Transitioning to a New Reading Curriculum +

New curriculum is exciting and challenging. We navigate the transition by:

• Analyzing instructional shifts and their impact on student achievement
• Making connections to current practices
• Developing daily and weekly schedules
• Creating planning protocols for grade teams
• Engaging in lesson study to examine and refine lessons that address achievement gaps
• Planning coaching cycles to provide teachers with support as they implement the new curriculum
• Studying school data to see the impact of the new curriculum on student achievement

Leading Powerful, Doable Small Group Work +

Small group work provides meaningful, targeted feedback to students and drives growth. We focus on practical tips for launching and maintaining small groups across subject areas. As part of this study, we:

• Gather and analyze relevant data
• Explore different methods of small group work and the purpose behind each one
• Develop cycles of small group work to accelerate growth
• Watch and practice small groups with students

Supporting English Language Acquisition & Vocabulary Development +

Classrooms are more linguistically diverse than ever. We think about ways to analyze each student’s level of language proficiency and create instructional plans to deepen their knowledge of the English language. We identify high leverage vocabulary and use a variety of methods to help students learn and use that vocabulary across contexts. From supporting students in nonverbal phases of communication to expanding students’ understanding of root words, we consider the range of students in each community and develop protocols to support their oral language and literacy development.

Using Assessment Data to Drive Instruction +

Data-driven instruction makes our teaching more equitable, responsive and relevant. Together we analyze your data, considering the frequency with which students are receiving feedback as well as students’ strengths and goals, and create instructional plans. We identify the focus, intensity, and duration of the instruction necessary to drive progress. Each session involves analysis and planning; we are in a continuous loop of analyzing data and teaching in response to it.

Facilitating Schoolwide Change to Improve Student Achievement +

School-based leadership teams are powerful structures; representatives from across the school setting goals and creating plans to achieve those goals moves your building forward. As a leadership team, we:

• Analyze school-wide data
• Identify an area in need of improvement
• Plan professional development for the school
• Study methods of professional development to ensure PD is engaging
• Conduct walkthroughs to analyze instruction

At the end of the year, we meet to revisit the school-wide data and study the impact of this work on your community.

Teaching Critical Reading & Argumentation +

Messaging surrounds us. It’s important to empower students with the skills to be discerning consumers and powerful contributors. We:

• Explore the definition of texts and examine the texts we use in our teaching
• Think about social identities and how the identities we hold shape our understanding and ideas about a topic
• Build text sets that include BIPOC voices
• Study strategies for critically reading and evaluating arguments
• Analyze a variety of debate protocols
• Craft lessons for developing arguments
• Consider different forms of arguments and ways to use them as mentor texts

We incorporate this work into multiple parts of the school day so students use their skills in reading, writing, social studies and beyond.

Developing Strong Writers +

To develop strong writers, we need to develop strong instructional practices. Our writers need instruction, practice and feedback as they practice. As a school, we:

• Analyze diverse mentor texts for qualities of good writing
• Examine writing standards and align our progression of work from one grade to the next
• Develop explicit lessons on structure, development, and craft
• Consider ways to use mentor texts as teachers in our classrooms
• Establish partnerships to support collaborative learning
• Connect word study and writing, supporting transfer of foundational skills
• Investigate different approaches to teaching grammar and their impact on student achievement
• Research student work, identifying growth and next steps

In addition to our meetings, we work together in classrooms. We practice our teaching methods, including whole class lessons, conferences and small groups.

Leading Productive Workshops +

Workshop teaching is responsive and complex. We:

• Revisit the philosophy of workshop teaching to empower teachers to make decisions about their curriculum
• Study explicit instruction focusing on minilessons, conferences and small groups
• Connect workshop instruction to other components such as read aloud, shared reading, shared writing, interactive writing and phonics instruction
• Develop an understanding of unit based curriculum
• Revise existing units to meet the needs of your current students
• Write new units to address evolving standards and students’ needs
• Analyze demonstration teaching
• Practice making decisions that impact students’ development

We study reading workshop, writing workshop, or both, depending on the needs of your community.