“It is not enough to have knowledge; one must apply it. It is not enough to have wishes; one must also accomplish them.” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Your work matters. A saying that we lean on in the Science of Reading movement is "know better, do better" a shortened version of Maya Angelou's “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” And yes, for many educators this accurately describes an important step in their SoR journey: building knowledge about...
29 days ago • 8 min read
A note from Linda: I am seeking to meet with leaders for feedback on The Coaching System Growth Model, a transformative plan for improving coaching systems I’ve developed. If you’d like to participate, please reply or schedule a time here. “The expert at anything was once a beginner.” - Helen Hayes Your work matters. Last month, I finally met David and Meredith Liben in person after knowing them for years. I’ve been lucky to work with them on their Improving Reading for Older Students course...
2 months ago • 5 min read
A note from Linda: I am seeking to meet with leaders for feedback on The Coaching System Growth Model, a transformative plan for improving coaching systems I’ve developed. If you’d like to participate, please reply or schedule a time here. Feedback is very useful for telling us “where we are.” - Marshall Goldsmith Your work matters. We lament when teachers say “but I taught them that,” when data shows students didn’t learn “that.” And yet, we do the same thing to our teachers. We act as...
3 months ago • 7 min read
A note: This is newsletter 3 of a 3-part series! Read the part one here and part two here. How do you pick just one Archerism? Enjoy them all for this month's quote. (Source) Your Work Matters Time is the hottest commodity we have in education. We are constantly trying to figure out how to get more of it. We talk about how to decrease bathroom breaks, how to minimize transitions, how to squeeze in the minimum number of minutes for recess, etc. These are worthy efforts. We only get to work...
4 months ago • 8 min read
Well friends, it finally happened. I'm late on a newsletter! But, now you know a real human writes this thing each month. Enjoy! A note: This is newsletter 2 of a 3-part series! Read the first one here. "I've come to the conclusion Sweller's Cognitive Load Theory is the single most important thing for teachers to know." - Dylan William Your Work Matters “Cognitive load refers to the amount of information our working memory can process at any given time. For educational purposes, CLT helps us...
5 months ago • 7 min read
A note: Writing this newsletter inspired me to write more on this topic, so it will be a 3 part series. More to come! "You can do two things at once, but you can't focus effectively on two things at once." - Gary Keller Your Work Matters In my experience, schools typically have multiple improvement goals focused on multiple content areas and or aspects of the work of school (i.e. behaviors). And as a former member of my child’s School Improvement Team, it was the same - multiple goals focused...
6 months ago • 8 min read
“Any new initiative must be contextualized so it fits with the unique needs and resources of the existing system.” - Brown & Stollar (MTSS for Reading Improvement, 2025) Your Work Matters Education systems are complex. While we lean on evidence to guide our decisions and look to examples where things are going “right”, we must also consider the factors that make our schools and districts unique. What at first seems like objective indicators requires a subjective lens; we can't ignore how some...
7 months ago • 6 min read
“There's decades of research that has shown a particular score [on a test] doesn’t predict what a student can do really well at all [due to the nature of how tests are designed].” - Dr. Matt Burns Your Work Matters Earlier this month, I attended a webinar with Dr. Matt Burns, hosted by TRL-VA and other chapters in our chapter network. This event began with a focus on understanding NAEP scores and then invited us to consider other forms of assessment that help inform our classroom instruction....
8 months ago • 7 min read
“The role of the default parent (read: educator) includes significant emotional burden. The constant availability (or perceived availability) and perpetual need can be draining overtime and can lead to feeling overwhelmed.” “Are you the default parent? If you have to think about it, you're not. You'd know. Trust me.” - M. Blazoned (Huff Post, 2014) Your Work Matters I began thinking about default “parents” in education recently after seeing a Scary Mommy headline that read “‘Default Parent...
9 months ago • 8 min read