Poetry Mentor Texts: Making Reading and Writing Connections, K-8
by Lynne R. Dorfman and Rose Cappelli
(Stenhouse Publishers, 2012 – Learn more)

Reviewed by Linda Biondi

As poet and writing teacher Georgia Heard writes in the foreword, Lynne Dorfman and Rose Cappelli have done it again! The co-authors of Mentor Texts and Nonfiction Mentor Texts have provided another “must have” resource for teachers of all disciplines.

In their first two books, Dorfman and Cappelli demonstrated how teachers can use children’s literature to guide and inspire student writers of fiction and nonfiction. They strongly believe that allowing students to study and imitate mentor texts not only provides them with quality writing models but encourages them to take risks in developing their own craft of writing and voice.

In their most recent book, Poetry Mentor Texts: Making Reading and Writing Connections, K-8, Dorfman and Cappelli center their focus on bringing the joy of writing poetry to our students, and taking that joy to another level to help them strengthen their reading as well as writing.

As a veteran teacher, I prided myself on being a “poetry teacher.” After all, we memorized poems, tried to figure out what they meant, and even devoted a unit to the study of poetry. Haiku, limericks, color poems and fill-in-the-blank poems were just a few types we explored. However, it wasn’t until I started reading this book that I discovered the true magnetic force of the written word.

What’s inside Poetry Mentor Texts

Navigating through the first two Mentor Text books was a delight. The latest is no different. Poetry Mentor Texts is research based and filled with delightful anecdotal stories, samples, charts, and guided lessons. The book includes mentor texts that focus on student-friendly poetic forms, such as list poems, acrostic poems, persona poems and poem for two voices. Lynne and Rose teach us to utilize the mentor poems to introduce craft and writing traits such as word choice, point of view, visualizing, and figurative language.

As I reviewed the book, I was impressed with quality of the sample lessons and interdisciplinary approach to teaching poetry. Many of their sample poems introduce the students to grammar and parts of speech in such an interactive way that the students don’t realize it. What better way to use this poem than for a shared reading activity, finding examples of internal rhyme such as “She dreams in reams” and end-rhyme pairs such as “trunk” and “chipmunk” and “sleeves” and “leave.”

The Winter Tree

by Douglas Florian

The winter tree
is fast asleep.
She dreams, in reams
Of snow knee-deep.
Of children climbing up her trunk,
Of white-tailed deer
And gray chipmunk,
Of picnics,
Hammocks,
And short sleeves,

And leaves

And leaves

And leaves

My copy of the book resembles a multi-colored Post It Note ad. I found resources to use for formative assessments, such as having the students write astronomy persona poems as an exit slip, create list poems to challenge them to use more “sophisticated vocabulary words” (I borrowed the phrase from one of my fifth grade students), and use compare and contrast poems for two voices while teaching persuasive writing.

The lessons at the end of each chapter are extremely helpful and easily adapted to use with any grade level (the book’s suggested grade range is k-8). Each lesson follows the Gradual Release of Responsibility model — scaffolding the instruction and moving the lesson from teacher-centered, whole group delivery to student-centered collaboration and independent practice. In addition, each lesson encourages the students to reflect on how the strategy worked for them and how they could apply this strategy in the future.

Mentor text recommendations

Teachers are often overwhelmed with the plethora of books for children that are published each year. Of special assistance is a list at the end of each chapter of recommended books that the authors believe will serve as appropriate mentor texts.

Because many adults had negative experiences with poetry in their academic days, teachers often are reluctant to incorporate this literary form into the class. As Francis Degnan has written: “If you are to leave your children with the wonderful gift of an appreciation of poetry, you must allow yourself to get caught up in its magic.” Teachers need to play with poetry, and so do children. Writing poetry gives the child a chance to become a nonconformist in the world of language rules and regulations. It gives the child a chance to say, “What I feel counts!”

Give yourself and your students a chance to experience the sense of wonder words can create — the joy of writing poetry, the feeling of accomplishment as they explore the craft of poets and become mentor poets themselves.

“We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.” – Dead Poet’s Society

Linda Biondi is a fifth grade teacher at Pond Road Middle School in Robbinsville, New Jersey, and a Teacher Consultant with the National Writing Project.

