Writing for an audience isn’t about having it all figured out. It’s about engaging in a community of thinkers and learning from the process.
Category: Professional Development
Writing IS Professional Learning
When I started blogging for Moving Writers, I wrote mostly about my practice in the classroom. Since my role has shifted away from the classroom and toward supporting teachers, I spend a lot more time working on my own practice for adult learning. So most of what I blog about lately is about professional learning […]
Workshop + Don’t Drop: Resources from #NCTE19
One of my greatest NCTE joys have been the times members of the Moving Writers team have gotten to join forces at NCTE. I love these people — their deeply-felt philosophies about teaching writing to make a difference in children’s learning and lives, their practical, boots-on-the-ground, why-didn’t-I-think-of-that brilliance. Here are some of the resources from […]
Directing Thinking Traffic: A Protocol for Professional Learning
Whether I’m facilitating professional learning around mentor texts, grammar in context, or book clubs, something that has been especially impactful is sharing in classroom observations together. Whether we’re watching videos of ourselves, others, or we’re stepping into classrooms in real time, observations give us a chance to see the work in action, to breathe life […]
Mapping Our Writing Identities
I’ve decided that structuring professional learning that supports teachers with strategies they can take back to the classroom just isn’t enough. I need to also build teachers’ own efficacy and identity as a writer.
Moving Writers’ Top Ten: The PD Wars and Why We Must Fight Them
As is our habit, we are taking the summer away from the blog to read, write, and recharge. We’ll be back in late August with new content, but for the summer, let’s take a journey down memory lane as we visit our ten most-read posts from the previous school year! I finished reading the outstanding […]
Navigating Vulnerability Part 3: The Coach and Consultant Balance
This semester, I’ve been writing a series of posts about the role of vulnerability in coaching. The idea is, if we’re not aware of the underlying vulnerabilities in our conversations and our practice, we’re not going to be able to grow. So far, I’ve written about two different vulnerabilities that I’ve recognized in teachers and […]
Navigating Vulnerability Part 2: De-Centering the Teacher
When we take on coaching or other leadership roles, we aren’t going to get anywhere with those we’re leading unless we recognize the vulnerabilities they’re facing. Last month, I started a mini-series of posts on this idea. Each post in the series will tackle a different vulnerability by exploring: How to recognize the vulnerability in […]
TFMTF: Learning Through the Rabbit Hole
Instead of giving you a specific account to follow with this edition of Teaching From My Twitter Feed, I thought we’d have some fun with one my favorite Twitter joys: The Rabbit Hole. There’s a Rabbit Hole for every topic you can imagine on Twitter, and probably for a few you can’t. There’s also lots […]
Navigating Vulnerability Part 1: Content-Related Skills
Anyone who takes on a coaching role likely finds themselves navigating the deep waters of vulnerability several times a day. It’s tricky and oftentimes uncomfortable. Vulnerability can manifest itself in many different ways. We’re all learners, and we’re all human, after all. Some of us shrink back; others get defensive. Sometimes, as a coach, I’m […]
