Day 10: #SOL16- Quotes From a Staff Developer

The Slice of Life Challenge is hosted by the inspirational writers of Two Writing Teachers. Each March, they invite people to join them in a commitment to write every day. Here's to another year of daily slicing!


I work in a district where we are so lucky because we get to have Teachers College Staff Developers come several times a year to work with us about best practices around literacy. I have started the practice of keeping a special place in my notes for just lines I love and want to remember. There are always SO many wise statements and quotes to capture. Shana Frazin was with us today, and I kept a list of favorite lines from her that I'm sharing in my slice of the day. 

• “Narrow the gap between students' understanding and our vision.”
• "Whenever we put scaffolds in place, we have to have a plan to remove them."
• “What can I hand off and what can I hand over (to students)?”
• "Anything we can do to capture the talk that is in the air will help kids."
• "Study partnerships that we admire and think about how we can admire them."
• "Help kids figure out being a good partner is like a life thing. It’s bigger than reading workshop or writing workshop!"
• "Have coaching be lean and supportive. How do those two things coexist?"
• “Its always worth wondering about what you don’t write about.”
• “Dreaming is a kind of planning.” (She was quoting Gloria Steinem with this one.)
• “The tyranny of being right.”

Any one of these lines could blossom into a full-fledged post. Maybe one of the lines will speak to someone and they will write off it with a whole new burst of thinking and reflection.

Happy Slicing,