“I haven’t posted in a while, but there’s a good reason: I just finished my Master’s in Education!”
Books by Nancy Ann Creed
Month: August 2025
A Faded Dream
A Faded Dream
A whisper starts, a quiet hum,
“You’re not enough,” the murmurs come.
A shadow thought, a heavy dread,
Planting doubts inside my head.
I see the world in vibrant gleam,
And feel I’m just a faded dream.
Comparing starts, a bitter art,
Tearing self-worth quite apart.
The moments rise, when strength feels low,
And efforts seem to barely grow.
A voice insists, with mocking tone,
“You stand in this wide world, alone.”
Yet in the quiet, I recall,
The times I rose, despite the fall.
The battles won, the lessons learned,
A inner fire, softly burned.
Perhaps this doubt, a passing cloud,
Not truth declared, nor spoken loud.
A human echo, faint and deep,
While truer strengths, within me sleep.
For “good enough” is not a prize,
But knowing self, with honest eyes.
And even when the shadows loom,
My own bright light can fill the room.
More works by Nancy Ann Creed
Finally
The words were stones I swallowed, one by one,
A silent quarry buried in my chest.
My truth was hidden from the light and sun,
A fragile bird that never left the nest.
I learned the art of nodding, of the smile,
A placid surface on a churning sea.
I’d let the silence linger for a while,
And lose another little piece of me.
But something in the quiet finally broke,
A final weight I couldn’t bear to hold.
A sleeping giant in my spirit woke,
A story far too precious to leave untold.
It wasn’t rage, it wasn’t born of spite,
But a calm knowledge, steady, deep, and true:
I had a right to stand within my light,
And my own voice deserved to travel through.
The first word caught, a tremor in the sound,
Then found its footing, resonant and clear.
I felt my feet sink solid in the ground,
And watched my long-held hesitation disappear.
The thoughts I’d caged for years came rushing out,
Not as a scream, but as a steady rain,
Washing away the fear, the shame, the doubt,
And breaking every link upon the chain.
I spoke of lines you’d crossed with casual ease,
Of feelings discounted and pushed aside.
I didn’t ask, I didn’t say my “please,”
I simply stated what I felt inside.
The air was thick, your face a strange new sight,
As if you’d met a stranger in my place.
And in that moment, bathed in honest light,
I finally owned my story and my space.
The world did not collapse, the sky still held,
But in my soul, a universe had changed.
The stifled narrative was now propelled,
The pieces of myself rearranged.
This voice is mine, though it may sometimes shake,
It’s learning now the music of its song.
And for my own heart’s weary, precious sake,
It’s where my truth belonged and will belong.
More works by Nancy Ann Creed
https://books2read.com/u/bMMWnk
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The Interactive Framework of Literacy Coaching and Guiding Inquiry
“Coaching seems to be the right term to use for this supportive work with teachers, especially if we think about the definition of a coach as an individual who provides guidance and feedback that enables someone else to become more proficient,” Bean and Goatley (2021). Reading Specialists are often asked to coach teachers and other professionals. There are two schools of thought in the realm of Literacy Coaching as presented by Bean and Goatley (2021) and Rodgers & Rodgers, (2007). Bean and Goatley (2021), identifies Interactive Framework for Instruction Coaching whereas Rodgers & Rodgers, (2007) discuss Guiding Inquiry. How do these two approaches compare to each other? In this paper, I will discuss if these two approaches affect my own Teacher Leadership Project.
Bean and Goatley (2021) identify Interactive Framework for Instruction Coaching. This consists of three important components: The coaching model, the context, and the coach. This process relies on many different aspects of each component. How much experience does the coach have, what coaching model is the school using, and in what context is the coaching occurring?
Rodgers & Rodgers (2007), discuss guiding inquiry as a coaching approach. The coaching is based on asking questions or investigation. In this approach, teachers learn how to change and evolve their teaching practices though asking questions and exploring their own skills. According to Rodgers & Rodgers (2007), change cannot be mandated. There are times when certain things are mandated, such as government policies and reforms, but changing how someone teaches needs to come from within.
“In Fullan’s reasoning, simple changes such as using new, updated forms or revising the dates for ongoing monitoring of student progress probably can be mandated without too much trouble, but changes to how and what we teach are much more complex and likely to fall if simply mandated,” Rodgers & Rodgers, (2007). Changes such as these, need to come from within. It is difficult to get seasoned teachers to accept change. This is one of the reasons why Guiding inquiry is used in these cases. When the teachers lead the change and are invested in it, their ideas will have a better chance of being accepted.
In my experience as an English Teacher, the only person who was involved in the coaching aspect was our curriculum specialist. She would observe us teaching 3 times a year. Then then we would meet with her to discuss the areas we performed well and areas we needed to improve on. These 3 observations are required by the State of New Jersey, but an individual teacher could request more observations if they wanted. I did this my first few years of teaching. I knew I needed more help and that I could become a better, more effective, teacher. Sometimes it’s difficult to hear the negative, but we need to be able to put that aside so we can grow as a teacher and reach our students.
The Interactive Framework for Instruction Coaching breaks down how coaching is done. Whereas guided inquiry is a coaching model. There are many other coaching models that schools can choose from. My school uses the guided inquiry method.
Recently at my school we implemented Professional Learning Communities. All teachers are in PLC and each group gets to decide what they want to present. This follows the Guided Inquiry model as the teachers are deciding, asking questions, and researching. The issue I see in this is that some things that need to be addressed are not being addressed because the teachers decide what gets explored. Instead of the teachers coming up with a list of things to discuss, this should be open to everyone who works with students such as classroom aides, personal aides, therapist and Reading Specialist.
References
Bean, R. M., Goatley, V.J. (2021). The Literacy Specialist. Leadership and coaching for the classroom, school, and community. 4th ed (374 pgs) Guildford Press.
Rodgers, A., & Rodgers, E. M. (2007). The Effective Literacy Coach: Using Inquiry to Support Teaching and Learning. Teachers College, Columbia University.
The End
The End
The silent phone, the empty space,
A friendship’s ghost, no warm embrace.
I offered hands, a willing heart,
But you, my friend, just drifted apart.
The blame, the weight, it always fell on me,
To mend the cracks, to try and make you see.
I stretched, I reached, across the growing void,
While your indifference left my spirit destroyed.
No more the chasing, no more the plea,
If you truly cared, you’d come to me.
The effort’s gone, the well is dry,
This chapter’s closed, a final, sad goodbye.
More Works By Nancy Ann Creed
https://books2read.com/u/bMMWnk
