Dana L. Bickmore

The challenge for every literacy leader is to strike the right balance between making a necessary decision, accepting responsibility for that decision, and extending and agreeing to the autonomy granted to their teachers. In order to accomplish this balance, a literacy leader must recognize the needs of the faculty, acknowledge the varied levels of experience of the faculty, and identify how to...

A heartfelt thank-you goes to my two daughters, Neenah and Nevaeh. I am blessed to have daughters who are patient with mom as she writes early in the morning or late into the night. I love you girls with all my heart. I am grateful to the Creator for every blessing and for putting the right people in my life at the right time.

Maria is a third grade teacher in a suburban elementary school. She is in her sixth year of teaching. Although school starts at 8:30 a.m., Jason can count on her to be there by 7:15 each morning. Most days her car does not leave the parking lot until after 4:30 p.m. But her work doesn’t end at 4:30 p.m. Most evenings are spent preparing for the next day, and weekends include preparing for...

There is no magic bullet, preferred sequence, special materials, prescribed scope and sequence, or best way to lead teachers. While leadership styles abound, the role of a literacy leader is complex—it encompasses relationship skills, content and pedagogical knowledge, expertise with organizational management, supervision ability, competence at evaluation, and working in collaboration with...

Belief can be a challenging construct. We all have beliefs, but have you ever considered how yours were formed? Beliefs are grounded in our personal, professional, and shared experiences. They are formed by what our families believed and passed on to us, what any caregivers or important role models in our lives impressed upon us, and what our friends and colleagues value and perhaps devalue. Our...

Joy is happiness. Joy is satisfaction. Joy is contentment. Joy is fulfillment. Joy is measurable. As a reader, you may question why we’re writing about joy. In his 2008 article for Educational Leadership magazine, Steven Wolk specifically addresses joy within the context of educational environments. For Wolk (2008), joy in school is represented by these ten important concepts.

The purpose of this chapter is to explore the role of a school leader, expressly an elementary principal, in creating a culture of autonomy and trust among teachers, particularly when teachers are presented with conflicting messages. As evidenced in chapter 1, policy, politics, and commodification have influenced how teachers see themselves as professionals. In fact, these three issues have...

In previous chapters, Tynisha, Margaret-Mary, and Jason have attempted to define the complex, complicated, and multifaceted role of an elementary principal. As the literacy leader, an elementary principal is the individual chiefly responsible for implementing a school’s mission and vision (Hallinger & Heck, 2002), the person facilitating instructional leadership (Booth & Rowsell,...

Walk into a school and pay attention to the climate. Does it feel welcoming? Do the students look and sound happy? Are the teachers engaged? Do you feel accepted? How the school feels, whether positive or negative, is a reflection of the climate. A positive school climate feels like the perfect warm, sunny day. A negative school climate feels like the cold, harsh winds of a Wisconsin winter storm....

When Jason was a practicing school psychologist, one of the most frustrating experiences was attending professional development days. Please note, Jason was a school psychologist for many years and never a classroom teacher. Often the professional development offered by the school district was a “one-size-fits-all” model. The content was classroom-teacher-specific, which makes sense,...

For literacy leaders, it’s problematic to make recommendations and not be able to cogently discuss them or comment on them with some degree of expertise. A literacy leader cannot “talk the talk without walking the walk.” Teachers are expected to provide feedback to their students frequently, with a purpose, and timely. As literacy leaders, we have the responsibility to provide...

The role of the elementary principal has changed. In fact, it will continue to evolve as education continues to meet the demands of students, as the teaching profession advances, and as shifts in U.S. society impact and influence teaching and learning. Research will also affect the role of instructional leaders in elementary settings.

Tynisha D. Meidl, Ph.D., is associate professor of teacher education at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin, where she also serves as the co-chair of the teacher education program. Meidl’s research agenda is informed by her experiences as a teacher in urban and rural contexts. Her research is specific to literacy development within the context of teacher development,...