Leadership Community of Practice in Reading Apprenticeship Launches

The Leadership Community of Practice (LCoP) in Reading Apprenticeship, a new model for developing community college faculty leaders, launched to rave reviews in June of 2012.  This year long, credit bearing, hybrid training-of-trainers experience, which prepares faculty to lead professional development in Reading Apprenticeship at their own colleges, is a significant revision of the previous train-the-trainer model (Leadership Institute in Reading Apprenticeship or LIRA).

• The LCoP first requires that participants have completed a 3-Day seminar in Reading Apprenticeship and/or the online course Reading Apprenticeship for Community College Instructors, and that they are able to show evidence of their efforts to incorporate RA into their classroom instruction.
• The LCoP also focuses much more explicitly on preparing faculty to lead Faculty Inquiry Groups (FIGs) and to facilitate professional learning opportunities with their colleagues from across the disciplines.
• Also, the LCoP learning community that is established in the intensive four-day summer institute continues throughout the year through an online course and a mid-year face-to-face reunion at the Winter Conference.
• The new LCoP is also a practical option for faculty because the ongoing investment in RA professional learning can be taken for 5 graduate credits through CSU East Bay.

The online course and Winter conference work both to keep the leaders together as a sustained community of practice and to facilitate the collection of artifacts and assessments related to RA at the community college level.  For example, as part of the e-portfolio each participant is building in the online course, he or she will submit:

• Results and analysis of a faculty survey concerning impressions of students’ reading
• Results and analysis of student reading surveys
• Pre and post Curriculum Embedded Reading Assessments (CERAs)
• A student video interview (focused on reading)
• Reflections on Instructional goals and Campus implementation plans
• Revised assignments and campus implementation plans

Comments from the 2012 LCoP summer institute:

It was fabulous.  The time flew.  I feel much better prepared to use this in my own teaching and share it with my colleagues.

I feel much more confident in my RA practice and leadership.

This has been absolutely fantastic!  I have so much wonderful information to mull over!  The hands-on experience using the classroom routines and the opportunity to hear ideas from my wonderful colleagues was very useful and instructive.

I am more than satisfied.  I feel that I have the tools to continue to implement RA with my students and to train colleagues.  This was truly one of the best trainings I have attended.  The team was professional and knowledgeable.  Thank you so much!