Becoming a Literacy Leader: Supporting Learning and Change - Softcover

Allen, Jennifer

Softcover

ISBN 10: 162531096X ISBN 13: 9781625310965

Publisher: Routledge, 2016

Synopsis

The first edition of Becoming a Literacy Leader chronicled Jennifer’s work as she moved to a new school and a new job as a literacy specialist and found herself tackling everything from teacher study groups to state-mandated assessment plans.
The new edition of her book is a thoughtful, reflective evolution of her work as she rethinks how her identity and role as a literacy leader have evolved in the ten years since she wrote the first edition. She focuses on three ideas to describe her work: the concept of layered leadership, shared experiences in making meaning together, and the importance of rowing in the same direction as a school community.
Jennifer firmly believes that teachers know what they need when it comes to professional development, and she describes the layers of support that coaches can implement within a school, including in-class support, curriculum support and assessment, study group facilitation, and the cultivation of teacher leadership. She provides an explicit framework for implementing these layers of coaching and explains how administrators can use the literacy leader position to build and sustain change within their schools.
Literacy leaders and coaches can use this book as a road map for how to approach their work with purpose and intention. Online videos that accompany the book bring the text alive by showing readers what coaching looks and sounds like.
 

About this title

About the Author:

Jennifer Allen is a literacy specialist in Waterville, Maine. She has worked in education for the last 25 years.  Jennifer started as a classroom teacher in the primary grades and has been working in this position as a literacy/specialist coach for the last 16 years.

Jennifer received her undergraduate degree from the University of Vermont in 1991.  Once she landed a job in the classroom she pursued a graduate degree at the University of Maine in the area of literacy which was completed in 1996.

In 2000 Jennifer left the classroom and started her journey as a literacy leader.  Jennifer understands that coaches wear many hats and no one job description looks the same. Jen embraces a layered coaching framework in thinking about the various ways that coaches can support literacy and learning within a school.

Jennifer believes in teachers and believes that teachers know best what they need for support and professional development.  She believes that literacy leadership should be responsive to the needs of a school community. She works to inspire and energize teachers while keeping students and their learning at the heart of her work. She believes in the importance of making meaning together and is always looking for opportunities to bring teachers and administrators together to the table for learning.

Designing Professional development that meets the needs of teachers is a passion. She works to create experiences that meet the needs of teachers whether they are voluntary or mandatory always working towards meaningful engagement and beyond compliance.  The ultimate goal of professional development is to refine instructional practices that increase student achievement.

Jennifer’s work reaches beyond the walls of classrooms. Using her layered coaching framework as her guide, she works with administrators to ensure that the coaching layers implemented within the schools are aligned to school and district initiatives. She believes that the role of the coach is one that can build capacity within the school and is an integral role in sustaining and maintain change initiatives.

Jennifer lives in Winthrop, Maine. When she is not working she can be found jogging, biking or hiking.  She also loves to relax digging in the garden and cooking in the kitchen.

Review:

Jennifer Allen's second edition of Becoming a Literacy Leader (9781625310965, $33.33) covers the author's work as she moved to a new school and position as a literacy specialist, and examines what it means to assume such a role in supporting learning and change. While the first edition of this book detailed her work and move, this latest continues the process of evaluating her newfound role as a literacy guide, adding more information gleaned from the ten years since her first discussion and surveying the basics of how she applied her job to the school community. The result is more than just an update of events, but a re-assessment gained from further experiences in the blossoming school system and new position, and is a highly recommended reference for any teacher considering the role of a literacy leader.
Midwest Book Review, Bookwatch, November 2016
Education Shelf
 

The second updated edition of Becoming a Literacy Leader: Supporting Learning and Change provides a revised new edition of her basic work, which detailed the author's move to a new school and job as a literacy specialist which required she put the most basic of teaching environments into place. This revision ten years later reflects new developments in the field of literacy teaching and new ideas she has designed as her profession evolved, and shares with other teachers the basics of both professional development and the process of building a student literacy framework. Chapters include discussion questions of literacy meetings, consider the key components of such processes as literacy intervention rooms, and assess progress and programs with a two-year track record and how data indicates the reading and writing development process. The result goes far beyond the first edition, making this a winner for aspiring literacy teachers who want field-tested assessments of what works and the challenges involved in shaping effective literacy programs.
Midwest Book Review
 

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 162531096X
• ISBN 13: 9781625310965
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 238