Very often I am asked, “You’re a reading specialist? What is that, anyway? I mean, what do you do all day?”  The implied notion is that I spent my day having coffee in the superintendent’s office when I’m not playing with flash cards or rearranging books by Lexile on shelves. 

There is no good way to answer this question without saying, “It depends on the day.” Any literacy leader finds his or her role to be incredibly varied and demanding, and the work is often invisible. There is no elevator speech for a reading specialist. If I were brave, when asked this question, I would respond something like this:

I read e-mails. I send e-mails.

I set goals. I help others set goals.

I plan professional development. I worry no one will listen during professional development. I worry they will listen but not hear. I worry they won’t show up at all.

I go to meetings. I go to more meetings. I go to still more meetings.

I read research. I read opposing research. I read books I hope students will read. I read books I hope everyone will read. I attempt to read minds to make meetings go faster.

I create formative assessments. I create summative assessments. I create common assessments. I assess. I help others assess.

I read e-mails. I send e-mails.

I analyze data. I analyze more data. I learn. I listen to someone else’s interpretation of the data. I learn. I gather more data. I wonder what would happen if it were less about data and more about kids.

I beg. I finesse. I tell people what they don’t want to hear. I listen while people tell me what I don’t want to hear. I consider. I discover.

I communicate. I communicate again. I communicate in another way. I sigh because some say it was not enough communication. I sigh because some say it was too much communication.

I reflect. I wonder. I reimagine. I question. I evaluate. I reevaluate.

I worry about teachers. I worry about kids.

I consider new research. I consider giving up. I consider new strategies. I plan.

I read e-mails. I send e-mails.

Then, on the ride home in the quiet, I think about all the things I need to do tomorrow.

Julie Scullen is a former president of the Minnesota Reading Association and Minnesota Secondary Reading Interest Council and a former member of the International Literacy Association Board of Directors. She taught most of her career in Secondary Reading Intervention classrooms and now serves as Teaching and Learning Specialist for Secondary Reading in Anoka-Hennepin schools in Minnesota, working with teachers of all content areas to foster literacy achievement. She teaches graduate courses at Hamline University in St. Paul in literacy leadership and coaching, as well as reading assessment and evaluation.