Author: Amy Ellerman

Reader, writer, and instructional coach. Always thinking. Collaborating to innovate the learning experience for students and educators.
Coaching à la Carte: Stronger Together Blog Series
coaching · collaboration · literacy coaches · Stronger Together: Involving Other Professionals in Your Workshop Blog Series

Coaching à la Carte: Stronger Together Blog Series

Amy Ellerman16 Comments

In this post I’ve curated some quick coaching possibilities: coaching à la carte, if you will. Each offering on this menu has the potential to have an immediate impact on student learning in the workshop with a minimal time commitment from teachers. It might not be the gold standard, four-course meal of a coaching cycle, but each option is designed to nourish and energize teacher(s), students, and coaches with a quick burst of collaboration.

Preparing for Fall Conferences With Families
caregivers · conferences · parent involvement

Preparing for Fall Conferences With Families

Amy Ellerman

As the temperature drops and the leaves begin to change color, teachers begin preparing for conferences with families. I know for many teachers, this can be stressful (and time consuming), making decisions about what to share in that precious 20-30 minutes that will both inform and reassure caregivers that their child is learning. Here’s an idea that I'm hoping helps all workshop teachers to feel more confident about conference prep.

How do we Know When our Workshops are Working?
agency · community · feedback · goals · management · routines

How do we Know When our Workshops are Working?

Amy Ellerman4 Comments

Launching a writing workshop is hard work. Intentional work. What are those “look fors” that let us know that our workshops are gelling? That community is being built, routines are being established, and writing work is happening?

When Management Issues in the Workshop are the Result of Mixed Messaging
agency · management · procedures · reflective practice · writing workshop routines

When Management Issues in the Workshop are the Result of Mixed Messaging

Amy Ellerman6 Comments

The beginning of the school year is perfect timing for the classic cautionary tale, an anecdote shared with the intention of saving others a difficulty I created for myself. My purpose is to both teach and entertain, as I humbly recount the thing I should not have done (and will be mindful not to do again).

Tumbling Toward Open Space in a Workshop
agency · reflective practice · writing workshop

Tumbling Toward Open Space in a Workshop

Amy Ellerman2 Comments

These tumbleweeds feel like a metaphor for the writers in our workshops: the times they dance freely across the landscape and the times they get stuck. As a teacher of writers, it’s prompting me to step back and reflect on those stuck places. I hope to offer you a similar moment of reflection on the tumbleweed-jams that might be forming in your own workshop(s).