Teaching Argument Writing: Supporting Claims with Relevant Evidence and Clear Reasoning
by George Hillocks, Jr.
(Heinemann, 2011 – Learn more)

Reviewed by Jaime Greene

Let’s face it, nobody can argue like middle school students. They come to us armed with the ability to form an opinion and defend it. Whether or not their opinion or defense is rooted in sound evidence or critical thought is another issue entirely.

Faced with the Common Core challenge of developing quality opinion writers, Teaching Argument Writing Grades 6-12 helps the reader begin to clarify his/her own definition of quality argument writing and explore exemplar lessons that are rooted in meaningful academic discourse and critical thinking.

Hillocks subscribes to Stephen Toulmin’s conception of argument writing, found in The Uses of Argument, which includes the following elements:

• A claim
• Based on evidence of some sort
• A warrant that explains how the evidence supports the claim
• Support for the warrant(s)
• Qualifications and rebuttals or counter arguments that refute competing claims.

After taking a closer look at each element, Hillocks moves the reader through high-interest lessons and transcripts of classroom discussions leading students to apply the Toulmin elements in developing their own arguments. Though Hillocks begins with an exemplar lesson that middle school teachers may find grisly (solving a murder mystery based on forensic evidence in the drawing provided), there is no doubt that Hillocks has a knack for finding content that will engage middle grades students in spirited discussion (choosing a school mascot, defining heroism, etc.)

Through exploration of these lessons in action, Hillocks leads the reader through scenarios moving from simple arguments of fact to more complex arguments of judgment and policy.

Common Core Implications

Perhaps most relevant to those preparing for Common Core implementation is the last chapter, “Argument and Interpretation: Teaching Students How to Make Literary Judgments.” In this chapter, Hillocks notes evidence from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) which shows that while American students can read text at a literal level fairly well, when it comes to making inference, they “fail miserably.”  In the exemplar lesson that Hillocks shares, the teacher uses text to teach students to think interpretively about literature. This leads to what I found to be the “juiciest morsel” of the book, a brief section on the systematic planning of instructional units. Hillocks shows teachers the step-by-step planning process for development of an inquiry-based argument unit rooted in text evidence.

Long on Discourse, Short on Assessment

Each exemplar argument lesson focuses heavily on students developing an understanding of the overarching concept and arriving at common definitions of important terms. While the development of common understanding and construction of common background knowledge is no doubt important, I found myself wading through lengthy transcripts of student comments and discussions and longing for more information about the writing assignments themselves and more examination of student work. I was expecting a more practical guide that might include rubrics, checklists for argument writing, or an appendix of usable classroom resources based on the exemplar lessons within.

More Theory Than Practice

Though not the practical, portable “take immediately to the copy machine” guide I was expecting, the book did help me begin to wrap my brain around what quality argument in the classroom sounds and looks like. It does a good job illustrating what students whose opinions are rooted in founded claims sound like and how they begin to formulate thoughts that will inform effective argument writing.

This book will get you thinking! And that’s a good place to start for teachers who have previously focused on expository writing or the old notion of persuasive writing.

Jaime Greene is the Middle School and High School Instructional Coach for Hamblen County Schools in Morristown, Tennessee.  She has delivered professional development regionally on topics including instructional strategies, constructed response, middle school writing, and student motivation.

Get It Done: Writing and Analyzing Informational Texts to Make Things Happen
by Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Michael W. Smith, and James E. Fredricksen
(Heinemann, 2012 – Learn more)

Reviewed by Kevin Hodgson

I was fortunate to be in the audience at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the National Writing Project and listened as Wilhelm, Smith and Fredricksen wowed the crowd during a collaborative keynote address to a roomful of teachers. The three teacher/writers had just put out a collection of three books that explore connections to reading and writing. Get It Done is their resource on informational text. The others explore narrative texts and argumentative texts.

All three are nicely connected to the thrust of the Common Core, although the authors were clear that they began planning and writing long before the Common Core became public. (Still, you can imagine the thrill of the Heinemann editors when they realized that three books were being developed along three main threads of the Common Core.)

Get It Done is a treasure trove of helpful insights about why we need to care about the teaching of informational text, and it offers up strategies for not just teaching how to read and interpret these kinds of texts, but how to make them meaningful and useful to students.

