The first edition of Becoming a Literacy Leader chronicled Jennifer's work as she moved to a new school and a new job as a literacy specialist and found herself tackling everything from teacher study groups to state-mandated assessment plans. The new edition of her book is a thoughtful, reflective evolution of her work as she rethinks how her identity and role as a literacy leader have evolved in the ten years since she wrote the first edition. She focuses on three ideas to describe her work: the concept of layered leadership, shared experiences in making meaning together, and the importance of rowing in the same direction as a school community. Jennifer firmly believes that teachers know what they need when it comes to professional development, and she describes the layers of support that coaches can implement within a school, including in-class support, curriculum support and assessment, study group facilitation, and the cultivation of teacher leadership. She provides an explicit framework for implementing these layers of coaching and explains how administrators can use the literacy leader position to build and sustain change within their schools. Literacy leaders and coaches can use this book as a road map for how to approach their work with purpose and intention. Online videos that accompany the book bring the text alive by showing readers what coaching looks and sounds like.

Too often, new teachers enter the profession excited to make a difference in the lives of children only to find themselves disillusioned and overwhelmed with the expectations of the classroom. In A Sense of Belonging, Jennifer Allen shares her stories and journey in creating an infrastructure of support for new teachers within her school district. A Sense of Belonging provides research-based, practical ideas on how to support new teachers while honoring the innovation, idealism, and optimistic enthusiasm that they bring to the classroom. From supporting new teachers early in the year with administering and analyzing literacy assessments, through using student work to guide instruction, to offering ongoing help with curriculum planning, Jennifer shares strategies on: fostering relationships with new teachers, starting before school even begins; creating learning environments for new teachers to be reflective practitioners; coaching new teachers in their classrooms and providing opportunities for them to observe their peers in action; supporting new teachers beyond their first year through gradual release of support over their first several years in the classroom; and facilitating professional development opportunities where new and veteran teachers learn alongside one another. Jennifer believes, and her book demonstrates, that when schools embrace, encourage, and celebrate the work of new teachers, they establish a supportive environment that fosters excellence and improves retention.

The Avett Brothers sing of a spiritual yearning present in modern culture. Without being overtly religious, theological underpinnings are prevalent in their music. The contributors in this book delve into the Avett Brother's explicit and implicit theology with an eye on how they help make sense of our secular age. Theology and the Avett Brothers offers a rich contemplation on how these brothers from North Carolina help listeners navigate the religious consciousness of today's world, exploring themes like the good life, virtue formation, empathy, ministry models, and dying.

We are, each one of us, situated in a particular place. As embodied creatures, as members of local communities and churches, as people who live in a specific location in the world, we all experience the importance of place. But what role does place play in the Christian life and how might our theology of place be cultivated? In this Studies in Theology and the Arts volume, Jennifer Allen Craft argues that the arts are a significant form of placemaking in the Christian life. The arts, she contends, place us in time, space, and community in ways that encourage us to be fully and imaginatively present in a variety of contexts: the natural world, our homes, our worshiping communities, and society. In so doing, the arts call us to pay attention to the world around us and invite us to engage in responsible practices in those places. Through this practical theology of the arts, Craft shows how the arts can help us by cultivating our theological imagination, giving shape to the Christian life, and forming us more and more into the image of Christ. The Studies in Theology and the Arts series encourages Christians to thoughtfully engage with the relationship between their faith and artistic expression, with contributions from both theologians and artists on a range of artistic media including visual art, music, poetry, literature, film, and more.

This book tells a story through poetry about children who were sexually and physically abused by their parents. The poetry tells of the negative experiences the children faced and how they struggled with the trauma and destructive behaviors inflicted upon them by their parents all the way into adulthood. The characteristics of the parents' personalities and inappropriate deviant behaviors are also depicted in poetry.

"Growing Up with Incest and Abuse," Is a sad and tragic story about children raised by abusive parents; a violent pedophile father and an alcoholic mother. The children's victimization is heart wrenching and not all survive the emotional turmoil of sexual and physical assault. Their stories show the effects of growing up in an abusive environment. The trauma they endured had everlasting effects on their psyche with crippling consequences. The stories are written as remembered by the author. She uses vignettes, poetry and narration to express her thoughts and feelings about her childhood. It is her interpretation of what she and her siblings experienced growing up with abusive parents.

George Allen was a top-ranked NFL coach throughout the sixties and seventies, coaching in turn the Chicago Bears, the Los Angeles Rams, and the Washington Redskins. Raised in a home dominated by her three football-obsessed older brothers and her father's relentless schedule, Jennifer Allen came of age in a cauldron of testosterone and win-at-all-costs mentality.

Buffeted by the coach's tumultuous firings and hirings, the Allen family was periodically propelled to new teams in new cities. And while her French-Tunisian mother attempted to teach Jennifer proper feminine etiquette, the author dreamed of being the first female quarterback in the NFL. But as she grew up, she yearned mostly to be someone her father would notice. In a macho world where only foot-ball mattered, what could she strive for? Who could she become?

Allen has written a poignant memoir of the father she tried so hard to know, about a family life that was willfully sacrificed to his endless fanatical pursuit of the Super Bowl. What emerges is a fascinating and singular behind-the-scenes look at professional football, and a memorable, bittersweet portrait of a father and his daughter, written in a fresh and perceptive voice.


From the Hardcover edition.