the book arrived in February 2017, all I could say was Ooh la la! 

Oh, Jennifer Serravallo! What can I say besides she is like no other. If you follow my blog, you know I consider her to be one of the most genius literacy consultants and authors out there. I had the pleasurable opportunity of meeting her in person at a conference I attended at the tail end of the 2016-2017 school year, but was able to catch a few of her sessions at the Illinois Reading Conference this past October. She is an accomplished, yet, genuinely kindhearted and down-to-Earth person. She was willing to sign all of the books I currently own that she has authored, as well as take the time to sign books from the hundreds of others who attended.  

Before moving on, I'd like to preface that much of this post has been sitting unpublished for many, many months. It has been revised over and over, but to no avail...until now. I was going to participate in a comprehensive book study with some of the wonderful members of the #ReadingStrategiesCrew like we did for our previous book study on The Reading Strategies Book. However, for a handful of reasons, we decided to cancel the study. 

Nevertheless, I figured I could share some of the emergent strategies I used with my students and my own kids at the tail end of last school year. Since I'm in a new school this year and in a new role as a Literacy Coach, alongside being a K-2 Reading Specialist, I tested out some strategies that could be used to support kindergarten and first grade students. Praises for Jennifer's work deserve to be sung worldwide!

Since I mostly work with very young students, I tried out a few strategies with my emergent writers from last school year, including my own kids who were in preschool at the time, but have now moved on to kindergarten. I wanted to give you a peek into a few strategies represented in Goal 1.

Goal 1 is Composing with Pictures. There are eighteen strategies within this goal to support pre-emergent and emergent writers. This goal is mostly used to support students in pre-Kindergarten through 2nd grade. However, Serravallo mentions that students throughout the primary grades benefit when they are given time to sketch their ideas before moving into the writing process. 

Below is a snapshot of the strategies reinforcing this goal. Just like Serravallo's The Reading Strategies Book, the format is not the typical front cover to back cover type of read, but another handy guidebook to support your instruction. The format allows teachers to pick and choose from researched-based strategies that will best scaffold students. Serravallo states, "I streamlined the language and examples, and I present the strategies in a format that is organized so that the busy teacher can find just the right strategy at just the right moment."  Ahhh, music to my ears.  

For each strategy, once again, Serravallo includes a description and helpful prompts to use with students. Many of the strategies also provide Teacher Tips and samples of Lesson Language to use when putting the strategy into practice. The strategies can be demonstrated to individuals, small groups or whole class. In addition, along the sidebar of each strategy, Serravallo indicates the level (emergent to grade 8), genre/text type, and process(es) in which to focus. I find these to be invaluable features of the book (just as in The Reading Strategies Book) because even a novice or experienced classroom teacher without a writing background can fully support and guide his/her students in writing. This book elicits powerful writing instruction!

In view of the fact I work with struggling readers at school, which often correlates to weak writing abilities, as well as have little ones at home in the early stages of writing, Goal 1 suited me perfectly. An example of Reread Your Pictures to Teach (1.4), Label Your Pictures (1.6) and A Series of Pictures to Show Change (1.13) are discussed in this post. All eighteen strategies within this goal are worthwhile, of course. 

If you teach young students or have little ones at home who are budding writers, you're aware of how tricky writing letters and words can be for some. Serravallo explains that writing instruction can begin well before students are even able to connect letters into words and words into a piece of writing. She added the work of researchers Ray and Glover stating, "By teaching children to compose with pictures, they can be freed up to create texts in any genre and to understand that meaning comes first, long before they are ready to spend lots of mental energy hearing the sounds in words and writing down what they hear (p.34)."

Reread Your Pictures to Teach   

The Reread Your Pictures to Teach strategy focuses on students orally explaining facts about a chosen topic. Here are the *Who's this for?* stats: Level: emergent, Genre/Text Type: informational/nonfiction, Process: reading writing aloud. This strategy encourages students to retell their *writing* in picture form. Be mindful when thinking about writing children's words for them on their pictures. The Teaching Tip for this strategy comes with a forewarning: 

"Some teachers record students' speech right on their writing/pictures, but many believe this negatively impacts a student's agency and confidence for writing words when she is ready. When an adult writes on a child's paper, this may communicate that the child's attempts at making meaning don't make sense without the teacher's written words, which may undermine her future attempts at writing pictures and/or with words (Ray and Glover 2008)." 

Image from The Writing Strategies Book

After reading about this strategy, my own preschool kiddos popped into mind. At the start of Spring in 2017, they began learning at school all about the the life cycle of a chicken. We took a family trip to the library, checked out a few books, built a little background and then began extending our learning about chickens. Below are some pictures taken in their preschool classroom and at home.

Once my kids learned a bit more about the life cycle of the chicken, my daughter began drawing what she learned and then reread her pictures to teach her father all about it.

 

To get a better sense of the Reread Your Pictures to Teach strategy for informational/nonfiction writing, here are a few ideal prompts found in the book:

• What does this picture teach about?
• Point to a part and tell me what I can learn from that.
• Do you know other facts?
• What does this part of the picture teach?
• Sound like a teacher.
• Your drawing teaches a lot of facts about the topic!

Label Your Pictures

The Label Your Pictures strategy is self-explanatory. Students draw a picture, then use sounds they know to label their images. Here are the *Who's this for *  stats: Levels: emergent-K, Genre/Text Type: any, Process: drafting. The Teaching Tip suggests students be assessed on letter-sound identification prior to use of this strategy. If students have a strong foundation of letter-sound correspondence, they are typically ready for for labeling. However, the Teaching Tip also forewarns:

"Pushing the conventional writing/print too soon could overly focus the child on getting down words rather than other qualities of good writing such as structure and elaboration (p.43)." 

Image from The Writing Strategies Book

My son, on the other hand, began drawing what he learned and then labeled his pictures to teach his father and me all about his newly found knowledge. His pictures are below.

The Label Your Pictures strategy can be used with any genre. Serravallo suggests using prompts such as these:

• What sounds do you hear?
• Say the word slowly.
• What letters make that sound?
• Write the letter down, and say the word again?

A Series of Pictures to Show Change

A Series of Pictures to Show Change strategy focuses on students being able to depict how real life things can move or gradually change over time. Here are the *Who's this for?* stats: Levels: emergent-2, Genre/TextType: narrative, informational/nonfiction, procedural, Process: drafting. 

Image from The Writing Strategies Book

For this strategy, I enrolled some of my willing and eager first grade boys last year who were really into learning about frogs. The book How Frogs Grow found in the F&P LLI kit is what piqued their interest, so I found some other related titles I had on hand. Below are some snapshots of their work, as well as a video of one who wanted to share his learning.

The prompts for A Series of Pictures to Show Change strategy can be used with narrative and informational or procedural genres, so below are some recommended prompts that compliment this strategy:

• Who's that? What's happening?
• What did she do next?
• Can you draw that next part in a new picture?
• What's the next thing she does?
• Draw a picture to show what it looks like when it starts. 
• Draw a picture to show how it changes. 
• Draw a picture to show how it changes again.

So, there you have it, a few strategies to implement in your classroom with emergent-level students. The book is worth owning, so if you don't already own a copy, hop on over to Amazon A.S.A.P. ;)

Happy Tuesday, folks!