While reading an Education Week Blog by Jill Berkowicz and Ann Myers, The Importance of Challenging Our Comfort Zone   (August 6),  I was reminded of the need for school leaders, instructional coaches and teachers to create environments where staffs and students are comfortable with discomfort. Berkowicz and Meyers explore the need for school leaders to be […]

Recently I was conversing with several educators from the same district’s central office team. They shared with me that last spring a decision was made to send all central office staff into the schools six weeks before the state testing date to work with students around common reading skill deficiencies. Teachers identified the students with […]

 In many of my presentations I discuss two beliefs behind my work in schools: Teaching is a team sport and Teaching needs to be a public act. Both of these beliefs reinforce the need for schools to have a culture of coaching that defines staff relationships. This week I was in Rochester, NY providing a […]

SREB/High Schools That Work recently published an article based on a presentation that I provided at their last conference. Instructional Strategies Motivate and Engage Students in Deeper Learning is an 18 page downloadable resource where you’ll find the following article and many others.  It is important for teachers to find the “sweet spot” for engaging […]

This summer I am having several opportunities to provide training to educators who are entering a new phase of their career as an instructional coach. I am also working with school based administrators who are responsible for coaching teachers as part of their leadership role and supporting the work of instructional coaches in their schools. […]

Feedback was the focus of my research and reading this week as I worked to design a presentation I was asked to do for middle and high school teachers. I first turned to Dylan Wiliam’s work which I had remembered from earlier studies. Among five elements for assessing student learning he includes this: Provide feedback […]