Kristen Borge ELEM 6550 Assignment 6: Teacher Leadership Growth Plan

Teacher Leadership Growth Plan Focus for Growth For my focus for growth, I selected Sub-Standard 1b: Teachers demonstrate leadership in the learning environment. Specifically, I am concentrating on the rubric criteria Collaborates with colleagues to improve the quality of learning in the learning environment. Rationale I chose this specific sub-standard because I believe it is an area I can immediately improve. The process of obtaining my Masters degree in Reading Education has made me a better teacher, and I believe I can use my knowledge to enhance the quality of learning at my school by sharing what I am learning with my colleagues. This past year, I participated in my Professional Learning Team and I attended department meetings, but I would now like to take on a more active role in leading and collaborating. Goal The purpose of my Teacher Leadership Growth Plan is to provide me with the direction I would like to take in order to go from being a developing teacher leader to a distinguished one. I see problems with my schools current reading initiative, and I would like to help resolve some of those issues by sharing my concerns with my colleagues and teaching them guidelines they can use in their classrooms to make the most of our Drop Everything and Read (DEAR) time. Objectives With my Teacher Leadership Growth Plan, I will demonstrate that I can be a teacher leader by planning and implementing a professional development session for my colleagues to be presented at one of the Language Arts department meetings. Furthermore, I will collaborate with fellow Language Arts teachers to improve the quality of learning during DEAR time in our classrooms. After an evaluation of the effectiveness of the program in our classrooms, we can collaborate to present our findings to the rest of the school. Action Plan The first step to accomplishing my objectives for my Teacher Leadership Growth Plan is to research principles teachers can implement to maximize the quality of independent reading during DEAR time. The next step would be to plan a professional development session that could be presented during a department reading to teach these guidelines to Language Arts teachers at my school. A final step would be to work with teachers in their classrooms to implement strategies. This could include modeling using an effective DEAR strategy with a student as well as periodically observing how DEAR time is used and offering feedback. Lastly, following an evaluation in which we assess how well the DEAR guidelines worked in our classrooms, the Language Arts department could present findings to the rest of the school during

a staff meeting in the spring and offer training or resources for other teachers struggling with student participation in DEAR. Timeline. The first steps of my Teacher Leadership Growth Plan, research and planning, will be completed July, 2012. The professional development session for Language Arts teachers should be accomplished early in the next school year, at latest, by the October department meeting. The implementation step of working with Language Arts teachers to use independent reading strategies would be an ongoing process to be done throughout the last three quarters of the 2012-2013 school year. An evaluation of the effectiveness of the independent reading strategies should be completed at the last department meeting in May. A presentation for the staff by the Language Arts department could be completed at the last staff meeting in June or the first one in August and additional training or resources offered early in fall of the 2013-2014 school year. Increasing the Efficacy of Drop Everything and Read The school-wide reading initiative currently in place at Martin Middle School is Drop Everything and Read, or DEAR. The purpose of DEAR is to provide time every day for students to independently read self-selected texts. According to Lee (2011), Reading engagement increases when students are given opportunities to choose reading materials (p. 210). Additionally, using instructional time for independent reading offers students opportunities to practice reading strategies, develop fluency, and build lifelong reading habits (Rog, 2003, p. 12). However, critics of DEAR maintain that research does not confirm whether sustained silent reading (SSR) improves reading achievement without guidance or feedback from teachers (Armbruster, Lehr, & Osborn, 2001). Adam, an eighth grade student at Martin Middle School, admitted that he often pretends to read and spaces out for the duration of DEAR time (personal communication, June 5, 2012). In my classroom, I have observed students also use DEAR time to write notes, complete homework, and in one instance, sleep behind an open book. Consequently, I have learned teachers should utilize a few guiding principles to maximize learning during DEAR time.

According to Pilgreen, there are eight factors for success in a sustained silent reading program: (1) access, (2) appeal, (3) conducive environment, (4) encouragement, (5) staff training, (6) nonaccountability, (7) follow-up activities, and (8) distributed time to read (as cited in Lee, 2011, p. 211). The distributed time frame for Drop Everything and Read at Martin Middle School is 10-20 minutes before or after lunch for every class. An environment conducive for DEAR is typically thought to be completely silent, so as not to distract from reading. However, talking and asking questions about text demonstrates engagement and is a natural part of the reading process (Lee, 2011, p. 212). Therefore, teaching students to engage in quiet, purposeful talk about the books they are reading can be a strategy used to increase participation in DEAR time. Appeal and access both deal with the type of reading materials provided for students. A classroom library should consist of a wide array of high-interest texts at every reading level (Lee, 2011). Harvey and Goudvis (2007) recommend taking advantage of the school and public libraries and adding grant writer to your list of job titles in order to ensure an ample supply of a variety of reading material (p. 37). Lee (2011) states that a crucial part of a successful DEAR program is breaking down any barriers keeping readers from text, including, the teachers definition of what should count for SSR (p. 213). This could involve encouraging students to discover reading material about what interests them. Interest inventories are one way a teacher can learn what subjects will appeal to students and help them select a book to read (Harvey & Goudvis, 2007). One component of DEAR that many teachers have difficulty embracing is nonaccountability. Pilgreen asserts that effective DEAR programs omit any activity that gives students the message that they are responsible for completing a task, comprehending a particular

portion of their reading, or showing that they have made improvement in some way (as cited in Lee, 2011, p. 214). Rather than requiring students to write a book report, complete study guides, or take a quiz, alternative assessments or follow-up activities should be encouraged (Lee, 2011, p. 214). A follow-up activity can include logging text read and text abandoned, sharing a book talk, engaging in small-group discussions, or looking up books by the same author. As often as possible, follow-up activities should be chosen by the student and reflect authentic reading practices (Lee, 2011). Finally, teachers need to act as reading mentors for students in order for a Drop Everything and Read program to be successful. Providing guidance and feedback is critical, and while the main purpose of SSR is for students to enjoy reading, this does not mean that the teacher does not help with difficult parts of their text or answer questions about vocabulary (Lee, 2011, p. 217). Teachers should also model good reading practices and use DEAR time to conference with students who are reluctant or resistant readers. Staff development that trains Martin Middle School teachers in these practices can increase participation in DEAR schoolwide and, in time, shape a student body that is more interested in reading for fun rather than spacing out. References Armbruster, B., Lehr, F., & Osborn, J. (2001). Put reading first: The research building blocks for teaching children to read. Washington, DC: National Institute for Literacy, the Partnership for Reading. Harvey, S., & Goudvis, A. (2007) Strategies that work: Teaching comprehension for understanding and engagement. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

Lee, V. (2011). Becoming the reading mentors our adolescents deserve: Developing a successful sustained silent reading program. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 55(3), 209218. Rog, L.J. (2003). Guided reading basics: Organizing, managing, and implementing a balanced literacy program in K-3. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

Products In order to lead a professional development session to train my department at my school in Drop Everything and Read guidelines and help teachers implement a successful DEAR program in their classrooms, I would create the following: 1) A presentation using either PowerPoint or Prezi and a handout summarizing essential information to use during staff training. 2) Interest inventories teachers can administer to students and use to build their classroom libraries and help students select texts to read. 3) Drop Everything and Read Goal handouts for teachers to use in their classrooms to help students set goals for reading. 4) Reading logs for teachers to use in their classrooms to track books students have read or abandoned.