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Thanks Mary and Ryanne for joining the chat tonight. I hope to carve out time to repost these excellent ideas onto the blog tomorrow or Friday. Have a great evening! -Matt

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Matt Renwickjust now

Lately I have been using images of promising literacy practices. For example, I am creating one minute videos of a specific element of our instructional framework. They contain pictures from our classrooms of the element in action. Creates clarity and recognizes teachers.

Here is an example: https://vimeo.com/387053747

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Thank you both for the great conversations and for the resources to bring back to share with my colleagues and admin.

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This question is pushing my thinking, as it could go different directions. Keeping a literacy focus though, I guess for me it's ensuring that the kids understand the "why" behind what is being learned and how it is valuable and beneficial for them to learn it. Then, lots of modeling, showing my thinking aloud as I teach, and conferring 1:1 and in small groups to have continued conversations about the learning.

Clarity for teachers- might look like clear expectations of expected outcomes, but some autonomy on how to get there. A framework, common language, and frequent, ongoing conversations to reflect and grow would be helpful.

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At the upper levels we are using learning targets which are posted either on the board or on the assignment. It takes kids a while to wrap their heads around the fact that we are telling them what we expect them to learn that day.

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We gain clarity not by assigning but through conversational exploration. This exploratory dialogue isn't about an agenda but the freedom to think about thinking. I believe so much in this that I regular meet with my local teachers in what I call "Coffice Conversations.' I never know what they will want to discuss ahead of time because I want us to see where their curiosity will take us when left unfettered to consider possibilities. In a school we could do the same thing, allowing teachers to have time to explore with a small group also interested in a topic of discussion. It's not about walking away with a "plan" but jotting down takeaways that we want to explore further. Talk is the glue that not only holds our thinking but allows us to make it public and share with others as we expand on that thinking. Clarity sometimes invites us to come to the name full of more questions than answers.

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