The first edition of Becoming a Literacy Leader chronicled Jennifer’s work as she moved to a new school and a new job as a literacy specialist and found herself tackling everything from teacher study groups to state-mandated assessment plans.
The new edition of her book is a thoughtful, reflective evolution of her work as she rethinks how her identity and role as a literacy leader have evolved in the ten years since she wrote the first edition. She focuses on three ideas to describe her work: the concept of layered leadership, shared experiences in making meaning together, and the importance of rowing in the same direction as a school community.
Jennifer firmly believes that teachers know what they need when it comes to professional development, and she describes the layers of support that coaches can implement within a school, including in-class support, curriculum support and assessment, study group facilitation, and the cultivation of teacher leadership. She provides an explicit framework for implementing these layers of coaching and explains how administrators can use the literacy leader position to build and sustain change within their schools.