Every student is not the same, nor is every context. The complexity of teaching and learning is real, and it cannot be side-stepped by standardizing all activity in an effort to “teacher-proof” instructional environments. - Learning to Improve, Bryk et al
What do all the "look-fors" I pay attention to in classrooms have in common?
They capture the complexity of instruction vs. reducing teaching down to a behavior or a score.
More:
open.substack.com/pub/readbyex...
Principals: Trying to visit classrooms, only to get pulled back to the office as soon as you leave?
Join me for a free webinar on December 4, where I share the processes I used to be present with teachers and students.
RSVP --> luma.com/m6om1q8n @middleweb.bsky.social @corwinpress.bsky.social
New: OBSERVING INSTRUCTION WITH A CURIOSITY MINDSET.
The question isn't whether principals should observe classroom instruction, says coach Matt Renwick. "It's whether we can observe it with curiosity rather than judgment." #edusky @readbyexample.bsky.social
www.middleweb.com/52832/observ...
The phrase "design for the edges" is about creating more inclusive and welcoming spaces for all students.
It asks that we think not about what the average person needs, but what people at the margins need.
open.substack.com/pub/readbyex...
The data won't change overnight, but the narrative can shift today - from 'these kids can't' to 'here's what we're learning works.'"
When a school struggles, do staff blame poverty? Attendance? "Those kids"?
The story a school tells about itself shapes everything—and leaders are the chief storytellers.
How to change the narrative: open.substack.com/pub/readbyex...
Two things students want, need, and appreciate when at school:
1. Teachers/staff care about them.
2. Teachers/staff expect great things of them.
#pbisforum
Reading screeners and diagnostics are lagging data.
They are a product of a) how engaged students are as readers and b) how they see themselves as readers.
Isolated skill-based interventions for students ignores the root cause of why they are not succeeding as readers.
Three measures of a reader
Claude's response to my request for a character and theme map between two of David Mitchell's novels
AI-assisted reading comprehension
One of the best ways to recommend a book is to be seen reading the book.
Other readers want to know what has you so engaged.
You are leveraging FOMO in a healthy way.
MW Substack 032: ALL KINDS OF LEADERSHIP
Has keeping our schools on course ever been more challenging? We've gathered some of our most insightful and encouraging articles about school & teacher leadership. #edusky #edleadershipchat @readbyexample.bsky.social
middleweb.substack.com/p/mw-substac...
The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson - a hopeful vision for our future
"Research indicates that kids who are exposed to more than two hours a day of recreational screen time have worse working memory, processing speed, attention levels, language skills and executive function than kids who are not." www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/o...
Sketchnotes from Crucial Influence training this week. Excited to bring these ideas to regional schools!
The Leadership-Reading Brain open.substack.com/pub/readbyex... Is literacy a tool for empowerment or oppression in your school? #edusky #edchat #cpchat #educoach
What if principals spent only 10% of their classroom time evaluating teachers and 90% actually coaching and supporting instruction? Imagine the influence. #cpchat #educoach
The news cycle wants us anxious and reactive.
An antidote: read.
Just wrote about why books matter during challenging times. Reading is balm, habit, and resistance.
When we say yes to books, we say no to urgency traps.
open.substack.com/pub/readbyex... #edusky #elachat #cpchat #educoach
"the pursuit of wisdom is impossible without engaging with (and challenging) uncomfortable ideas." www.nytimes.com/2025/04/19/o... via @nytimes.com
"What I've learned is that it's easy to keep busy in just about any job. What's difficult is to discern what I should be focused on at the moment while ignoring everything else that I've committed to or been assigned." @middleweb.bsky.social #edusky
Are you not seeing the promised results from a recent literacy initiative? Try this journaling activity:
Fill in the blank: “We can work smarter and not harder by _____________.”
Keep writing with this line thinking until you arrive at a unique insight. Share it with a trusted colleague. #edusky
“You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.”
― Ray Bradbury
Urge Congress: Save Public Media protectmypublicmedia.org/rsc-calls/ @baldwin.senate.gov @markpocan.bsky.social
“If you don’t read fiction,” Verghese said, “my considered medical opinion is that a part of your brain responsible for active imagination atrophies.”
news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...
Reading is the main event in schools, often at the expense of writing. I think part of this comes from the perception that reading is easy to measure, at least from a phonics-first approach.
Conversely, writing presents as more of a process and involves the inherent messiness of creativity.
There’s no science of reading without the art of teaching readers.
Feedback is most effective when it goes both ways.
When everyone positions themselves first as a learner and are willing to regularly examine the beliefs they hold about literacy instruction, collective practice improves.
open.substack.com/pub/readbyex... #edusky #edchat #cpchat #educoach