The Get it Done mantra of the book’s title echoes to the fact that information that is processed and understood can be used in the world to do things, to make things happen, to create opportunities for action and understanding, to explain complicated ideas to others in meaningful ways. And the authors (Wilhelm seems to be the lead writer in this book) are right on the mark when they hint that educators just do not do enough to teach this kind of text to students, even though the real world (you know, that place outside of our classroom bubbles) is overflowing with informational text.

The authors are right on the mark when they hint that educators just do not do enough to teach this kind of text to students, even though the real world is overflowing with it.

I appreciated that the book begins by laying out the idea of “elements of informational text structures” as well as “the five kinds of knowledge” that inform our understanding of information and explanatory texts.  They also break out a series of actions that teachers can consider when working with students, from what they call Composing to Plan, to Composing to Practice, to Composing Rough and Final Drafts, to Composing to Transfer Meaning. These pedagogical and heuristic framing ideas set the stage for the authors to then dive down into a wide range of text formats:

• Listing and Naming
• Summarizing
• Describing
• Defining
• Comparing/Contrasting
•  Classifying
• Exploring cause and effect
• Explaining problems and solutions

I also found it insightful to read through the many “margin notes” that are in the book, as the authors – sometimes individually, sometimes collectively – add further insights to various topics of the main text. The margin notes also make explicit connections to the Common Core, and highlight areas where exemplar lesson plans and ideas are located. In fact, the three educators here bring in many examples of classroom practice, which I found to be valuable and enlightening.

Many of us need to do more with explicit teaching of informational text, and Get It Done is an excellent map of teaching strategies, rationale and understanding that can ease that transition to a more balanced use of texts that so many of us teachers (in Common Core states and otherwise) are going to have to make.

Kevin Hodgson is a sixth grade teacher in Southampton, Massachusetts, and is the technology liaison with the Western Massachusetts Writing Project. Kevin blogs regularly at Kevin’s Meandering Mind and tweets more often than is healthy under his @dogtrax handle. He created the flowchart, possibly on a napkin at his favorite coffeehouse.

Write Like This: Teaching Real World Writing Through Modeling and Mentor Texts
By Kelly Gallagher
(Stenhouse Publishers, 2011 – Learn more)

Reviewed by Rhonda Leduc

When I first read the title of Kelly Gallagher’s latest book, Write Like This: Teaching Real-World Writing Through Modeling and Mentor Texts, my first reaction was, “Is this going to be another scripted, follow-the-dots, do-not-pass-go type of teaching guide?” Just the opposite, as it turns out. Gallagher’s approach to writing instruction is practical, relevant and doable by any teacher, which is particularly exciting news for those of us who are not English specialists.

In a nutshell, Gallagher’s teaching “formula” is:

1.  Teach students real-world writing purposes

2.  Teacher models his/her struggles with the writing process by writing in real time in front of students

3.  Include many real-world mentor texts for students to emulate

4. Give students the time necessary to write and grow as writers

Beyond “covering the standards”

Gallagher’s philosophy for writing instruction is simple. He argues that in order for students to become adults who are able to write effectively in real world situations, teachers need to move beyond a ’cover the state standards’ mind-set by introducing student writers to additional real-world writing opportunities. To achieve this, teachers need to employ authentic modeling, act as teacher mentors and use real-world texts.

A student remembers

To support his argument, Gallagher presents a comical yet thought-provoking scenario of an unlikely conversation between an English teacher and a former student. Student: “Oh, it is so good to see you! I was hoping to run into you some day so that I can tell you that I am still writing essays that analyze the author’s use of tone. I keep a “Tone Journal” at home, and I apply that skill you taught me 20 years ago in the tenth grade to everything I read today!  Let’s have lunch some day so I can share all the essays I have written recognizing the author’s tone found in all the books I have read since high school graduation.”

Copious resources

Each chapter, which focuses on a different type of real-world writing, is packed full of lesson ideas and includes suggested mentor texts, examples of teacher modeling that Gallagher has done with students, and examples of student work. He also addresses revision and editing. This is where the strength of the book lies. Gallagher is a fine writer, and after stating his writing philosophy convincingly, he has organized and communicated his lesson ideas in an effective and inspiring way.

Adapt for middle grades?

