Being a literacy teacher is a demanding task that requires teachers to develop rich classroom experiences that actively engage students in the language processes of listening, speaking, reading and writing.
The goal of Literacy Treasures is to inspire literacy teachers to develop authentic classroom experiences that help students actively engage in becoming literate citizens of their classroom community.
Grab your favorite drink and snack and settle in. Don't forget to drop back in to check out all the tips, strategies and ideas available to enhance your literacy instruction.
See you inside...
Who is behind Literacy Treasures?
Meet Tanya
Public School Teacher Mentor Teacher Literacy Consultant
I have been in education for over 20 years. I have been an elementary classroom teacher, a mentor to brand new teachers, a literacy consultant, a reading interventionist, a reading coach and curriculum facilitator. Throughout my career, I have worked in a Texas classroom but have served several school districts in different capacities across the South. Literacy Treasures is a place for educators to visit for literacy instructional inspiration and community.
During my time as a teacher, I have taught 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade and served as a Reading Interventionist. When I graduated from college and began my teaching career, I thought my learning days were over. Boy was I wrong! Everything I know about teaching young children, I learned on the job! My experiences required professional development and my trials and errors were great learning tools. However, my richest resources for growing as a teacher were the experiences, conversations with colleagues, book studies and personal challenges I put on myself.
I was blessed to always have a team of teachers on my grade level who were just as "nerdy" as me in wanting to learn more about teaching to grow as a professional. We immersed ourselves in the research of Lucy Calkins, Stephanie Harvey, Debbie Miller, Carl Anderson, Gay Su Pinnell, Irene Fountas and so many others. We inspired and challenged each other to want to know more and do what was best for our students! Everything that becomes part of Literacy Treasures is rooted in that professional research and those collaborative conversations I had with my colleagues during our book studies and planning sessions together. Literacy Treasures is a tool to continue my growth as a professional and hopefully inspire other teachers to do the same.
Many of my teaching years were filled with college students visiting my classroom for their field experience assignments. I've also shared my classroom with several student teachers during their teaching semester. Many times I had a brand new teacher on my grade level teaching team or in my school building and was given the task of serving as their mentor during their first year of teaching. Many people find these experiences to be exhausting and daunting, but I didn't. I think that having brand new teachers with me most of my teaching years, helped me to keep my teaching style and ideas fresh. I was able to keep up with the latest research and most innovative teaching ideas. The conversations and collaborations I had with those teachers, as well as, the coaching that I did during their tenure in my classroom helped me in my quest of growing as a professional.
I also served as a literacy consultant for one of the consultants who coached me in my classroom. As a consultant, I worked as part of a team that entered school districts and provided intense training in Balanced Literacy, as well as, follow up training throughout the year.