Confidently lead early literacy improvement in your professional learning community (PLC). Aligned to the Every Teacher Is a Literacy Teacher series, this results-focused guide outlines how to take urgent action to address deficiencies and increase literacy rates. Learn how to bring a new level of focus to your teacher teams and help them do the important daily work of ensuring every student successfully reads and writes at or beyond grade level. Understand the importance and goals of literacy-focused instruction in an elementary setting. Gain specific suggestions for four types of leaders: (1) district, (2) school, (3) coach, and (4) teacher. Help collaborative teams emphasize literacy knowledge and reading and writing skills in a curriculum's essential standards. Create effective data-inquiry practices that inform team decision-making about interventions and extensions. Facilitate high-quality literacy instruction using the gradual release of responsibility framework. Develop equity in literacy instructional strategies to ensure growth and development for all. Contents: Introduction: Leaders of Literacy Chapter 1: Establish Clarity About Student Learning Expectations Chapter 2: Examine Assessment Options for Literacy Chapter 3: Create a Learning Progression to Guide Instruction and Assessment Chapter 4: Develop Collective Understanding of Learning Expectations Chapter 5: Respond to Student Data to Ensure All Students Learn Chapter 6: Design Lessons Using the Gradual Release of Responsibility Instructional Framework Chapter 7: Plan for High-Quality Instruction in Literacy Chapter 8: Select Appropriate Instructional Strategies Chapter 9: Consider Equity in Literacy Epilogue Appendix A: Reference Points, Templates, and Tools Appendix B: List of Figures and Tables References and Resources Index

"Elementary leaders recognize the urgency to improve literacy rates; however, the real work in leading elementary schools to effective literacy instruction lies in taking action to address deficiencies and obstacles that avert progress. Where do leaders focus their time and attention to ensure students can read and comprehend grade-level content? A Leader's Guide to Reading and Writing in a PLC at Work, Elementary by Kathy Tuchman Glass and Karen Power is the ultimate guide to leading literacy instructional efforts in an elementary setting. How do teams establish clarity about their expectations of students? How do they more effectively design and issue assessments that gather information about what students know and can do? How can leaders help their collaborative teams engage more effectively in collective inquiry around the data they gather and then provide students with effective interventions and extensions that maximize learning? This resource addresses all these questions and more so leaders can better support their teachers and improve students' reading and writing skills to prepare students for their future learning".

"Elementary leaders recognize the urgency to improve literacy rates; however, the real work in leading elementary schools to effective literacy instruction lies in taking action to address deficiencies and obstacles that avert progress. Where do leaders focus their time and attention to ensure students can read and comprehend grade-level content? A Leader's Guide to Reading and Writing in a PLC at Work, Elementary by Kathy Tuchman Glass and Karen Power is the ultimate guide to leading literacy instructional efforts in an elementary setting. How do teams establish clarity about their expectations of students? How do they more effectively design and issue assessments that gather information about what students know and can do? How can leaders help their collaborative teams engage more effectively in collective inquiry around the data they gather and then provide students with effective interventions and extensions that maximize learning? This resource addresses all these questions and more so leaders can better support their teachers and improve students' reading and writing skills to prepare students for their future learning"--

Prepare students to succeed with increasingly sophisticated reading and writing challenges. Designed for teachers of grades 4-5, this resource helps readers address the pivotal shift in learning expectations that occurs during the upper elementary years. Myriad templates, tools, and strategies are included to support collaborative teams as they work to establish a rich and robust plan for quality literacy instruction, assessment, and intervention. Use this resource to inspire fourth- and fifth-graders to excel in reading and writing: Understand the role PLCs and collaborative teams play in literacy development and reading comprehension strategies. Obtain strategies and tools, such as the pre-unit protocol, for unpacking and clarifying literacy standards. Explore adaptable, research-based instructional strategies, and learn how to plan high-quality literacy instruction that boosts student reading and writing skills. Examine the four components of the gradual release model--(1) focused instruction, (2) guided instruction, (3) collaborative learning, and (4) independent learning. Observe how to collaboratively score assessments and conduct effective data inquiry and analysis. Study the powerful impact literacy has on student engagement and inclusivity. Contents: Introduction: Every Teacher Is a Literacy Teacher Chapter 1: Establish Clarity About Student Learning Expectations Chapter 2: Examine Assessment Options for Literacy Chapter 3: Create a Learning Progression to Guide Instruction and Assessment Chapter 4: Develop Collective Understanding of Learning Expectations Chapter 5: Respond to Data to Ensure All Students Learn Chapter 6: Differentiate Instruction With Gradual Release of Responsibility Chapter 7: Plan High-Quality Literacy Instruction Chapter 8: Select Appropriate Instructional Strategies Chapter 9: Consider Equity in Literacy Epilogue Appendix A: List of Figures and Tables Appendix B: Templates and Tools Appendix C: Process for Prioritizing Standards Appendix D: Depth of Knowledge Overview Appendix E: Essential Understandings and Guiding Questions References and Resources Index

Like the first edition, the second edition of Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work helps educators close the knowing-doing gap as they transform their schools into professional learning communities (PLCs).

