The purpose of this blog

I've decided to embrace the 21st century by starting a blog about my experience/interest in the area of literacy as it affects our students. I am a high school literacy coach in South Carolina. One of the last of my breed in the state unfortunately. Six years ago the state started an initiative called SCRIHS (South Carolina Reading Initiative High School), which was a beautiful dream. Thirty coaches were originally chosen for training to serve schools around the state. Funding was provided through a state grant that not only paid for the training, but also paid the salaries of the actual position. It was a four year process, and we received outstanding training and support during that time. The goal of the training was to put a coach in place who could work with teachers in every content area to foster change in literacy instruction. Unfortunately, when the grant ended, so did the position for the most part. There are now only a few of us in the state working at the high school level, and most of us (myself included) have to teach a few classes a day to make ends meet at the school. The frustration of this for me is that literacy is the single most important area of academic focus because it encompasses all areas that require thinking skills. Reading and writing are ways to access thinking, but the thinking itself is the bottom line. What we know about literacy is that (1) many of our students are lacking in most metacognitive skills and (2) those are the very skills that are to truly democratize learning. My blog will contain my own research and findings, along with strategies that work for learners at various levels of development. My hope is that through sharing this information, we can start a literacy revolution in the classroom that is student-centered and engaging.