Literacy Blogs

Teacher question: I know you led a successful reading initiative in Chicago. You’ve written much about the keys to your success. Did you make any mistakes? Would you change that experience in any way if you were to do it again? Shanahan responds: Ah, for the chance to live life’s unfortunate moments again… I’m suspicious of those who say they have no regrets and would change nothing if they could go back. For real for real? A major error in my Chicago Reading Initiative experience was not pulling the principals in early enough or thoroughly enough. My attentions were laser focused on hiring coaches ...

Teachers question: I have just been hired as a reading coach in a school where I have been a third-grade teacher. My principal wants me to raise reading achievement and he says that he’ll follow my lead. I think I’m a good teacher, but what does it take to raise reading achievement in a whole school (K-5) with 24 teachers? Shanahan's answer:             It’s easy J. Just do the following 9 things: 1.    Improve leadership.                                 Literacy leadership matters. You and your principal will need to be a team. The more the two of you know and agree upon the ...

Human resources specialists kill me. They love to ask prospective employees weird questions with the idea that the out-of-leftfield approach will catch the job seekers off guard and get them to reveal themselves. (Barbara Walters did the same thing for years in her TV interviews of celebrities: “If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?” Kind of makes you want to cry.)   I was asked recently by a reader of this blog what questions I would ask a prospective principal to make sure that I made the right hire. It’s a great query and I wasn’t ready ...