This all-encompassing anthology delivers clear steps that leaders can take throughout the PLC at Work® process to turn their priority schools around. Every key topic is considered and discussed--from prioritizing time for collaboration to implementing effective coaching to aligning school and district goals. Over the course of thirteen chapters, readers will grow in their role as leaders and gain a clear vision of how to evolve their priority school into a thriving place of learning. ● Discover how to effectively reframe accountability so everyone buys into the collective aspect of student learning. ● Focus on creating and aligning SMART goals--schoolwide, at the collaborative team-level, and at the individual teacher-level. ● Get ideas for extending work for proficient students, which can help boost a school's grade. ● Provide targeted feedback and effectively moderate and liaise within your professional learning communities. ● Implement a strong, collaborative coaching system to support teacher development. Contents: Introduction (Sharon V. Kramer) Chapter 1: Leveraging Shared Leadership in the Priority School (Robin Noble) Chapter 2: Building Collaborative and Passionately Agreed-To SMART Goals (Jack Baldermann) Chapter 3: Leading School-Improvement Work With Intention (Karen Power) Chapter 4: Focusing on Collective Responsibility (Joe Cuddemi) Chapter 5: Taking the First Five Steps in High School Improvement (Tamie Sanders) Chapter 6: Challenging Proficient Students (Michael Roberts) Chapter 7: Giving All Teachers the Coach They Deserve (Michelle Marrillia) Chapter 8: Providing Feedback on the Right Work (Sarah Schuhl) Chapter 9: Monitoring Productivity Instead of Activity (Rebecca Nicolas) Chapter 10: Employing High-Level Strategies From the District Office (Gerry Petersen-Incorvaia) Chapter 11: Aligning the Arrows for Continuous-Improvement Planning With SMART Goals (Kimberly Rodriguez Cano) Chapter 12: Building a Culture (Karen Power) Chapter 13: Ensuring the District Guiding Coalition and School Learning Team Have Impact (Gerry Petersen-Incorvaia)

Provides specific information on how to transform schools into results-oriented professional learning communities, describing the best practices that have been used by schools nationwide.

What makes a powerful and results-driven Professional Learning Community (PLC)? The answer is collaborative work that expands the emphasis on student learning and leverages individual teacher efficacy into collective teacher efficacy. PLC+: Better Decisions and Greater Impact by Design calls for strong and effective PLCs plus—and that plus is YOU. Until now, the PLC movement has been focused almost exclusively on students and what they were or were not learning. But keeping student learning at the forefront requires that we also recognize the vital role that you play in the equation of teaching and learning. This means that PLCs must take on two additional challenges: maximizing your individual expertise, while harnessing the power of the collaborative expertise you can develop with your peers. PLC+ is grounded in four cross-cutting themes—a focus on equity of access and opportunity, high expectations for all students, a commitment to building individual self-efficacy and the collective efficacy of the professional learning community and effective team activation and facilitation to move from discussion to action. The PLC+ framework supports educators in considering five essential questions as they work together to improve student learning: Where are we going? Where are we now? How do we move learning forward? What did we learn today? Who benefited and who did not benefit? The PLC+ framework leads educators to question practices as well as outcomes. It broadens the focus on student learning to encompass educational equity and teaching efficacy, and, in doing so, it leads educators to plan and implement learning communities that maximize individual expertise while harnessing the power of collaborative efficacy.

"In Remaking Literacy: Connecting ELA and Hands-On Making, author Jacie Maslyk transforms literacy teaching and learning by integrating maker education into the classroom. Maker education--an approach to instruction that emphasizes hands-on learning experiences--creates innovative opportunities that shape students into creative thinkers. Maslyk shares practical, research-based strategies for incorporating creativity and design thinking into literary instruction. By reading this book, K-5 educators will learn how to reimagine their classrooms so that students' learning will develop in engaging and visible ways"--

Sharpen your instructional leadership skills and guide your school toward equity and excellence for all. Just think about how great schools could be if every instructional leader exercised their influence to create change—maximizing the efforts of others and mobilizing those efforts to work toward a shared goal. How Leadership Works: A Playbook for Instructional Leaders walks educators through the processes of clarifying, articulating, and actualizing instructional leadership goals with the aim of delivering on the promise of equity and excellence for all. Grounded in Visible Learning® research, the exercises in this easy-to-use playbook illuminate the essential mindframes necessary for effective instructional leadership and prompt veteran, new, and aspiring educators to identify challenges and determine next steps. It includes: Ten essential mindframes for leaders, together with the leadership practices that illustrate each mindframe in action Teaching practices, such as teacher clarity or student engagement in learning, that support teachers in delivering quality instruction, along with tools to document the impact of those practices on learning Strategies for leading learning, including establishing school culture, utilizing feedback, and supporting professional learning communities as a pathway to building collective teacher efficacy. Tools for applying the principles of change, conducting an initiative inventory, and implementing and de-implementing initiatives Exercise-by-exercise, educators and front office staff will deepen their knowledge, frame their priorities and practices, and gain new tools for supporting the instructional focus and initiatives designed to support learning at your school.