Week 15 2016 Revisiting your view of yourself as a literacy leader

Each of you have come a long way on your journey to be literacy leaders where ever you are now and in whatever role you take on. I'd like for you to reflect on your growth as a literacy leader from the beginning of the semester.  Revise your self as a literacy leader poster to demonstrate that growth.  When you respond to this blog, embed your link to your poster in the comment.  Also briefly summarize where you think your greatest area of growth has been and why you think that is your greatest area of growth. Please do this by Dec. 4 at 5 pm.
Return to this blog after that time.  Using the links provided you, visit the poster of each of the other class members. What else do you see as their growth? Give one compliment about the poster in general and one compliment about how they have grown.  Please do this by Dec. 9 at midnight.  I'll be visiting as well.
By the time you read this, I'll have been in Kenya and Uganda for about about 3 weeks. In fact, I'll be flying on my way home.I'm looking forward to seeing what you do.

Week 12 2016 Program Improvement 3

We are winding up thinking about program improvement this week and also beginning to think about collaboration and professionalism and what that all entails. How do you differentiate cooperation and collaboration? What role do you think the literacy leader should have in evaluating a whole school literacy program?  How do you define professionalism? What do you think is the role of parents and community in improving the reading program?

WSQ chapter 11 is specifically about evaluation and change in a school program and the role of the literacy specialist.  Chapter 15 discusses principles for integrating New Literacies into literacy instruction.  Chapter 16 discusses the role of parents and community. The L&T book is about collaboration and especially advocacy and professionalism.

As you read, think about how you responded to the questions above and compare you responses to the ones that you read about.  I"m giving you a bit of direction this week for your blog:

On page 163 of WSQ 11is a table that describes the 10 guiding principles that will help a literacy leader support change in a school.  Choose the 2 that either you find the most challenging for your setting or that are most germane to supporting change in your setting. There are self-reflective questions with each one.  Respond to those questions for the 2 principles that you chose.  Reflect on the key ideas about collaboration and professionalism for school improvement.

Have a good week and I"ll see you on Nov. 11 at 3:30 in Rm. 223.

Week 11 2106 Program Improvement 2

 A few reminders about literacy programs to think about before you read the chapters on Program improvement that deal with assessment, incorporating writing, thinking about linguistically diverse learners and Response to Intervention for those who are struggling.

Literacy programs should be a collaboration of the educational community in and around the building. It should be built around common goals and expectations for all children, and be comprehensive so that in addresses all aspects of language and literacy. Program improvement, you all noted, is ongoing across all age levels in your educational institution. It is systemic and not just aimed at a classroom or a teacher. Before thinking about how to improve your program, you need to think about the aspects of a program that you will need to look at to see if or what needs tweaking, adjusting, or transforming. Those aspects include the following: the curriculum (what is taught and learned), instruction (how literacy is taught and learned), assessment (how learning is determined), materials (what is used for teaching and learning, such as books, technology, manipulatives, real life materials, games, etc.), the organization and environment (what happens when with whom, time, grouping, staffing, PD, school and classroom climate), and parent and community involvement in the program.

So think about those topics I mentioned at the beginning of this blog. What do you think the role of a literacy leader for each of the topics?  I look forward to hearing your thoughts now and to reading your discussion on your blog.

Week 9 2016 Professional Development 3

 
This week is also about professional development, but it is a time for you to discuss with your group the program you are developing, and what,if any feedback you have gotten on it.

I have uploaded a video describing the different roles a leader can take on in a PD session/program.  Please view it this week and integrate the roles into the descriptions of your activities in your overall plan. It is in the Planning and Creating PD programs section on D2L.

For your own blog, Talk about where you are in your PD program planning process and in your coaching practice. You might want to solicit input from your group and talk about feedback you have gotten.  You might also want to start talking about which one of the activities on your plan you intend to plan in detail and how that would relate to your grant proposal.

