• A Principal's Guide to Leadership in the Teaching of Writing
• Principal to Principal DVD

A Principal's Guide to Leadership in the Teaching of Writing

A Principal's Guide to Leadership in the Teaching of Writing is designed as a leadership calendar, in recognition that reform occurs in real time and that real time requires hard decisions. Organized chronologically, the ten chapters in A Principal's Guide to the Leadership in the Teaching of Writing walk principals through the month-by-month demands involved in organizing and implementing whole-school reform in the teaching of writing.

Chapter 1: March
Prioritizing Writing Instruction

• Decide if writing instruction will be your priority.
• Bring stakeholders into the decision.
• Choose a particular approach.
• Throw yourself into your chosen approach.

• Use one-to-one conversations to tailor your plans.
• Visit a school where writing workshops are well-established.
• Learn through professional books.
• Address teachers' concerns about time.
• Staff and schedule professional development.
• Build the infrastructure for good professional development.

• Decide whether the new reform will be mandated or voluntary.
• Rally your teachers to invest in the new reform.
• Roll out your vision.
• Do preliminary work in a few classrooms.
• Demonstrate your willingness to be a public learner.
• Work with your literacy coach.
• Plan summer study opportunities.

• Mine your vacation for metaphor and messages.
• Draft and revise possible schedules for your staff.
• Get to the brass tacks of scheduling.
• Gather gifts and supplies for rewarding teachers' professionalism.
• Help teachers set up classrooms to support workshop learning.

• Reflect on your own leadership style.
• Participate in launching writing workshops.
• Observe writing workshop to celebrate specific practices.
• Talk with teachers about what you've observed.

• Create close-knit grade-specific cohorts.
• Build effective cohorts with grade-level meetings.
• Use grade-level meetings to prepare for teaching.
• Visit classrooms to assess student writing, grade by grade.
• Deal directly with resistance to nurture good teaching.

• Create a forum for teaching parents.
• Talk to parents about the school's approach to writing.

• Value the voices of children.
• Don't wait before bringing specialists into writing reform.
• Check in on children's writing progress.

• Invite teachers to put problems on the table for discussion.
• Support teachers in overcoming predictable problems.
• Help teachers develop and share personal expertise.

• Make shared units of study part of your school's new infrastructure.
• Make grade-level curricular planning part of your school's new infrastructure.
• Write to support your school's new infrastructure.

The two-part Principal to Principal DVD provides more than 2 hours of video support

1. In Making School-Wide Change with the Teaching of Writing, Lucy and Laurie answer questions about implementing reform in the teaching of writing.
• How do we look at reform through the teaching of writing?
• How does a school implement reform in teaching writing?
• How do you support writing reform through the whole school?
• What kinds of supervision and support does a principal give classroom teachers?
2. In From the Principals, seven principals discuss the introduction and maintenance of effective school-wide literacy programs.
Setting the Stage for Change
• Aligning with Staff Needs
• Identifying Needs and Next Steps
• Investing in Staff Development

Creating Buy-In

• Fostering a Community of Learners
• Collaborating on Change
• Communicating a Professional Culture
Promoting Professional Development
• Meeting the Challenge of Change
• Maintaining Support Structures
• Developing New Teachers
• Visiting Classrooms
• Making Time for Professional Development

Lab Sites and Study Groups

• Managing Lab Sites and Study Groups
• Organizing a Variety of Study Groups
Planning the Curriculum
• Supporting Collaborative Planning
• Planning Within a Shared Calendar
• Documenting Planning with Curriculum Binders

Involving Parents

• Keeping Parents Informed
• Informing and Involving Parents
• Communicating with Parent Newsletters
Gathering Data and Assessing
• Gathering Data to Inform Teaching
• Gathering Data to Set learning Priorities
• Gathering Data to Monitor Progress

Building a Literacy Program Over Time

• Starting and Supporting a Literacy Program #1
• Starting and Supporting a Literacy Program #2