Reading Teachers Lounge

This is the Reading Teachers Lounge where listeners can eavesdrop on professional conversations between elementary reading teachers. We are passionate about literacy and strive to find strategies to reach all learners. Shannon and Mary are neighbors who realized that they were “literacy soul sisters” at a dinner in their Atlanta neighborhood. Once they started chatting about reading they haven’t really stopped. Come join the conversation.

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Reading Teachers Lounge

January 2026 Bonus Episode

Subscriber Episode • January 29, 2026 • Shannon Betts and Mary Saghafi • Season 8

This episode is only available to subscribers.

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This is our 2025-2026 season of bonus episodes of the Reading Teachers Lounge podcast. In this season of exclusive extra episodes, Shannon and Mary welcome reading teachers from the field to join their discussions and share their unique teaching experiences.

In this January 2026 bonus episode, Shannon and Mary chat with MeQuel Bolden, a former elementary teacher and current specialist in Maryland's literacy coaching program. Join us as we delve into MeQuel's journey from teaching kindergarten and fourth grade to becoming a literacy specialist at the Maryland State Department of Education. Discover how her experiences have shaped her understanding of structured literacy and coaching. In the episode, we discuss Maryland's literacy coaching initiatives, the importance of relationship building in education, and the tools & models used to support teachers and literacy coaches. Tune in for valuable insights on effective teaching practices and the transition from balanced literacy to structured literacy.

00:00 Welcome and Introduction
00:33 Guest Background and Experience
01:46 Current Role and Responsibilities
02:51 Maryland's Literacy Coaching Program
06:17 Challenges and Approaches in Coaching
12:36 Advice for Teachers and Coaches
18:47 Path to Structured Literacy
30:27 Final Thoughts and Appreciation

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January 2026 bonus with MeQuel Bolden

Shannon Betts: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Reading Teacher Lounge. These are our exclusive bonus episodes where we are talking to educators that are in the field. And today we have somebody who's related to actually another episode guest that we had on our season. So she'll explain that in a second. But we just love, we just.

So happy to be able to have the chance to talk to you MeQuel Bolden. So thank you for joining us today.

MeQuel Bolden: Thank you so much for the invite. Happy to be here.

Shannon Betts: So tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you working what is the current work you're doing in literacy? How did you get into teaching?

We just kinda wanna hear your backstory.

MeQuel Bolden: Sure. So I live here in the DC area and so I am a former elementary teacher. I taught for over 10 years. I have experience within primary grade levels. I taught kindergarten for a very long time, like six years. I also have experience in [00:01:00] upper elementary. I've taught fourth grade for four years, and I, most of my experiences here in the DC area also taught in Alexandria.

Virginia, which is another inner city close here in Northern Virginia. And I also used to work for DCPS central office at the d DC Reading Clinic, which is how I know Dr. Rogers. And so we worked together at the reading clinic helping to fulfill that mission of training DCPS teachers and structured literacy.

It was a practicum experience and so we were leading professional development with them around the science of reading around structured literacy, but we were also providing them coaching. Within their classes with their students, within their small groups. And that was a great experience and I absolutely loved it.

And I just recently took on a job at the Maryland State Department of Education, and so I am a specialist within their literacy coaching program. And so I work on a leadership team. It's just me, [00:02:00] another specialist and assistant director, and it's our job to help to launch this. State coaching program.

And so it's up to us. We are hiring right now state literacy coaches, which is exciting, and it's our responsibility to help set 'em up for success, such as onboarding and training, introducing them to the tools that we have, the model that we use. And even when they go into their schools, we'll also be doing like site visits, providing them feedback on their feedback providing the professional learning.

And so just making sure that they, that this program is a success for Maryland, that they feel successful having state coaches in their schools. And so I live here with my husband and we have a daughter that is in third grade. And so. It's been a journey, but happy, happy to.

Shannon Betts: Can you give us some background, like, we're in Georgia and Georgia.

Mm-hmm. Hasn't necessarily done any science of reading legislature yet, but they have passed a [00:03:00] dyslexia law and with some requirements around that. So what has Maryland done as a state that then, like, you know. Helped this coaching initiative kinda get started.

