The Pilot Post: Literacy Missions and Values
Hi! I’m Lorraine. Thank you for visiting my blog!
This post is an introduction to this blog space. You will find:
An outline of what my blog posts consist of.
Core ideas that frame my teaching and leadership practices.
A literacy mission statement to guide work in schools.
A little about me.
In this blog space, you will find:
Tips and strategies on how to build a literacy culture in your classroom or school. Culture-building is a foundational element to my work as a literacy leader. Investing time, creativity, innovation, and resources in the people in your classroom or school is the most important work you can do as an educator. A positive culture sets the tone for how students and adults value important processes like reading and writing. It also creates a safe space for curriculum and instruction work that you may want to engage in. Literacy culture that is celebratory and participatory invites all stakeholders to contribute to students’ literacy identities and learning experiences. I write about the culture experiences that I work with teams to create in my school community. I look forward to sharing our work with you and hope that you gain some ideas to bring back to your classroom or school.
Practical ideas to enhance literacy instruction. I work to create resources with and for teachers to use to support students as readers, writers, and thinkers. This blog will emerge as a resource hub and I hope that you will share about successes and challenges in the Comments if you decide to try something that I write about and share. What may be practical in my context may not be practical in yours. I get that.
Reflections from my own teaching and leadership practices. There is a popular statement that circulates social media: Sometimes the greatest PD is the teacher down the hall. While we’re not in the same hallway, we are in virtual space together. Writing helps me to reflect and discover ideas. I hope you can connect to some ideas I share in my reflections that can impact your own practices.
A consistent structure: I understand the complexities of being a teacher and administrator. We’re chasing time while being committed learners. Each blog post starts by naming what the entry is about and what you will find within the content. Each blog post ends by addressing how the post is applicable to teachers and administrators respectively. Both roles provide literacy leadership for kids. I aim for the posts to be clear and concise.
Here are the ideas the framed my work as an ELA and TESOL teacher and literacy specialist, and continue to frame my work as a literacy leader and teacher educator:
Literacy competencies are important. Reading, writing, listening, speaking, viewing, and creating are how we make meaning and function in society. They need to be cultivated authentically in school.
Engagement is important. Personal investment and excitement about participation elevates any experience.
Joy is important. School should be a place that kids and adults want to be.
Community is important. People are our greatest assets and all stakeholders have the potential to impact a child’s literacy development.
Having a mission statement or guiding principles helps to streamline practices and makes clear to all stakeholders what a classroom or school community values. Below is an example of a literacy mission statement that can be used in a classroom or to unite a department, school, or district in their literacy work. You will find traces of these guiding principles in my blog posts.
We are committed to supporting all students as they develop as readers, writers, designers, creators, thinkers, and participants in academic and social spaces. While the definition of what it means to be literate consistently shifts in response to changes in societal norms and expectations, our core values remain:
All students deserve a learning space where they are cared for, encouraged, and feel safe.
All students deserve to be part of a community that fosters kindness, collaboration, and growth.
All students deserve opportunities to share their voices and perspectives through writing, design, and conversation while respecting those that are different from their own.
All students deserve time to read, write, design, and create in school.
All students deserve to read books of choice and write about topics of choice through guided and independent experiences.
All students deserve access to high-interest, high-quality texts that serve as windows and mirrors (Rudine Sims Bishop, 1990) for their own lives and experiences.
All students deserve opportunities to write with intention for various purposes and to be coached through the writing process.
All students deserve to develop print and digital competencies to participate in a variety of academic and social spaces.
All students deserve access to a curriculum that is reflective of the world they live in, relevant to their interests and wonderings, and rooted in the state standards.
All students deserve literacy experiences that are equitable to maximize and actualize their potential.
I have been thinking about how to introduce my writing to you for months. There are countless education-themed blogs out there circulating social media. Educators are passionate. Educators are learners. We want to reflect and share about what is important to our practice. It’s good to keep reading, to keep writing, to keep thinking. I’m happy that you landed in this space. I hope you find something here that sparks reflection about your literacy teaching or leadership practices.
You can learn about me professionally on the website this blog is attached to. Here is some more about me so you know a little about who is on the other side of these posts:
I am a book enthusiast. Ok, I know that is a hybrid personal-professional fact. But, I really am. Books are beautiful. Some simple. Some complex. Some colorful and visual. Some leave us to imagine. We learn by reading. We discover by reading. We make connections through reading. I love books. You can never have too many (unless you ask the shelving spaces in my home or office!).
I am a football fan. I love summer, but the silver lining to it ending is that football begins.
I love warm weather and temperatures. Being cold is not comfortable for me.
I am a tea drinker. Tea is the way I start my day with breakfast, continue my day with lunch, and end my day after dinner.
I love TV shows and talking about them. I appreciate having a show to look forward to watching after a long day. Streaming services that release one episode per week instead of entire season at once interrupt my binge-watching behavior
My favorite snacks are tortilla chips, animal crackers, and fruit.
I believe in kindness. During my first four years of leadership, I started most meetings by posting the saying: There is not a single conversation that kindness cannot make infinitely better.
I will stop here for now and leave you with kindness.
Share the literacy leadership:
Teachers: I invite you to reflect on the core literacy values of your classroom community. Did you create them? Do you generate shared values with students? Are they posted in your physical or virtual classroom space?
Administrators: I invite you to reflect on the literacy mission of your department, school, or district. How are the literacy values generated? Are all stakeholders aware of what your team values in terms of literacy development? Are culture, curriculum, and instruction aligned to the literacy mission and values?