I'm glad you are here to celebrate! Share a link to your blog post below and/or use #celebratelu to share celebrations on Twitter.
My favorite celebrations are the glimmers in the midst of everyday life. The small joys and triumphs that make a big difference. I love to celebrate small as a means to live big. Today, however, I'm sharing a celebration that is a little outside of my ordinary. Today I share a step toward a dream.
Last November at NCTE, Colby Sharp and I ended up sitting together in a session. We started talking and Colby asked, "So you're a coach, right."
I'm not sure how I answered, but I confirmed that, "Yes, I'm an instructional writing coach." I left out the part about being a little disheartened and totally tattered by the whole coaching gig.
Colby said, "I miss my literacy coach." Colby moved from a school with a literacy coach to a school without coaches. I asked a few questions and listened closely. As Colby talked, I remembered the potential of coaches to change lives.
Little did I know it was a conversation that would change me. A few days later, with fingers shaking, I sent Colby a message via Twitter and asked if he'd want to try out my latest crazy idea. I wondered if I could be Colby's virtual writing coach.
His excitement and warm response gave me confidence and we began working together in December. We meet about three times a month via Skype. We keep a reflective journal in Google Drive. I send him attachments for drafting and planning and revising through email. He sends me photos and videos of his writers in action.
Colby has completely restored my faith in instructional coaching. He helped me take ownership in my role as an instructional coach and has made me more effective. He helped me realize that when I'm most effective as a coach, I'm living up to my calling as a Soul-Nourisher.
Franki Sibberson has also played alongside me in this virtual coaching role. With Franki, I helped facilitate a space for reflective practice on Google Drive. Katie DiCesare let me see inside her writing process and her work as a teacher-writer. Katie and Franki
helped me remember how much I appreciate the privilege of walking
alongside teachers as they work to become the best they can be. I am always humbled when teachers let me tag along for the adventure.
All of this led to a new dream. I really love offering professional development through speaking at conferences and schools, but the real fruits of the work come in an ongoing teacher-coach relationship with the focus on the actual students in the classroom. If we want to change the world by creating bold and confident writers, then our professional development needs to be as close to the classroom as possible.
There are many teachers who would love to have an instructional writing coach, but it isn't a reality in their corner of the world. I'd like to help make it a possibility.
So this week, I celebrate the launch of a new professional development option: instructional {e}coaching. Bring the professional development to you! You don't have to write sub plans and the conversation and work is anchored to your students in your corner of the world.
Now it's your turn. Link-up your celebrations below!
All of this led to a new dream. I really love offering professional development through speaking at conferences and schools, but the real fruits of the work come in an ongoing teacher-coach relationship with the focus on the actual students in the classroom. If we want to change the world by creating bold and confident writers, then our professional development needs to be as close to the classroom as possible.
There are many teachers who would love to have an instructional writing coach, but it isn't a reality in their corner of the world. I'd like to help make it a possibility.
So this week, I celebrate the launch of a new professional development option: instructional {e}coaching. Bring the professional development to you! You don't have to write sub plans and the conversation and work is anchored to your students in your corner of the world.
Find out more at my new instructional {e}coaching site: Discover Play Build.
Now it's your turn. Link-up your celebrations below!