MeQuel Bolden: Mm-hmm. So has with this program.

The purpose of this program is to provide coaching within their schools. So they already have some guidance for schools about the importance of teaching their teachers and administrators all about the science reading and about structured literacy. They already have guidance that's ongoing coming out about the importance of high quality materials, high quality curriculum that's aligned to the science of reading.

And the purpose of this coaching is. Just to help the, it's to help. I guess to give full around support, so like building knowledge is important, having access to evidence-based materials are important, but it's also important that they're receiving coaching. It's, it's nice to have somebody in there, [00:04:00] in your classroom to, to get to know you, your personality, to get to know your class, the dynamics that are in your class, and to give you coaching around that.

So I think that teachers really benefit from that. They benefit from the knowledge building, they benefit from the curriculum, but they also benefit from a coach that's there to support them with their class and their unique needs.

Mary Saghafi: Que I think it's so interesting your, your journey through this because I started in kindergarten as well, and so I have this theory that if you can teach kindergarten, well, you can really do anything in this world.

MeQuel Bolden: Hello? Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. It's a, it's a very hard job because you are teaching them not only about. You know how to read and how to write, but also like how to function in school. Like I'm teaching you about lining up, I'm teaching you about being able to about routines and transitions and so yeah, there's, there's so much that you have to teach in kindergarten.

It's, it's a really, a really [00:05:00] hard job, really. tough job.

Mary Saghafi: Yeah, it is. And then I also, I, I. So my background is special education. I started in L ed and then I moved into special education. And so I've also taught all grade levels, including fourth grade. And I think fourth grade is another pivotal time because you know, when kids first come into kindergarten, they have, you know, this base set of skills and then, you know.

You see this whole wide range, and I think that is absolutely true of fourth grade as well. And so I can imagine that your skills as a teacher really translate into this new job because I think the same can be said for a lot of the teachers and some of the training that has been provided to those teachers.

Mm-hmm. So I guess when you're first, you know, like. Coming to a school, what are some, or meeting a teacher or coming to kind of understand what's happening and where their level is. It's probably similar to how you first approach, you know, your students when you first come to class. So, can you just tell us [00:06:00] what, in this new role that you have mm-hmm.

What are some of these kind of challenges that you have? Or what are some of the things that you know, you found to be, you know, easy to address? But may not have been addressed before. Is there anything that you can kind of share with us about that?

MeQuel Bolden: So with this new role, I'm actually coaching the coaches that are gonna come in.

But I do have experience in coaching 'cause that was a big part of my job that I did in DC. But when you are coming into an environment, yeah, it's, it's very similar to teaching. It's all about the same way in teaching. You have to get to know the students that you have in your class. It's the same way when I'm coaching, I have to get to know my teacher.

I have to get to know the dynamics in their class. I have to get to know. The strengths that they're bringing to the table. I have to get to know where are the gaps and, and what can I do to come alongside that teacher and to support them with growing in their teaching abilities and, and having to get them [00:07:00] from, you know, good to grades.

From great to excellent. Okay.

Shannon Betts: Yeah. When I was in getting my master's program, which was honestly just a few years into my career, kind of jumped right into my master's program within the first like three years of my teaching, and I had to take an instructional supervision class. And that one was so fascinating for me.

Learning about like Carl Glickman's, continuum of teacher development and realizing that. Teachers need differentiation just as much as the students do that. Like, oh, I might be further along in, you know, my mini lesson delivery, but not as, you know, far along in communicating with parents. Or I might be further along in classroom management, but not as far along in, you know, record keeping or whatever, you know?

And so that, and, and we're not expected as teachers, you know, and early on in our careers to be. At the excellent level in all of those areas of teaching. Right. Right. Mm-hmm. And that was just really freeing for me. 'cause I think I tried to tackle too much my first two years of teaching. I wanted to get good at everything and so [00:08:00] then I got good at nothing.

MeQuel Bolden: Yeah.

