Informational Writing Can Be Fun!

I've been coaching in a 5th grade classroom during their Informational Reports unit. It's not my thing! But, I have to admit, I'm enjoying myself and am thrilled to see how much the students are enjoying it too. We combined the research reports unit with a social studies unit on Native American tribes. Students chose a tribe, researched, and are now drafting. This week, we've been turning our research notes into sentences, adding details with partner sentences, and drafting leads and conclusions. Here's an example of an introduction to one of the student's subheadings on food for the Comanche tribe
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Change is Hard

I've failed miserably at keeping up with this blog!  I apologize.  This might not have been the best year to launch a professional blog.  But, hopefully, I can make up for lost time.  

The first trimester of the school year just ended in my district.  What a trimester it has been!  I've been as busy as I ever have coaching teachers.  This year, we changed from letter grades on report cards to standards based progress reports.  It has been challenging to say the least.  One of the domains on my instructional coach evaluation is about understanding and applying knowledge of the change process.   I can honestly say that in previous years, I would mark myself down in that category.  Not anymore!  I have lived the change process these last few months and feel I have a much deeper understanding.

Here's what I've learned about coaching teachers through major change:

• Teachers hate change. They don't hate me.  
• Celebrating small steps is critical to keep the process moving.
• Teachers don't/can't listen until it's important to them.  I can't take it personal when I have to repeat myself a gazillion times or make another copy of the document I sent at least three times.