Megan Zara, M. Ed.
As a literacy leader, I know that I have the responsibility to help teachers integrate the social aspect of literacy into their instruction, in an authentic manner. During my Supervision class, I developed a school-wide initiative, Blogging in School: What does it mean to be literate in the 21st century.
READ 5523 School Wide Initiative Excerpt
A critical component of my initiative is the social aspect of blogging. As a foundation for my school-wide initiative, I used data gathered by Handsfeld, Dean, and Cielocha (2009). They state that students who have the opportunity to publish their work on blogs may be more motivated to write in school. As a result of writing for and engaging with an authentic audience, students “[make] interpersonal connections” (Handsfield, 2009). Implementation of my initiative would span three years, beginning with one grade level piloting the program. As a leader, I am not only responsible for student learning, but for teacher learning as well.
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My initiative includes specific professional development on the topics of technology, blog integration in the classroom, disciplinary literacy, and 221st-centuryliteracies, in addition to a mentor program to support each new grade level as they begin the program.