Shannon Betts: And so then when I slowed myself down, I was like, okay, why don't you just get class? Classroom management was the thing I needed to get because I couldn't do anything until my class was under control. Right. And then I started adding other areas in from there. So I thank you for clarifying that too.

We thought you said you're coaching the coaches, okay. Mm-hmm. So I wanna circle back to one something you mentioned in your first answer is that you're coaching the coaches on the tools and the models that y'all have available. Mm-hmm. I would love to hear some more details about what are those tools and models that you have, and then I'd like to hear more than nitty gritty of like, how do you train those coaches into the various scenarios they're gonna get when they, you know, are in front of teachers?

MeQuel Bolden: Yeah. So we already have tools that really. State creative. The, so Maryland State Department already has tools such as like a walkthrough tool. And so we will show them what is our walkthrough tool. And the walkthrough tool is, it's very general. It's very, it's it's focused on, you know, are the evidence-based principles [00:09:00] evident when you go through this walk?

Like, can you tell during this walkthrough that they are you know, their instruction is systematic, it's explicit, it's multisensory, it's, diagnostic. It's really general about do you see those principles, presence when you're going through your walkthrough. We also have things available for them, like a planning tool, like how it's a tool that they can use when they are analyzing the data that they gather from the screening measure data.

It's, they can use this tool when they're going through their walkthrough data. They can use this tool even any other. Observation tool that they may have. So they may have their own like glow and, and grow or any other notes that they have. They can use a planning tool to look through all that data in order for them to decide on what is gonna be the coaching goal for their coaching cycles.

Also to decide what may they need to focus on when it comes to professional learning. Like what could be the topic around that, or even when it comes to maybe tiering their [00:10:00] support. Like who needs more intensive support, who needs more moderate support, who needs more general support? And so it's us showing them these tools and and so it looks like.

We are practicing together. So we are looking at recordings of teachers. We're using a walkthrough tool together as looking at recordings of teachers. We are sharing out, you know, what was your scores? Let's all share our scores. Let's all have some discussions around this. We can norm on walkthrough tools.

It looks like practicing even the planning tools. I'm gonna give you some data. I want you to analyze this data. I want you to, to break it down and tell me. What strengths did you identify from this data? What gaps did you notice and what could be your action plan from there, if this was your particular teacher and their data, and so it looks like that during the training.

And then eventually they'll be in their classes, and so I'll be in their classes to watch them as they are. Coaching, I'll be in there even in like their feedback, their debriefs conversations [00:11:00] to hear, and so I can able to give the Teach the coach some feedback on their feedback or some feedback on their debriefings, even with the teachers.

Shannon Betts: So it sounds like y'all are doing sort of an orientation for the teachers as well, that they know they're gonna end up being coached and that y'all are coming in.

MeQuel Bolden: So that's actually up to the state coach to do that with their teachers. Interesting. Yeah. So yeah. They, they should be doing that Absolutely.

With their teachers that they'll have. Yes.

Shannon Betts: The reason I'm asking is I've had some positive and negative experiences, I'll be honest with mm-hmm. You know, people that have come in from the outside.

MeQuel Bolden: Yeah.

Shannon Betts: And sometimes it's been like a real getcha Gotcha moment. You know and then it's almost become like this fake dog and pony show, like when those coaches are coming in.

Mm-hmm. And I think it's because if I had to analyze it, you know, in hindsight I would say maybe just because there wasn't much done on the front end to establish a relationship where like, okay, got it. This is my coach, you know, and I'm gonna trust them to make mistakes in front of them. Yes. To get good feedback.

MeQuel Bolden: Mm-hmm.

Shannon Betts: So yeah, [00:12:00] I think that that could have been better implemented. Mm-hmm.

MeQuel Bolden: Yeah. Yes, and, and they will receive training on. Like relationship building, they will have time before the coaching cycle starts for them to go in and informally meet their administrators, formally meet their teachers, so they will have time for that.

Relationship building. Relationship building is ongoing and so they're, that's definitely important and something that we will communicate to them and in the system with is ensuring that there is a relationship that's. It's just as important as it is with students and building relationship with students is important that you're building relationships with teachers.

