Literacy Look-Fors (The Classroom Strategy): An Observation Protocol to Guide K-6 Classroom Walkthroughs

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1935542184 ISBN 13: 9781935542186

Publisher: Solution Tree, 2011

With all of the reform models, research-based programs, leadership training, and professional development focused on reading and writing, we certainly know more about literacy today than we ever have before. So why are schools still suffering with low literacy levels? The answer lies in ineffective and unbalanced literacy instruction.

Through the unique seven-step process outlined in Literacy Look-Fors, administrators and literacy leaders will gain a solid understanding of how to assess and build instructional capacity, overcome roadblocks, develop professional growth opportunities, and create a balanced literacy program. Learn how to identify the look-fors that provide evidence of effective literacy instruction, and bring all students to grade level or well above.

Benefits

* Provides a step-by-step process for conducting walkthroughs and effectively implementing the literacy look-fors

* Divides the 60 look-fors into five categories, each containing a literacy look-fors observation protocol, a set of citations showing how various look-fors impact student learning, and a set of exemplars and nonexemplars to ensure understanding

* Helps the reader customize an orientation program to introduce the faculty to the look-fors and walkthroughs

* Offers a Q&A section that answers the questions most often asked by principals before, during, and after the implementation of the walkthrough model

About the Author:

Elaine K. McEwan-Adkins, EdD, is a partner and educational consultant with the McEwan-Adkins Group, offering professional development in literacy and school leadership. A former teacher, librarian, principal, and assistant superintendent for instruction in several suburban Chicago school districts, Dr. McEwan-Adkins was honored by the Illinois Principals Association as an outstanding instructional leader, by the Illinois State Board of Education with an Award of Excellence in the Those Who Excel Program, and by the National Association of Elementary School Principals as the 1991 National Distinguished Principal from Illinois.

Dr. McEwan-Adkins is the author of more than 35 books for parents and educators. Her most recent titles include 40 Reading Intervention Strategies for K 6 Students: Research-Based Support for RTI, Teach Them All to Read, and Ten Traits of Highly Effective Schools.

She received an undergraduate degree in education from Wheaton College and a master s degree in library science and a doctorate in educational administration from Northern Illinois University.

Review:

Literacy Look Fors is the power tool every principal and instructional leader has been seeking to make a significant impact on literacy! This user-friendly guide facilitates the implementation of literacy classroom walkthroughs in a step-by-step process, and supports instructional leaders with the knowledge and skills they need to simultaneously assess and build instructional capacity within a school setting. Once again, Elaine McEwan-Adkins is making an impact on literacy, which is the heart of learning and achievement for every child! --Josie Floyd, elementary principal, Sutherland Public School, Sutherland, Nebraska

We have so much research and knowledge now regarding best practices in reading instruction that teachers, principals, and coaches often feel overwhelmed by implementation. Elaine's Literacy Look Fors provides a structure for implementing and monitoring best practices in every classroom. Teachers, coaches, and principals will appreciate the guidance and the systematic approach laid out in this book. --Jennifer Sandberg, curriculum coordinator, Sutherland Public School, Sutherland, Nebraska

Educators can provide the literacy instruction when they understand the strategies that are researched based. Literacy Look Fors provides a step-by-step process to build instructional capacity for grade level achievement. I can't wait to use this process in our school! --Nancy Moga, principal, Callaghan Elementary School, Covington, Virginia

We have so much research and knowledge now regarding best practices in reading instruction that teachers, principals, and coaches often feel overwhelmed by implementation. Elaine's Literacy Look Fors provides a structure for implementing and monitoring best practices in every classroom. Teachers, coaches, and principals will appreciate the guidance and the systematic approach laid out in this book. --Jennifer Sandberg, curriculum coordinator, Sutherland Public School, Sutherland, Nebraska

Educators can provide the literacy instruction when they understand the strategies that are researched based. Literacy Look Fors provides a step-by-step process to build instructional capacity for grade level achievement. I can't wait to use this process in our school! --Nancy Moga, principal, Callaghan Elementary School, Covington, Virginia