Written by Julie Wright & Barry Hoonan

HOW WE GOT INTO PROFESSIONAL CAHOOTS WITH ONE ANOTHER

We’ve had the pleasure of knowing and working with one another for the past seven years. We met at a school in Harlem, Julie as an Instructional Coach and Barry as a Model Classroom Teacher and Instructional Coach. Our work continued well past that experience. With Barry out west and Julie on the east coast, we’ve spent the majority of our years working across 3000 miles. Highlights include Sunday morning co-planning sessions and co-authoring What Are You Grouping For?, Grades 3-8: How to Guide Small Groups Based on Readers -- Not the Book. We’ve always enjoyed being THINKING PARTNERS and we believe educators need someone to think beside now, more than ever.

A DISCLAIMER OF SORTS

As we navigate and co-plan learning during the weeks ahead, here are a few shared agreements:

We are not going to edit these videos which means it might be clunky at times. You might get a barking dog, tech glitches, or family interruptions. We know you’ll be able to relate and hope you’ll be understanding.
The ideas we share are NOT “the way” or “the right way” -- they are just one way to approach things. And, we are figuring it out as we go along too. We hope you’ll take the big ideas we are discussing and — adopt, adapt or improve upon them — making them fit your settings, interests and needs.
We suggest focusing on process -- our work will continue to unfold between video segments. That’s why if you pop back into our shared document links, you’ll notice changes because we’ll be adding ideas. That’s because responsive plans evolve across the days and weeks.

HERE’S WHAT WE ARE UP TO

Kids have been learning from home for several weeks now. Barry and Julie have a co-planning routine and they “meet” about 2 times each week.
Barry’s students have settled into a learning from home routine, sort of. Each week brings about new celebrations and new challenges.
We are co-planning a mini-writing unit focused on Greek mythology. Kiddos spent the last 2 weeks reading Greek myths. This writing mini-unit isn’t about research, it’s about narrative writing with a twist of Greek mythology.

VIDEO

If you are interested in watching a coach and teacher co-plan — working as THINKING PARTNERS in response to the unique times we are currently experiencing — check out this video.

BARRY’S REFLECTIONS

I’m thinking about what’s going to be on the Menu of Options for kids [end products].
What am I going to model? Do I screencast or video?

JULIE’S REFLECTIONS

How will Barry create small, flexible writing groups in this distance learning mini-unit? How will it be similar and different to the ways we create groups when face-to-face?
Should I look for a few models to send to him in case he needs them or is that just more noise for him to sift and sort through? Ask him what he thinks/needs.
We had trouble sticking to the time we said we’d use to co-plan. So that we prioritize self-care, I’m continuing to think about this for next time.

WANT TO SUBMIT A QUESTION or CONNECT WITH US?

If something we’ve shared inspires new ideas or ignites some questions, reach out to us using THIS FORM and we’ll do our best to get back to you!

Co-Planning: Mini-Writing Unit [PART 1]