Shannon Betts: Yeah. What would you give advice to past me? I guess when I was really in those uncomfortable situations where I felt this coach was just out to get me. Mm-hmm. Was treating me like an idiot, even though it had 10 years of experience and I mean, I just sort of gritted my teeth and just did whatever I needed to do to like get that year done because I knew that coach was probably gonna move on at some point.

It was like. A school district that [00:13:00] had sort of had a revolving door of initiatives and nothing stood mm-hmm. Stuck for very long. But what would you advise me or another teacher that might be listening that maybe is in sort of not such a positive coaching

MeQuel Bolden: mm-hmm.

Shannon Betts: Situation

MeQuel Bolden: I would encourage you to it's still a hard position to be in.

It's a very hard position to be in. I would encourage you to try to have a conversation with them. I would just to try to have a conversation and maybe express what this is feeling like for you, what your experience is like and express. I guess you just gotta call it out like, like what is really going on?

Shannon Betts: struggled because like, yes, these people in particular, this team mm-hmm. Was not accessible. Mm-hmm. So they would leave like. Glows and grows reports. There were triple copy. Mm-hmm. You know, like the carbon copy with the pink and the yellow and the white copy. Mm-hmm. And

MeQuel Bolden: yeah.

Shannon Betts: We would get one copy on our desk and the other one would go to the administration and the other one would go to the [00:14:00] district.

And that was the only interaction we got. And so we were just terrified of Yes. Any. Grows we might have gotten, because they came only from a sheet of paper, not from a conversation. Mm. You know? Mm-hmm. And they're, and they're also, what was lacking was like the modeling of, okay, if you think I could do this better, like, why don't you humble yourself and come and do it in front of my students.

Yes. And there wasn't any of that either. It was just, yeah, it was, it it, so it felt very punitive because it was Yes. Only verbal.

MeQuel Bolden: Yes. Well, our teachers will, I'm sorry you went through that, but our teachers will, will definitely have a different experience because they are there more often. They are not just there for observations like that is their, they report to the schools, just like the teachers report to the schools.

So they'll be there. They'll be there more often than what it sounds like they were there for you, not just for observations. They will also be there for their collaborative planning times. They will also be there for one-to-one debriefs. [00:15:00] They'll be there for one-to-one feedback sessions with the teachers.

It's also within this cycle that they have time to do, like co-planning together. They have time to practice a lesson together. So that's also embedded within the cycle. So it's not just a cycle of go and observe and give. Feedback. It is a cycle of definitely relationship building of let's create a goal together that we're gonna work on.

Let's do some co-planning together. Let's try this lesson together together before you try it in store in front of the students. Now let me come in and see what lesson, so it's not a get like, you know, what lesson they're gonna be there for, you know, what day, you know, what time. And then there is a one-to-one debrief time and feedback time for you as well with the, with the coach.

And they're there. At your site every day as well.

Mary Saghafi: That's so hopeful because I think that that one, it's good leadership. Teaching and training and, and the whole process is really just what good leaders do, right. Their communication [00:16:00] is open. You should have this ability to ask and feel safe to ask questions, which was not the case in Shannon's, you know, experience.

Right, right. So I guess, you know, I think we also have a lot of ambitious teachers who listen to our podcast, which I love. Mm-hmm. If anybody was hoping to become a coach, what would be some of the attributes that you would be looking for in,

Shannon Betts: I literally wrote that down as the next question, Mary.

We're on board. Yes. What are the look fors if you said you're interviewing right now? Yeah. For, for coaches. What, what is it that you're looking for? Because I bet a lot of our teachers are wanting to, you know, get they're burnout at some point and wanna move into a new challenge. Yeah.

MeQuel Bolden: Yes. So if they're ready to look to go into coaching, I would definitely encourage them to go into coaching within their school district or whatever district will hire in coaching.

When I am hiring for state coaches, we are looking for someone that already has coaching experience. So they're already an [00:17:00] instructional coach, they're already doing coaching which is different than maybe if I was. School base and looking for instructional coach. And so if you are already in the classroom, I would encourage you to look for instructional coaching position.

