Literacy Coordinators

[Elizabeth C.]

I work in an inner city school in Chicago, and we have had the advantage to have two literacy coordinators and a professor from a college who are supposed to be "helping" all the staff. My problem with this is that THEY AREN'T HELPING AT ALL! They do not go into classrooms and model lessons, which really ticks me off. They do present, but they clearly don't know what they are talking about. I feel like I am already an expert on the things they present. There are two groups of teachers in my school who are getting their master's in reading, and we are the ones doing all the best practice teaching, without any support. The coordinators are very nice people and I think that's why no one has said anything. But it has started to get REALLY frustrating. Any comments/ or suggestions?

 

[GB]

Put them on the spot.

Put them on the spot a little. Since you are well versed in what they are presenting, try to fine tune your teaching with some tough questions. You'll think of some. Our school hired outside consultants (very well paid by the way) and the programs weren't reaching all students, like they insisted it would. So we started asking *those* kind of questions.

 

[bertie]

nice isn't enough

"Nice" can mean ineffectual, and these highly paid consultants are NOT doing what you need from them. Get them into your classroom. Insist on it. What do they do all day? They need small groups to work with on a daily basis, amd class time to model lessons on a regular basis, and time scheduled inside your classrooms daily too. Share them, enjoy the extra set of hands. Their salaries are coming from your school budget and you deserve value for your money, or the money should be put towards something more useful.