Table Of Contentebook
THE GUILFORD PRESS
Collaborative CoaChing
for DisCiplinary literaCy
also available
The Common Core Coaching Book:
Strategies to Help Teachers Address the K–5 ELA Standards
Laurie Elish-Piper and Susan K. L'Allier
Collaborative Coaching
for Disciplinary Literacy
StrategieS to Support teacherS
in gradeS 6–12
Laurie Elish-Piper
Susan K. L’Allier
Michael Manderino
Paula Di Domenico
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Elish-Piper, Laurie, author. | L’Allier, Susan K., author. |
Manderino, Michael, author. | Domenico, Paula Di, author.
Title: Collaborative coaching for disciplinary literacy : strategies to
support teachers in grades 6–12 / Laurie Elish-Piper, Susan K. L’Allier,
Michael Manderino, Paula Di Domenico
Description: New York : The Guilford Press, a division of Guilford Publications,
Inc., [2016] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015032641 | ISBN 9781462524389 (acid-free paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Language arts teachers—In-service training—United States |
Language arts (Middle school)—United States. | Language arts
(Secondary)—United States. | Language arts—Correlation with content
subjects—United States. | Content area reading—United States. | Reading
(Middle school)—United States. | Reading (Secondary)—United States.
Classification: LCC LB2844.1.R4 E55 2016 | DDC 428.0071/2—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015041548
About the Authors
Laurie Elish-Piper, PhD, is Acting Dean of the College of Education at Northern
Illinois University, where she also holds the titles of Distinguished Teaching Pro-
fessor and Presidential Engagement Professor in the Department of Literacy and
Elementary Education. Her research and teaching focus on literacy leadership and
coaching, and she has published and presented widely on literacy coaching at the
elementary, middle, and high school levels. Dr. Elish-Piper has worked extensively
with school districts to develop and implement literacy coaching programs, and
she teaches graduate courses related to literacy coaching and leadership. She has
co authored eight books, including The Common Core Coaching Book (with Susan
K. L’Allier). Formerly, she worked as a middle school reading and language arts
teacher and as an educational therapist in a clinical setting.
Susan K. L’Allier, EdD, is Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Reading Pro-
gram in the Department of Literacy and Elementary Education at Northern Illinois
University. She and Laurie Elish-Piper have conducted multiple research studies to
examine the relationship between literacy coaching and student literacy achieve-
ment. In addition to their journal articles, chapters, and presentations about literacy
coaching, they have published a video “workshop in a box” titled The Literacy
Coaching Series, which enables viewers to see and analyze interactions between lit-
eracy coaches and teachers. Formerly, Dr. L’Allier worked as an elementary teacher,
a lead teacher, and a principal.
Michael Manderino, PhD, is Assistant Professor in the Department of Literacy and
Elementary Education at Northern Illinois University. He has presented widely with
Laurie Elish-Piper, Susan K. L’Allier, and Paula Di Domenico on disciplinary literacy
coaching at the secondary level. He coauthored a book on content-area learning
and has published articles on disciplinary literacy in leading journals. He received
v
About the Authors
dissertation awards from the Literacy Research Association and the Association of
Literacy Educators and Researchers. Dr. Manderino also works closely with school
districts to implement disciplinary literacy in the curriculum and teaches under-
graduate and graduate courses related to disciplinary literacy. Formerly, he was a
high school history teacher and disciplinary literacy coach.
Paula Di Domenico, EdD, is a secondary disciplinary literacy coach at Leyden High
School District 212 in Franklin Park, Illinois, and serves as an adjunct instructor of
graduate courses in literacy education at Northern Illinois University and at Lewis
University in Romeoville, Illinois. Her research focuses on teachers’ disciplinary
literacy knowledge and on secondary literacy coaching. Dr. Di Domenico has pre-
sented on the topic of disciplinary literacy coaching with the other authors of this
volume. Formerly, she was a high school English and developmental reading teacher.
vi
Preface
F
or the past several years, we have worked as a team with literacy coaches and
teachers in secondary schools to address the teaching and learning demands associ-
ated with the discipline-specific literacy instruction that is integral to today’s stan-
dards. In this work, we were often met with comments such as “You should put
these ideas into a book” or “Is this all written down somewhere so I can refer back
to it?” This book is our attempt to share the insights, best practices, strategies, and
words of wisdom that we’ve learned in our work coaching teachers in the disci-
plines, supporting coaches in middle and high schools, and conducting research.
It’s a well-known fact that today’s teachers are faced with increased demands
to make sure their students are “college and career ready.” Traditional models of
professional development simply are not sufficient to help these teachers update and
enhance their practice. Although literacy coaching has been well documented in the
professional literacy field and lots of “how-to” books are available for elementary
literacy coaches, the notion of coaching teachers in the disciplines at the middle and
high school levels is fairly new. Furthermore, disciplinary literacy coaching, although
promising, is fraught with challenges that require new and different approaches to
coaching that move beyond what has been done in elementary schools. This book is
our attempt to address these issues and provide a readable research-based resource
for literacy coaches and leaders in middle and high school settings. In addition, this
book offers guidance for professionals who are studying or who aspire to take on
literacy coaching responsibilities in middle and high schools.
In this book, we propose a model of coaching that foregrounds the disciplines
and helps teachers leverage the reading, writing, listening, speaking, and thinking
skills needed to learn in their content areas. Furthermore, we demonstrate how a
three-layered approach allows coaches to work efficiently and effectively with teach-
ers in the disciplines of science, social studies, and English language arts. We pro-
vide 17 practical coaching strategies that you can implement immediately with the
vii
Preface
teachers in your school. We offer step-by-step instructions, as well as examples of
real coaches and teachers implementing each of the strategies. We also provide pro-
files of seven highly effective disciplinary literacy coaches to show how they have
addressed (and overcome) some of the biggest and most common challenges they
faced in their work.
It is our sincere hope that you will find this book to be a useful road map and
toolbox of resources to draw on as you continue or begin your journey in disciplin-
ary literacy coaching. We also hope it offers you reassurance and encouragement,
and helps you find patience and perseverance as you engage in the types of heavy
coaching necessary to make sure students (and teachers) are ready to meet learning
standards designed to prepare students for college and career.
viii