But when we're hiring state coaches, we're looking for those who already have coaching experience, who are knowledgeable about the science of reading, structured literacy, and who. Understand, like how to work with humans. Like understand the importance of like relationship building, understand the importance of you are not the king or queen like you are coming in as support staff.

You are coming in to come alongside to partner with these teachers. And so we're looking for that to, to come across in our interviews that you have coaching experience. You are knowledgeable of our evidence base and also that you understand. Working with adults, what that looks like. You understand empathy, like you understand Yeah.

Shannon Betts: An air of humility and empathy to be like, I've been there with the teachers. I'm not the know-it-all. I'm not the expert. I'm there to support. [00:18:00] Yes. Yes. I like that. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Typically what I've seen is that you know, a, a teacher will be in the classroom and then they'll end up becoming grade chair, and then they'll just, you know, be a standout grade chair for a couple years and also be a leader at that grade level, especially with some of the best data.

Mm-hmm. And then they might move to a school based position like a. You know, an intervention teacher or something like that, or E-E-S-O-L or something, and then maybe into school-based coaching from there. That's just sort of the path I've seen at the schools I've worked at. Okay. Mm-hmm. I haven't seen many people be able to like bypass a couple of those steps, but I bet there are some standout teachers, especially ones that may have done some extra, you know, letters, training and things like that.

That mm-hmm. You know, that maybe they can, skip a few steps if they show a standout leader, mm-hmm. In structured literacy. I wanna know too, like, how did you get into structured literacy when you were teaching kindergarten and fourth grade? Were you already doing those practices or did you mm-hmm.

Did you get trained in college or did you learn them on your own?

MeQuel Bolden: Oh, no. So when I was teaching, [00:19:00]

Shannon Betts: I see in kindergarten.

MeQuel Bolden: When I was teaching all those 10 plus years of teaching, I was definitely the balanced literacy queen. So no, I was not implementing structured literacy. I definitely had a concern. I do remember in kindergarten teaching balanced literacy, like teaching things like you know, looking at the pictures, making the first sound.

And I do remember having a concern because my kids could. Kind of read the level books, but they really could not read a book from our, from like a classroom library. Like they really couldn't read an authentic text. And so there was a concern and I thought maybe later the light bulb goes off. And so I really didn't learn much about.

Structured literacy and science reading until I started working at the reading clinic in DC and so I learned on the job alongside with the teachers that I had a support, which is also a challenge being in leadership. You're learning about structured literacy, you're also the leader. And so that is, can be challenging, [00:20:00] but that's when I learned a lot about the the evidence-based.

That's where I gotta see it in action. 'cause we also provide tutoring after school where I worked at. And so to be able to see these striving readers make such tremendous growth from us implementing these evidence-based practices. And so that's where I really learned a lot about structured literacy.

From the job. Mm-hmm.

Mary Saghafi: Yeah. I know also you had shared with us too that that leap from kindergarten to fourth grade was kind of a unique perspective. Can you talk a little bit about you know, that that giant leap that you took and when you do to make a move and education, you know, kind of what are some pain points?

What are some mm-hmm. Wonderful things about it.

MeQuel Bolden: What, what do you think? Yeah, so I, I loved teaching fourth grade. It was great. Like I really, I don't think people say anymore, but I used to want to be a a principal and back in the day they used to say, if you wanna be a principal, you gotta have experience in, in primary and upper.

And so that's really why I [00:21:00] pursued upper elementary. But I really had a great experience. And so with fourth grade I thought it was great because I was like, oh my God, you guys know how to like tie your shoes. You guys know how to like read and you know how to write and I just gotta help you just become a better reader and a better writer.

I was. Like, oh my God, you can go to the, to the restroom. You can come back. I was like, you wash your hands. Yes. I was so excited to be in fourth grade. And so that was so exciting to work with kids that already came with, you know, readers and writers, and it doesn't, and sometimes it happens in kindergarten, but definitely in fourth grade.

