Book+Study+Artifact

**Introduction to [|Book Study Facilitation Artifact] **

Nurturing reflective practitioners, capable of analyzing and refining practices, is key to leading a school that seeks to increase student achievement. Staying abreast of best practices in literacy and disseminating information to my colleagues is one of my passions. Richard Allington and Patricia Cunningham synthesize best practices down to the most integral parts in their book //Schools that Work: Where All Children Read and Write //. This book is an example of a resource that may be valuable for a leadership team to read and discuss. To foster reflection, I created an interactive study guide that may help identify clear expectations for best practices in literacy instruction and guide each participant in applying the latest research to their educational environments.

**Reflection ** While creating this study guide, I was careful to craft it in a way that would be relevant to people representing a variety of positions and developmental levels. The first page of the study guide helps principals, literacy coaches, and teachers define what it is that embodies effective literacy instruction. Secondly, I wanted to guide the application of these understandings, some new, some just reaffirmed. As participants reflect on the five characteristics of schools that have progressive literacy instruction by rating their implementation of each of the five characteristics, I’m hoping that such reflection will create a meaningful impetus to set goals to improve one or two of the characteristics. Teams from the same building might wish to compare how they rate each of the five characteristics to see if they have similar perceptions. Over time, participants may reevaluate the characteristics to celebrate success and identify new goals. This artifact demonstrates vision for leading change and creating support from stakeholders through professional development.

Administrator Standard #2; Content Guidelines A, B, C, D, F, G Administrator Standard #3; Content Guidelines F, H