Maybe it’s the heat that has me fired up.

Or, maybe, I’m just finally really exhausted by all this asynchronous, artificial free and expensive crap that doesn’t help kids.

Good coaching starts with strong instructors.

To be a coach, you need to, in your bones, know how to reach ALL kids.

Programs that promise “successful implementation of high-quality instructional coaching, with a focus on improving language and literacy outcomes” in 4 ASYNCHRONOUS HOURS is asinine.

Those of us who have actually coached, live, in person in schools know that every school is different. I don’t just coach. I teach.

I run sessions with kids, LIVE, 4 days a week with students ages 4-20. My training continues to refine because I continue to refine my work as a teacher. Becoming a strong coach takes, at minimum, 600 hours of supervised work, primarily with students, under the guidance of a mentor.

In my professional opinion, we don’t need a coach in every school.

We need more empowered, knowledgeable teachers returning to best practices.

Do you know why I, and perhaps you, can read and write?

I was taught how to spell beginning in Mrs. Lambertson’s first grade class in 1986, small town Murfreesboro, TN. (It used to be super tiny. Y’all, we didn’t even have a Walmart.)

Mrs. Lambertson sat with the flip chart and taught us how to write our letters. She made pancakes on a little portable griddle when we were learning about compound words. She talked to us about measurement and how to follow the recipe. We wrote our own little how-to make a pancake story. She did this so elegantly that I still remember it nearly 40 years later. (I also remember that Tommy Brown brought lice and chicken pox to 1st grade that year.)

My primary, elementary, middle, and high school teachers read books aloud and discussed imagery, vocabulary, and figurative language. To my rapt engagement, and also to my chagrin, we discussed novel after novel and the occasional short story.

I loathed The Hobbit. Mr. York, I’m sorry. I think it’s the only book I ever skimmed, but I still reread The Giver every few years.

Where the Red Fern Grows and The Red Pony left me heartbroken.

I’m not a Steinbeck or Hawthorne fan. Please, for the love of God, stop describing the scenery and get to the plot. Oh, and could you please stop killing the dogs. R.J. Palacio, I’m looking at you. That death felt wildly unnecessary.

I treasure the Regency Era, and I still scour the shelves at my local bookstore for the latest twist on Pride & Prejudice.

My high school AP English teacher forced us to diagram sentences all while working on our AP English papers. I wrote about A Passage Through India. Mrs.M would whack Rich Rucker’s desk with her meter stick at least once a week when he dozed off during the grammar part of the lesson.

Aside from the meter stick whacking, these are best practices.

Read aloud. Discuss books. Explicitly teach grammar and figurative language alongside novel study and writing.

Vocabulary develops almost innately in conversation-forward learning environments.

Not every kid has to love books, but the more you read aloud and discuss various kinds of novels, the morel likely a child is to find what he loves, and what he loathes. Reading aloud and book discussions isn’t “old school,” it’s best practice.

Pick a book to read with your family or yourself this summer. Discuss it with friends.

Choose books to read with your class this school year.

Need help? Drop me a line. I’ve got some ideas for all the grades; no dogs will be harmed in the readings.