I was like, okay, this is nice. This is nice. I'm teaching you how to write a essay, not necessarily how to write a sentence. I'm teaching you how to write the, you know, read these novels, which was great. And so the challenge was just, I think for me, there was a couple of weeks, the first weeks of fourth grade trying to figure out the difference between primary and upper, as in like things like, in kindergarten, we have brain [00:22:00] breaks and I'm like turning on gold noodle. But in fourth grade they don't do that. But, but they do need like breaks. They do need transitions. Like I had to figure out what it's the flow of the day. Yes. Like what does it look like in fourth grade then in kindergarten? 'cause we not doing Popsiko.

Popsiko. Oh my gosh, my gosh. I have not heard that song in a long time.

Mary Saghafi: Oh, my kids loved that one.

MeQuel Bolden: I know. I love that one too. That's so funny. Yeah. But in fourth grade they still need brain breaks, but just looks a little different. So maybe their brain break is we're, we're transitioning on to something else, and so we're just like constant small chunks of transitions throughout the day, throughout my block.

And so, yeah.

Shannon Betts: Did you have to use any of that? Kind of kindergarten. I know you were at balanced literacy at that point, so you weren't like super into phonics, but mm-hmm. Did you have to use some of those early literacy?

MeQuel Bolden: I did I things for some lower readers.

Shannon Betts: In your class?

MeQuel Bolden: Yes. Yes, definitely for the lower readers and lower [00:23:00] writers.

But, so it looked like I knew how to differentiate, especially if they came below, far, below level, like I knew. What was like an expectation, like a reasonable expectation for them when they came so low. And so that's what it looked like. So definitely like when it came to writing, 'cause I had to teach writing of, okay.

Like you don't have to necessarily do a five paragraph essay, but you are going to write and maybe it looks like you are writing a paragraph. Or maybe it looks like it may look a different, a little bit different, but, so I knew how to do, how to put in scaffolds

setence stems and word

Shannon Betts: banks and whatnot.

Yeah.

MeQuel Bolden: Yes,

Mary Saghafi: yes.

MeQuel Bolden: Mm-hmm.

Mary Saghafi: Well, I, I am a little bit curious too about you know, what are some of these things that you, you want to see happening when you are going into the classroom for coaching? So, is there any like standout situations that you, you [00:24:00] say, oh wow, this teacher is really doing something great. Let me recommend this to my coaches.

I think those little tidbits really go a long way. So if you have any like insights or things that are big glows that you would like to share, I think our listeners really appreciate that.

MeQuel Bolden: So I can always tell when a teacher is knowledgeable of the evidence-based or not, and it's really important that you understand the science of reading.

You understand our evidence-based and that's always very evidence 'cause a lot of schools have. Invested in curriculum, which is helpful, but that doesn't mean that you that they don't need to learn anymore about their evidence-based. Like it's, it's really important that they are growing in their knowledge.

And so I can definitely tell when they understand our evidence-based because they are able to tailor the curriculum to best meet the students in their class. And so the curriculum doesn't know your students, so they're giving you some general guidance and it's [00:25:00] really up to you as the expert in the room to be able to tailor it to truly work for the students in the class.

And so you understand what to prioritize, you understand how to put scaffolds in place. And so that's what I can notice and of course, it's always important for me to, to tell that you have a great relationship with your students. It feels good, it feels warm, it feels welcoming in your class. Like those things are important that you understand are evidence-based, and you understand how to tailor the cur curriculum or tailor your lessons to get the, to get the most out of your students.

Like it's still challenging, but it's also going to give them the, instruction that they need. It's explicit, it's systematic, it's multisensory like it's diagnostic. I know that you're using, you keeping your students' data in mind as you are working with your students. Those are things that I'm looking for.

Shannon Betts: I love that you say that because what you're saying is like, what's the, the personalization that a [00:26:00] teacher brings to the classroom? You know, even in this age of AI and everything that can't be automated, right? Like I don't think we're ever gonna be replaced by robots because we need to have that emotional relationship to be able to inspire the kids to.

Wanna work for us and feel safe for enough to make mistakes in front of us. Yes. And then also we need to have that very high level human skill to be able to synthesize all those different resources in the curriculum mm-hmm. And weave them together in a cohesive way that makes sense with the data mm-hmm.