As Gallagher is a high-school English teacher, it’s no surprise that many of his lesson ideas and choices of mentor texts were more suitable for high school students. It would be nice to see suggested mentor texts at the middle school level, but don’t let this detract from the book’s usefulness to middle school teachers. As I was reading, I found myself making middle school adaptations to my favorite lesson ideas, and this was easily done. That said, I would love to see Gallagher write a book focused on balanced literacy instruction at the middle school level.

Gallagher has inspired me to reflect on my writing instruction, and I will definitely be thinking about real-world writing applications in my classroom this year.

Rhonda Leduc is a grade 6 middle school teacher in Victoria, British Columbia, with a particular interest in technology use in schools and connecting students to the world beyond their own. Rhonda has a Bachelor of Education and a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Victoria and a Master of Education degree in Educational Policy Studies with a focus in Global Studies in Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

For another teacher’s take on Write Like This: Teaching Real World Writing Through Modeling and Mentor Texts, read Francesca LoGiudice’s overview of the book’s content in an earlier MiddleWeb post.

Energize Research Reading and Writing: Fresh Strategies to Spark Interest, Develop Independence, and Meet Key Common Core Standards
by Christopher Lehman
(Heinemann, 2012 – Learn more)

Reviewed by Brooke Schultz

In Energize Research Reading and Writing, Christopher Lehman aims to challenge our learners (and our teachers) to think with higher levels of complexity and avoid being “spoon fed” through the research process. Lehman provides teachers working with students in grades 4 through 8 with tips and strategies for making research reading and writing applicable and motivating to our students. He also offers ideas on how to implement the Common Core Standards within classrooms, from a research perspective.

Lehman divides the book into seven chapters:

1. Research the Way It Was Meant to Be: A Re-Introduction
2. No More Handouts: Teach Students to Narrow Down Topics and Evaluate Sources Independently
3. Stop the Random Numbers and Recopied Paragraphs: Teach Students to Note-Take with Purpose, Not Indifference
4. Beyond “Put It into Your Own Words”: Teach Students to Write to Teach Ideas, Not Just Regurgitate Facts
5. Free From Graphic Organizers: Teach Students to Craft Organizing Structures with Their Readers in Mind
6. Without Agonizing Memorization: Teach Students to Cite Sources on Their Own
7. English or Content Areas, Long Studies or Short Projects: Turn Strategies into a Study That Matches the Needs in Your Classroom

Each chapter included student work samples, leveled strategies for differentiation, and a reflection piece at the end. This book is intended both for teachers of writing/reading courses and for content area teachers.

Too much for middle schoolers

As a 6^th grade reading teacher, I have been searching for books to help me implement the Common Core Standards, particularly the standards related to writing. As I started reading this book, I was immediately let down. The ideas, tips, and strategies seem almost impossible to implement at my grade level. Furthermore, Lehman discourages the use of effective research-based writing strategies such as outlines and graphic organizers. Even in college composition classes, professors require outlines.

I believe few middle school students would be able to structure research in a coherent way by designing their own outline or graphic organizer. The strategies presented in this book may be more beneficial for high school English and content classes, when students have been exposed to many different types of writing and research in the past. At that point, our students should be ready for the writing and research demands of college. I will continue to search for a book to help me implement the research and writing standards.

Brooke Schultz teaches 6th grade reading at Blue Earth Area Middle School. She has taught 8th grade English, special education at a care and treatment facility, and 5th and 6th grade. She earned a master’s degree in differentiated instruction. Brooke is a Professional Learning Community Leader, new teacher mentor, and peer coach. In addition, she’s been trained in the AFT Educational Research and Dissemination Program in the School, Family, and Community Partnerships Strand.

Beyond the Five-Paragraph Essay
by Kimberly Hill Campbell and Kristi Latimer
(Stenhouse Publishers, 2012 – Learn more)

Reviewed by  Liz Wisniewski

Beyond the Five Paragraph Essay by Kimberly Hill Campbell and Kristi Latimer is a book for all teachers who feel, as the authors do, that the five-paragraph essay format encourages students “to say very little in a very organized way.” It is a book written with respect for young writers, who deserve the chance to take on the tough, thought-intensive and deeply satisfying work of authentic literature responses. Teachers discouraged by the lack of original thought and creativity in student writing will value Campbell and Latimer’s insightful book for providing a process, plan and alternative writing formats that breathe life back into student writing.

