all in

I don't know if this is a post I should or should not share, but idk. I feel compelled to write about it this morning!

Have you ever heard a saying something like, "You're not in a real, true relationship until you had your first fight?" Well, the six literacy coaches and I are now in a real relationship :-)

Now, don't get the wrong idea - no big screaming match or anything, but just a heated debate went on yesterday...

The coaching position was a new one this year in our district. There are six of us and we meet up about every month for various projects and just to connect with one another. We find out how things are going in each of the various buildings. Between the six of us, we have countless degrees, a crazy amount of years of experience, and a National Board Certification. We are all *so passionate* about literacy. We *love* our jobs - with a freakish intensity almost (well, I speak for myself but I know they would all describe it the same way, too!)

Because of all our knowledge, our experiences, and our passion, we get into ongoing debates about things - and many times, we are actually saying the same thing without even realizing it. (Such was the case yesterday.) Our buildings are in various places with our implementation of Reading and Writing Workshop, which also makes things difficult. But, I for one appreciate that there are coaches now to get all our elementary schools on the same page - it's a process so it will take awhile - but we're getting there.

Anyways, it seems silly to bring up our disagreement, but what it did for us is force us to work through our thoughts and come together in the end. I'd say we're in a *real* relationship now, if that line that I mentioned above really is some kind of quote somewhere!

As I was leaving the meeting, I said something like, "I think we need a group hug or something!" They all laughed, but we ended with this picture...

...because at the end of the day, we're all here for one another, and it really is such a great support system we've built. Thank you, D100, for seeing the value in Literacy Coaches, and letting us continue with our work in the 2014-2015 school year!