Overcoming Overwhelm by Finding Entry Points

Overcoming Overwhelm by Finding Entry Points

What prevents us from making the changes we want to make in our lives?Whether in our personal or professional roles, we all have visions of reaching for our better selves. Whether we want to eat better, keep a tidier house, get in shape, read more. . .the list goes...
5 Keys to Creating a New Habit that Sticks

5 Keys to Creating a New Habit that Sticks

Did you ever really surprise yourself?This summer Kari did. She did it by water skiing 70 days in a row!She didn’t originally plan to go for 70 days.In fact she still has a hard time believing she did it.If you had said to her in July, “Kari, you should ski 70 days in...
Instructional Levers for Making Work Easier

Instructional Levers for Making Work Easier

Who doesn’t want to make their work easier? Our ancestors certainly did. If necessity is the mother of invention, then the need to lift heavy objects led to the invention of the lever. A lever is–as you well know–a simple machine that makes work a lot...
Inside-Out Literacy

Inside-Out Literacy

Whether it’s broccoli in the teeth, frosting on the chin, a shirt inside-out, it often takes someone else – with honesty and caring – to help us notice what we haven’t yet seen for ourselves. As we dig deeper and deeper into the wide body of research that...
Background Knowledge: A Key to Reading Comprehension

Background Knowledge: A Key to Reading Comprehension

All children love to become experts!  Whether learning about ancient Egypt in order to understand the latest Rick Riordon title or building knowledge about the spread of germs in a global pandemic, knowledge building is a critical aspect of reading comprehension.  In...
Avoiding Walls and Building Bridges

Avoiding Walls and Building Bridges

In our experience, putting up walls is easier than building bridges . . .  Just not nearly as helpful.  A while back, Marnie Ginsburg of Reading Simplified called us “bridge builders,” referring to the way our work seeks to connect reading communities that are often...
Commitments to Ourselves and Each Other

Commitments to Ourselves and Each Other

Change can be challenging.Especially when you are shifting long-held beliefs and practices. Sometimes regret gets in our way. Sometimes overwhelm. Sometimes fear.And while it is good to acknowledge and make space to process these feelings, camping out with any one of...