Remember that on Oct. 21 we are meeting at 3:30 for the face to face class.  See you then.

Week 8 2016 .Professional Development 2

Well, I had an interesting time at the State Capitol this week.....I am very thankful for the colleagues I have at OU and around the state. 


This week you will be reading about different types of PD besides workshops as well as how to plan a workshop. These will be useful as you plan your own PD program. Most of us, myself included, see PD as being a workshop with an outside expert telling us about new research or teaching methods.  I do quite a bit of this kind of PD, especially in my international work. But it is really important that literacy leaders know about alternative formats, ones that may address large groups but be more informal or ones that are focused on small groups who are interested in a specific topic.

The formats you will read are  different types of PD aimed at supporting teacher knowledge development. They are article study, pd at faculty meetings, and lesson study. What do you know about each type?  Have you ever participated in one of these formats?

Strategy 7 is about planning powerful PD. I'd read this strategy last after you have read the others. What has made a PD workshop powerful for you?


After you read, think about how these strategies will help you plan your PD program.
When will you get together to give each other feedback on your drafts of program plans, and help each other incorporate the feedback that you got from the faculty and administration?  How can I help you?
 Have a good week!

Week 7 2016 Professional Development 1

Don't forget that your survey results are due into the dropbox by midnight on Saturday, Oct. 1. Remember that I need a summary of what you found.

I'm having an interesting week next week, where I'll be demonstrating my literacy leadership by making a presentation to the Common Education Committee of the Oklahoma State Legislature. I'll be trying to help them understand what the research says about struggling readers and what works for them as well as what we do in preservice and inservice teacher preparation to prepare teachers and reading specialists to work with them.  Wish me luck as I don't think it will be a receptive audience.

As you know, coaching is a type of professional development that can be done with teams or individually.  Most coaching related to improving teaching or learning how to implement a new literacy teaching strategy is done individually. This week we will look at other types of professional development that could occur in small or large groups and what makes effective PD. What do you think are characteristics of effective PD? Tell me what works for you.

First read the chapter in WSQ about professional development. You might want to note the characteristics of effective PD from the research, the different types of PD besides whole group workshops, and suggestions for creating site based PD.  All of these will be important to your PD plan you are doing for your school.  Next read the article.  As you do, think about how this example of sustained PD fits with the WSQ chapter.  You might want to blog about that.  Or you might blog about how do the ideas from the article (one example of sustained PD that effected change) and the chapter will help you think about planning your site based PD plan based on your survey.

Let me know if you would like to set up a meeting to chat with me about assignments or the readings. The next face to face meeting will be on Oct. 21 from 3:30 - 9:00.  Remember that we changed the time on that Friday when Kathryn joined us. Let me know if you have any questions.

Week 6 2016 Coaching and communication

So sorry about my glitch last week in terms of publishing the blog.  I'll not forget this week.  Thanks for  your patience.

A key to being an effective literacy leader and coach is being a effective communicator. We are all teachers that communicate daily with the students that we teach.  What do you do well when you communicate with your students? I like to think that I actively listen to what my students are telling me in class. You all would know how effective I am as you are the students (no, you don't have to tell me :)  ). Before you begin to read, think about these phrases: ethical communication, delivering hard messages, proactive communication, critical communication, collaborative communication. How do you think they are connected and what do they have to do with coaching and with being a literacy leader in general?
I am suggesting that you read the readings in the following order: L&T Chapter 5 is explicitly about communication skills and strategies. When you are done reading, you might jot down your responses to questions 1 and 2 on page 102. Then I"d read EP&L Strategy 1 and complete the form about your own readiness for coaching before completing the one about your school's readiness for coaching. Filling out the form in that chapter might help you as you think about the professional development plan you will soon be planning. Finally, think about how communication skills are important as you read about working to create a shared knowledge base.

Have a good week.  Remember, survey results are due this week.

