"At Moreland Hills Elementary School something remarkable is taking place," writes district literacy specialist Maren Koepf. "Across the past ten years, teachers and administrators have worked together to produce a learning network supporting our students, our staff, and our parents. . . Much like the once-apprehensive peasants in the tale of Stone Soup, folks have gradually emerged from their isolated 'huts' of offices and classrooms to generate mutual resources, solutions, and innovations. Through joint endeavors, we created a Comprehensive Literacy System." In Synchronizing Success, Maren takes you on a tour of one school's winning strategy for developing an efficient and effective network of literacy support from kindergarten through fifth-grade. Beginning with a practical framework for continuous improvement, Maren presents three guiding principles that underlie the comprehensive system: continuity across practice, instructional language, assessment, etc.; ongoing professional development; and collaborative leadership. She illustrates how applying these guiding principles extends a school's capacity for unity and innovation.The book shows how school leaders can create a comprehensive literacy system, throughout schools and across districts, by aligning change components with a vision for literacy education, and offers tried-and-true processes for developing:job-embedded professional development;common literacy assessments; consistent instructional frameworks;prioritized curricular focus;timely and targeted intervention.Enriched with tools, tips, and planning guides for incrementally managing positive change, Synchronizing Success provides literacy specialists, principals, and staff developers the resources and action steps necessary for designing an integrated literacy system tailor-fit to their school setting.
Author(s): Maren Koepf
Year: 2008
Language: English
Pages: 192
CONTENTS......Page 9
FOREWORD......Page 11
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 14
INTRODUCTION......Page 17
PART I: A PRACTICAL FRAMEWORK FOR CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT......Page 25
CHAPTER 1 UNITING VOICE AND VISION......Page 27
CHAPTER 2 CONTINUITY BY DESIGN......Page 41
CHAPTER 3 CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT......Page 51
CHAPTER 4 COLLABORATIVE LEADERSHIP......Page 61
PART II: SYNCHRONIZING COMPONENTS FOR LITERACY SUCCESS......Page 73
CHAPTER 5 RECLAIMING THE "PROFESSIONAL" IN OUR TEACHING PROFESSION......Page 75
CHAPTER 6 APPLES TO APPLES: THE POWER OF COMMON ASSESSMENTS......Page 91
CHAPTER 7 STANDING ON STRONG SHOULDERS......Page 105
CHAPTER 8 RESPONSE-ABILITY: DEVELOPING A COMMON SYSTEM OF RESPONDING TO LITERACY NEEDS......Page 131
CHAPTER 9 …AND MILES TO GO.........Page 155
APPENDIX A: CORE PROFESSIONAL TEXTS......Page 162
APPENDIX B: FORMS FOR CRITIQUE OF READING AND WRITING ASSESSMENTS......Page 164
APPENDIX C: DESCRIPTION AND REFERENCES FOR SELECTED COMMON ASSESSMENTS......Page 166
APPENDIX D: KEY RESOURCES FOR IMPLEMENTING READING WORKSHOP, WRITING WORKSHOP, AND DEVELOPMENTAL WORD STUDY......Page 168
APPENDIX E: SKILLS/STRATEGIES: A BANK OF CLASSROOM ACCOMMODATIONS......Page 170
APPENDIX F–1 EMERGENT SKILLS/STRATEGIES: A BANK OF CLASSROOM ACCOMMODATIONS......Page 171
APPENDIX F–2 EARLY SKILLS/STRATEGIES: A BANK OF CLASSROOM ACCOMMODATIONS......Page 175
APPENDIX F–3 DEVELOPING SKILLS/STRATEGIES: A BANK OF CLASSROOM ACCOMMODATIONS......Page 180
APPENDIX G: LITERACY RESPONSE PLAN......Page 184
REFERENCES......Page 185
D......Page 188
M......Page 189
Z......Page 190
