Professional Leadership and Specialized Roles

Question 1

What is the relationship between first- and second-language acquisition and literacy development?

Answer 1

-Research in second language development has shown that literacy in a second language is much more easily achieved when literacy is developed in the native language, as literacy skills are more easily transferred from the first language to the second language.

Question 2

Which is one aspect of professional development that contributes to an effective reading program?

Answer 2

-Pacing guidelines, models for lesson planning, time management strategies, and daily schedules

Question 3

How does a reading specialist facilitate professional learning for teachers?

Answer 3

-Supports, supplements, and extends classroom teaching, and works collaboratively to implement a quality reading program that is research-based
-Provides leadership as a resource to other educators, parents, and the community.

Question 4

What are effective ways to communicate students’ reading progress to stakeholders (i.e., parents and administration)?

Answer 4

-Establish at the beginning of the school year by explaining process of screening/assessments
-Inform of students’ performance frequently
-Inform parents of interventions and specific needs of student
-Present a more objective picture of students’ performance with data
-By using a graph, educators can easily provide concrete descriptions of student learning, which can help inform the team as they make instructional decisions.

Question 5

What are a few of the universal strategies to promote family engagement to improve literacy skills?

Answer 5

-Host family literacy nights
-Assign interactive literacy homework, such as having students read aloud to family members, go over vocabulary and spelling words, and discuss comprehension with family members.
-Provide families and students with summer reading lists to help them continuing to build reading skills over the summer.
-Provide families with information about summer and after-school programs that focus on building literacy skills.
-Encourage students and families to check out books from the school library to read at home.
-Create reading kits for students to take home. They can contain worksheets that can be filled out with their families and tips for family members about how to help their children with reading. The reading kits should contain three levels of books for students and families – “read by myself” books, “read with me” books, and “read to me” books.
-During events, provide books, journals or other literacy supplies as prizes.