That we're given with the unique group of students we have each year. Mm-hmm. And all of that is a human element. And it, it, it's a sort of, it's, it's, it's probably hard. I would like, I'm actually gonna hopefully link to the walkthrough tool. That you mentioned. I hope it's available on the Maryland website or if you can send it to me.

'cause I wanna know, like even how do you like, describe those things because sometimes they're unique to each teacher too. Mm-hmm. But how do you sort of like systematize, you know, those [00:27:00] good creative aspects that teachers, you know, put into their instruction to sort of rri not rise above the rest, but just show that they are, I don't know the, the, I would say that the most artistic of their craft. Yeah.

Mary Saghafi: Yeah. They're standout because they know their kids. But I think also and you know, I know that we talk about this early on in teacher training, but. You strive to all of these attributes, but you also have to be true to yourself.

And because you are the leader in your classroom, you can't just fake it. Like you actually, your authentic self also has to kind of shine through and students really appreciate that. So yeah, I would be curious to see, you know, what are, can we. Can we systematize it? What is a great teacher? What does it look like?

Mm-hmm. And I think including that creativity piece is really important too.

MeQuel Bolden: Mm-hmm. I, I have, I say with, go ahead please. Okay. Yeah. So with the walkthrough [00:28:00] tool. It's going to be mainly focused on, okay, is instruction systematic? Is it explicit? Is it multisensory? Is it diagnostic? But as a coach, you wanna take your own informal notes about the teacher as well, about things like, is the teacher nice to the students?

Like, like you wanna take those informal notes. Just like as a teacher, you take informal notes about your. Students like you have to give them unit assessments. You have to give them the screening measures, the diagnostic assessments, but you're also taking your informal notes about the students, what they like, who has pets at homes, like, just like you're taking those informal notes about your students, even coaches take those informal notes about the teachers so they can have it as well as a guide when they're supporting a coach, a teacher as well.

Mary Saghafi: Yeah, I, I have another question too, and I'm, I'm curious, I know that you haven't been in this position for very long, but what are some of the things that your new coaches are coming to you who, you know, asking for [00:29:00] more help and support with on, on the coaching end? Is it, you know, supporting teachers who have a lot of, you know, students with accommodations?

Is it students who you know, are within the RTI or the MTSS process and they need to give these. Interventions and it's time management. Like what are some of the things that that you're hearing are big struggles right now?

MeQuel Bolden: Right now, not much. It's just starting, so right now it's just about getting them hired right now is, is trying to get them hired right now. But when I was coaching in DC what I would hear often was we were making this transition from level books and small groups to decodable. So the question was around like, what does this look like?

Mary Saghafi: Mm-hmm. Like,

MeQuel Bolden: what do you want me to do?

You don't want me to do this now you want me to, like, what do you want me to do now? And so a lot of the coaching was around like, what does small group look like when the focus on developing decoding? Decoding skills and you want us to use a decodable and you're telling us don't use a level text. And so that's what what our work was [00:30:00] around, about.

What is, how would you structure your time, how do you decide on the decodable what is the scope and sequence? It was like educating them on, on those type of things.

Shannon Betts: Just transitioning to that science of reading. Yes. Ma structured literacy, sort of bank of best practices as they left sort of the balanced literacy area.

Yeah. Yes, yes, yes. Yes. Is there anything else you wanna share with us in our audience while we have you here?

MeQuel Bolden: Oh, I just wanna say thank you so much for all you do teaching. It's not an easy job, but I really do appreciate all that you do and that you are, you are so important, baby. You are the main character, okay?

It is not these curriculum, it is the teachers. You are the experts. And so I really appreciate everything that you do in your classrooms with your students. And yeah, I just wanna share my appreciation 'cause it's not easy out here at all, any streets. Okay. [00:31:00] Amen. Amen.

Shannon Betts: We'll link to all the resources that you mentioned in the show notes and Okay.

We just really appreciate you joining us, the Reading Teachers Lounge.

Mary Saghafi: Thank you so much. It was lovely to meet you and I appreciate all that you shared today. Nice meeting you guys too.

Shannon Betts: Thank you.