Literacy Leaders: You can't name it if you don't know it
Without a synergy between literacy and leadership and a committed, joint effort by teachers and principals, fragile achievement gains do not hold.
- Regie Routman, Read, Write, Lead: Breakthrough Strategies for Schoolwide Literacy Success
In a primary classroom today, I was observing the teacher reading aloud a picture book about penguins. The students were active participants, answering questions about the main character and offering their theories about what might happen next in the story. "Could anyone else share their thinking?" invited the teacher, after affirming one student's response with an objective "Mmm-hmm".
After writing down my observational narrative (instructional walk) of the read-aloud experience, I gave the teacher my notes while commenting publicly about the lesson in front of the student. "Wow, I could tell you all understood the story well. You made predictions about what would happen next, using details from the book." The class then shared that tomorrow they would be reading a nonfiction text about penguins online.
By sharing what I observed with the class, I did more than recognize the teacher for her efforts in being intentional with her read aloud. I also named the strategies - making a prediction, using details for support - as a reinforcement of their thinking. Students heard the point of the lesson from two different adults. My presence was value-added; I didn't distract from the lesson but instead became a part of the learning experience.
My formal educational background is not literacy-rich. While I enjoyed reading as a student, my college studies were more focused on mathematics and middle-level philosophy. When I became an elementary principal, I had limited background knowledge about promising reading and writing practices. Thankfully, I had literacy leaders in my prior school who kindly yet firmly encouraged me to participate in our professional development focused on literacy. My first visits to classrooms were as a learner more than a partner, but eventually I felt competent to engage in the process.
Educators enter the world of leadership from many backgrounds. Some involve reading and writing instruction; some do not. Regardless of our backgrounds, we have an obligation to know literacy through formal and informal professional learning experiences. It's a continuous commitment as new forms of literacy are growing in the information age. Lifelong learning gives me the language to engage in literacy conversations with faculty, an essential trait for sustainable student success.