What+We+are+Reading

Emphasizing just three things—identifying teachers' strengths, maximizing their potential, and building their capacity—this book lays out a clear and practical pathway toward higher student achievement. Front-line advice from a principal and an instructional coach helps you increase your faculty’s instructional effectiveness by implementing the principles of strength-based school improvement:
 * Why a partnership among three elements—the building administrator, the instructional coach, and a professional learning community—virtually assures that teacher professional development efforts will be personal, meaningful, and effective
 * How an instructional coach can help teachers move through a Continuum of Self-Reflection directly linked to classroom effectiveness
 * What building administrators can do to inspire, encourage, and activate the potential and output of every single teacher

Jeff Zwiers writes, "Whether performance is measured by large test or informal observations, many students perform poorly because they can't handle the linguistic demands of different disciplines." To learn more about providing explicit and direct vocabulary instruction you may want to read __Building Academic Language__ by Jeff Zwiers. It is co-published by the [|International Reading Association].

[|Checking for Understanding] by Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey is a resource guide for developing oral and written techniques that assess students' depth of knowledge. Jay McTighe, educational author and consultant writes, "Ongoing assessment and adjustment are the key to improved performance." This book provides strategies to accomplish that goal. It is published by the [|Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development].

In [|Differentiated Literacy Coaching] Mary Catherine Moran writes, "The primary goal of literacy coaching is to improve students learning." While the role of a literacy coach is still ambiguous on campuses, this book discusses the value of literacy coaching and gives insight and suggestions for Literacy Coaches to continue to improve their practice. It is published by the [|Association for Supervision and Curricilum Development].