Professional Learning in Action : An Inquiry Approach for Teachers of Literacy

Offers readers a unique and progressive approach for preparing prospective and inservice teachers, and graduate students, to effectively teach the literacy skills to K-12 students that are needed for eventual college and career success. The book’s focus is on engaging teachers, as adult learners, in professional learning that is collaborative, substantive, situated, dynamic, intense, and personal.

Unlike any other work in the field of literacy education, this book offers readers a unique and progressive approach for preparing prospective and inservice teachers, and graduate students, to effectively teach the literacy skills to K-12 students that are needed for eventual college and career success. The book is not a traditional text on professional development that focuses on, “this is what teachers need to know and be able to do as literacy teachers.” Rather, the book’s focus is on engaging teachers, as adult learners, in professional learning that is collaborative, substantive, situated, dynamic, intense, and personal. These six themes are woven throughout the book, and are exemplified through real-life scenarios that follow elementary and secondary teachers from the Blue Falls School District as they explore and expand their own professional learning about effective literacy instruction, based on student assessment, teacher reflection, and problem solving. The reader is provided with useful tools for creating literacy teams, needs assessments, reflective book study groups, effective coaching practices, and more.