A Leader?s Guide to Reading and Writing in a PLC at Work®, Secondary (Establish Effective Reading and Writing Strategies for Students at the High School Level)

Take an active role in achieving and sustaining literacy improvement in your PLC. An essential leadership resource in the Every Teacher Is a Literacy Teacher series, this valuable guide outlines how to drive literacy instruction in a secondary setting. Learn how to support your collaborative teams, gather and analyze data, and ensure students can read and write at or beyond grade level.

This book offers leadership strategies for secondary literacy education that works:

• Understand the challenges of leading literacy and the importance of using those challenges as opportunities for change.
• Launch your journey to become a literacy leader with effective listening, learning, and active engagement.
• Recognize the importance of data to new literacy-focused initiatives, reading instruction, and writing strategies.
• Establish professional development and differentiated instructional strategies for effective literacy instruction across academic disciplines.
• Measure literacy growth and sustain a continual learning environment for all students.

Contents:

• Introduction: The Need for Literacy Instruction
• Chapter 1: Confronting the Challenges of Leading Literacy
• Chapter 2: Starting With Listening, Learning, and Leading With Action
• Chapter 3: Leading With Data
• Chapter4: Leading Professional Learning
• Chapter 5: Leading Instruction
• Chapter 6: Leading Intervention
• Chapter 7: Measuring Growth and Sustainability
• Epilogue
• References and Resources
• Index

Daniel M. Argentar is a literacy coach and communication arts teacher at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois. In his previous work as a sixth-grade teacher, he taught reading, language arts, social studies, and science. Since 2001, he has provided academic literacy support to struggling freshmen and sophomores, in addition to teaching college prep and accelerated English courses. In his coaching role, he partners with instructors from across all content areas to increase disciplinary literacy for students by running book studies, professional development sessions, and one-on-one coaching meetings.

Katherine A. N. Gillies works as a reading specialist and English teacher at Niles North High School in Skokie, Illinois, where she previously served as a literacy coach. Katherine serves as the lead architect of schoolwide literacy improvement work, including building a comprehensive system of intervention and support for struggling readers, as well as crafting research-based curricula to ensure the continued literacy growth for all students. Katherine leads several collaborative teams and cross-curricular initiatives aimed at using data to inform instruction, building capacity for disciplinary literacy, and employing responsible assessment practices in the secondary arena. She has presented on these topics at local and national conferences, including the National Council of Teachers of English.

Maureen M. Rubenstein is a literacy coach and special education instructor at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois. As a teacher, she works on individualized education plans with students who have diagnosed reading, writing, and emotional disabilities. In her coaching role, she partners with instructors from all content areas to work on disciplinary literacy. In addition to coaching individual teachers, she works with other literacy coaches to coordinate and implement book clubs, professional development sessions, and one-on-one coaching sessions.

Brian R. Wise is a literacy coach and English department chair at Deerfield High School in Deerfield, Illinois. As a department chair, he leads the English department by facilitating professional development, supervision and evaluation, curriculum, and instruction. He has taught a wide array of English and literacy intervention courses throughout his teaching career. As a literacy coach for high school, he worked with faculty members from all content areas to build teachers’ capacity for embedding literacy skills into classroom instruction and assessment.

Michelle Garlick is an assistant principal at Woodlawn Middle School for Kildeer Countryside School District 96 in suburban Chicago. She served as a classroom teacher and instructional coach before her current role. During Michelle’s service as a teacher and coach, the school earned distinction as a Model PLC School, was awarded Blue Ribbon Awards of Excellence, and received the 2018 DuFour Award.