I must admit to a certain bias as a reviewer. As a young tender student I was fed a strict diet of formulaic writing structures. Say the word “essay” and immediately a dreadful vision of an inverted triangle, followed by three rectangles and a pyramid base would pop into my head. Imagine my shock and surprise when, as a college student, I discovered the lyric beauty and easy humor of essays written by the likes of Didion, Orwell, White and Epstein. I fell genuinely in love with essays, and the art of literary response. I asked myself “Where have these essays been all my life” and “How come I do not have the slightest clue of how to write an authentic essay?”

So it was with particular enjoyment that I read the first chapter of Campbell and Latimer’s book. The authors bravely advance upon our education system’s fierce attachment to the five-paragraph essay, and proceed to eviscerate this sacred cow of secondary education.  The authors argue that the five-paragraph essay format:

• is not a structure used beyond the school walls;
• stifles intellectual exploration;
• is not useful as a writing “starting point,” as most students never move beyond the formula;
• limits the development of struggling writers; and
• leads to frustrated college professors who wonder at the shallow, uninspired writing produced by incoming students.

Not only do the authors back all these assertions up with research, they also provide evidence that the five-paragraph structure does not prepare students to score well on standardized tests. One major study found that only students who moved beyond the five-paragraph structure received above average marks on state writing tests. I found this reassuring evidence that the poor souls who have to read all of those standardized tests have not been totally dulled into apathy!

Better strategies

After convincing us of the shortcomings of the five-paragraph structure, Campbell and Latimer present a process for establishing thoughtful review and student-written response to literature. I found this section of the book particularly rich in ideas. As a teacher of writing I understand the need for students to use some of their reading energy to read like writers, and I have struggled with the specifics of how to actually teach such skills to students. Latimer and Campbell provide such specifics.

The authors also provide pragmatic strategies of how to teach students to look for craft, structure and theme. Through this work students use their writing to explore their thinking and to ask questions of the text, questions that lead to eventual essay topics. Helpful strategy summaries in matrix form are scattered throughout the text, providing detailed summaries of approaches for teaching students to respond to their reading in a way that inspires their writing.

The authors feel strongly that it is important for students to write “low stakes” literature responses to both discover thinking and communicate thought. Their strategy summaries for using journals, slideshows, haiku, collages and bookmarks serve as brief lesson plans that teachers can put directly to good use. As I read this section of the book my pen and stickies were flying, marking activities to use this fall.

After laying the groundwork for teaching students how to use their writing to “support their thinking about a text,” the authors discuss exploratory essays, “where one does not so much advance an argument, as examine and explore avenues for solving an interpretive or critical problem.” Then in the final chapters of the book the authors give guidance on how to “support students in learning to write with purpose and authority in an organized, analytical essay free of formula.”

One concern about the final chapters

There is much to like in the last section of the book. Campbell and Latimer provide explicit guidance on drafting inspired theses statements, ideas on thoughtful inclusion of text evidence and useful resources to use as essay examples. However, I felt that readers were left hanging in these last chapters.

Developing a curriculum that allows “a student’s thought process to determine the form (of an essay), and not the other way around” is challenging. The final chapters lack the explicit guidance that is so nicely provided in the earlier chapters. Really, the book might need to be twice as long to truly provide a full program of non-formulaic approaches to the beautiful art of essay writing.

That said, I still strongly recommend Beyond the Five Paragraph Essay. It may not have everything needed to eradicate the hollow and rigid writing structures inflicted upon our young, but it certainly provides an excellent start.

Liz Wisniewski teaches fourth graders in Massachusetts. She is an avid bibliophile, whose penchant for collecting books has resulted in a classroom library that is the envy of all local teachers. Prior to teaching Liz worked as an economist in the energy industry, negotiating electricity rates for generating plants.

Write Like This: Teaching Real-World Writing Through Modeling & Mentor Texts
By Kelly Gallagher
(Stenhouse, 2011 – Learn more)

Reviewed by Francesca LoGiudice

The day had been filled with optimistic speakers who explained how literacy strategies could be taught and assessed in a variety of ways. Indeed, the many topics reflecting the theme of the NYSRA 2011 conference, “Connecting Multiple Literacies,” all led back to the feasibility and importance of reaching our young readers and writers through the use of various media and texts.

