Literacy is the Thing: An Autoethnographic Journey into the Known and Unknown

The purpose of the capstone project was to examine the decision-making of the literacy coach during the creation and implementation of a professional development program. The three-cycle professional development program was designed by the researcher and focused on vocabulary instruction. Through the practice of reflexivity and sense-making, the literacy coach investigated how these experiences shaped her identity and role within the school context.

The capstone was designed as an autoethnographic research project where the researcher reflected on decisions regarding professional development, interactions with teachers and administrators, observations of classroom teachers, and informal exchanges in the school context. The reflections were analyzed to create a narrative construction of the findings. The major findings were also used to offer recommendations for future literacy coaches wishing to analyze their decision-making process or explore their identity within their school context.