Week 5 2016 Coaching 2

This week, the readings are detailed discussions about the different aspects of the coaching cycle. They include goal setting, modeling, co-planning, co-teaching, and observing. Remember that although all of them are part of the coaching cycle, each can be done separately when you are coaching (such as creating SMART goals for learning with the person you are coaching) before deciding which other parts of the cycle you need to implement. Before you read, think about the brief descriptions that you read in Strategy 18 this past week. Which of the activities do you think you have a good idea of how to do so it is a strength? Which one are you most interested in reading about and discussing with your group?
You will need to read all of the strategies, and as you do, think about if and how you will implement it with the person you are coaching. Blog about what learned and if you have questions that you would like input from your team. Be sure to let me know if you have questions for me to weigh in on as well.  I'll be reading your responses to my blog on Monday and your blogs on Wednesday and Thursday.

 A couple of reminders: Your Survey results are due at the end of Week 6 (so Saturday, Sept.30).  Please fill out the Virtual Check in form (link here: https://goo.gl/forms/SL1heLwOUwWZIEw73 
You will also need to arrange an online meeting with each other to disucss your results and give each other suggestions for the PD plan.  I posted a couple of examples on D2L. 
Have a good week.

Week 4 2106 Coaching 1

I hope you had a good long weekend and week.The tailgating was quite fun.  There were about 800 people there so a bit of a zoo.  WE all wore name tags with our class year on them, and I must say that many of those people who graduated after I did certainly did look older that me instead of younger!

The purpose of this week is to really begin to think about the coaching cycle and the meaning of coaching.  You are reading an in depth view of the coaching cycle in EP&L, and reading 2 articles on the principles for coaching and how coaching is related to professional development. Do you have an instructional coach at your school?  Have you been coached?  What was that like if you were?
 Think about your own strengths as a potential coach.  What do you think they are?
 I'd suggest reading in this order: guiding principles article,  EP&L strategy, and team coaching.

Blog about how you think the ideas in the readings are related to each other and to our class discussion.  What are the 2 most important ideas about coaching that you learned? How do you think team and individual coaching are similar and different?

Week 3 2016 Supporting the learning of others, introduction to coaching

 As you read this, I am in Texas visiting my 90 year old mother.  She is taking us to a tailgate party before the Texas A&M/UCLA football game. It should be interesting. I am an alum of A&M--my master's degree-- and this party is sponsored by the A&M Foundation for donors (my family has 2 scholarships there, one in memory of my father and one in memory of my older brother). I've never done a tailgate party before so I'll let you all know what this one is like! 

This coming week you will be learning about coaching and how to support the learning of others.  You already began that journey as you read about community building and working for change, including principles of adult learning (which you will revisit this week). So before you begin reading, respond to these questions:  How do YOU define coaching?  What do you think are characteristics of effective coach, the type that would be a supportive coach for you?  How does what you just wrote tie into ways to effect change and principles of adult learning that you read about and blogged about last week?  I"m looking forward to reading what you write.

As you read, think about what the literature says are characteristics of effective coaches and compare it to your own ideas. Then be sure you discuss the key ideas about coaching and being a literacy coach that you read about.  What was most surprising to you? What are your strengths as a coach?

Please do a virtual check in by Friday of next week.  Here is the link: VCI.

Have a good Labor Day Weekend!

Week 2 2016 Building a community of learners

As you read this blog, we have completed our first face to face meeting (and maybe you have visited a session at iPadpaloozaOU in Collings Hall.  What are some take aways from the afternoon?

The readings for this week focus on goals for literacy leaders, principles of adult learning, and elements of supporting change. In this blog, I want you to focus primarily on connecting your own experiences to the ideas about adult learning and supporting change.What do you think should be the goals for an effective literacy leader? What has supported your own change in your teaching practice? What makes an effective learning environment for you?

I'm looking forward to your discussion on your blog in coming weeks.  Let me know if you have questions.

SB