Collaborative Coaching for Disciplinary Literacy: Strategies to Support Teachers in Grades 6-12

Today's standards challenge middle and high school teachers to teach their content deeply and meaningfully. This book provides an innovative coaching model for helping science, social studies, and English language arts teachers promote the reading, writing, listening, speaking, and thinking skills needed for high-level work in each discipline. Seventeen specific strategies are presented for large-group, small-group, and individual coaching, including step-by-step instructions and implementation tips. Profiles of highly effective disciplinary literacy coaches illustrate the nuts and bolts of the job and highlight ways to deal with common challenges. In a large-size format for easy photocopying, the book includes 21 reproducible forms. Purchasers get access to a Web page where they can download and print the reproducible materials.

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 Professor 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 coauthored 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 an educational therapist in a clinical setting.

Susan K. L’Allier, EdD, is Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Reading Program 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 achievement. In addition to their journal articles, chapters, and presentations about literacy coaching, they have also published a video “workshop in a box” titled The Literacy Coaching Series, which enables viewers to see and analyze interactions between literacy 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 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 undergraduate 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 in DeKalb and at Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois. Dr. Di Domenico’s research focuses on teachers’ disciplinary literacy knowledge and on secondary literacy coaching. She has presented 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.