Ralph Fletcher…Tim Rasinski…The Two Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser)… Steven Layne…each presenter was more perky and upbeat than the last. Then came the closing remarks by Kelly Gallagher, who began by apologizing for being the one to (and I am paraphrasing here) suck the joy out of the room. But what he did that day is what he has thankfully made a career of doing: presenting the facts of real-world teaching and the urgency we as educators should feel in bringing about change in our classrooms.

Kelly Gallagher is first and foremost a high school English teacher in Anaheim, CA, and he has written a series of books (including Readicide) that address the challenges of teaching and learning in the 21^st century era of “teaching to the test.”

Write Like This: Teaching Real-World Writing Through Modeling & Mentor Texts addresses the need for the development of writers who will be able to succeed in whichever career they choose. Gallagher writes that “…writing well has become a gatekeeping skill across the workforce” (3). He cites the fact that 7 out of 10 graduates do not have the writing skills needed for entry to most careers.  To address this deficiency, he strives to foster two tenets in his writing classroom: to expose his students to as much real-world writing as possible and to provide multiple opportunities for authentic writing.

A look inside the book

The format of this book is constructed to address 6 purposes of writing:

• to express and reflect
• to inform and explain
• to evaluate and judge
• to inquire and explore
• to analyze and interpret
• to take a stand and/or propose a solution (Bean, Chappell, Gillam 2003)

Gallagher devotes an entire chapter to each of the purposes listed above and takes us through the implementation of several activities which help develop each kind of writing.  He shares my mantra that all teachers need to show the struggles of writing to students through daily use of modeling. In my work as a literacy coach, I have been amazed at the number of teachers who are hesitant to write in front of students. Gallagher speaks to the need for the expert writer in the room to model the struggles involved:

When my students see me wrestling with decisions as my writing unfolds, it gives them insight on how to compose their own pieces. I don’t tell them how to draft their papers; I show them how I draft my papers…You are the best writer in your room; your students need to stand next to you and see how you struggle with the process as well (15).

And this is what I love about Gallagher: he practices what he preaches. In Write Like This, he takes the reader by the hand and shows how the teaching process occurs in his own classroom, warts and all. We see his rough drafts as well as several student examples, and sandwiched in between are the steps to developing each of the purposes.

The structure of Chapters 2-7 is the same:

• Gallagher shares a mentor text ( a piece of writing that serves as a model for the young writers) for each activity
• He models the type of writing
• He shares student samples
• He shares other writing ideas that address the purpose

These six chapters provide the reader with a multitude of activities which address the various real-world purposes of writing. Chapter 8 deals exclusively with the editing and revision process. As I was reading about Gallagher’s activities, I had paper close by because the modeling and student samples were so engaging that they inspired me to try my hand as well. The following chart highlights some of my favorites, and in the spirit of practicing what I preach, I have included snippets of my own writing:

This is but a sampling of the activities that Gallagher lays out for the educator like a gift beautifully wrapped. It is up to the reader to reflect upon the purposes underpinning the activities and to make them his/her own. Again, keeping a journal by your side will give you a head start when it comes time to try out the activities yourself.

10 Core Beliefs

Chapter 9 neatly ties together the philosophy that is the basis of Gallagher’s (and, as it turns out, my own) teaching. These 10 core beliefs could be the basis of a professional development course on how to teach writing. Among the ones that are most aligned with my experiences are that teachers should scaffold lessons that stretch young writers (Core Belief 2, p225) and students need more time to write, and more time to be coached how to write (Core Belief 6, p232). The text ends with an abundance of tools and samples to supplement the activities.

Kelly Gallagher may not be a “feel-good” kind of educator but of one thing I am sure: he is the kind of writer I aspire to be like. He is the kind of teacher I want to be for my students. In Write Like This, he has shown me how to continue on the path to real-world teaching. And, boy, does that feel good.

Francesca LoGiudice has been an educator for the past 23 years. She attained her Masters in Literacy at the University of Albany, where she taught a graduate course in emergent literacy, and presented at the Annual Conference on Children’s Literature in Athens, GA. In addition to teaching fifth and sixth grade, she has worked as a professional development specialist in literacy and as a literacy coach. Francesca says she is “currently working my way back into the classroom where my love of literacy began.”