Building a grass-roots movement in the Bellingham School District to improve teachers’ professional development from the inside out, Dawn Christiana and Pam Pottle are leading the charge to redefine the district’s core curriculum. Dawn and Pam have taken on leadership roles within the school district as members of the Literacy Advisory Committee and the Literacy Steering Committee, as well as leadership positions as District Level Literacy Advisory Facilitators.

Pam is a primary teacher with many years experience coaching, teaching, and leading colleagues to stronger instructional practice, as well as a deeply nuanced understanding of the Bellingham school district. Dawn is an intermediate teacher whose career has taken her from Pennsylvania to Washington State. Her range of classroom experience, along with her experience providing seminars with the Bureau of Education and Research throughout the United States and Canada give Dawn a broad national perspective on education. As two of the state’s finest literacy educators, the award committee was struck by the depth of collaboration that they’ve built into their projects.

In their role as District Literacy Advisory Facilitators, Dawn and Pam conducted a district-wide survey that identified major inconsistencies in approaches to instruction, as well as a number of resources being used in classrooms that did not mesh with a balanced-literacy approach. They tackled the issue head on, using their positioning within the steering committee to build a stronger foundation for literacy district wide. They wrote:

“To us, common core curriculum is defined as powerful core instruction, standards-based, intentionally focused on comprehensive literacy assessment and evaluation. We also believe that no common core curriculum can be guaranteed or viable without the foundation of strong, systematic, sustainable professional development for all teachers.”

Their commitment to enhancing professional development district-wide and to including all stakeholders in open and transparent lines of communication is providing teachers with vital support and opportunities for growth in the Bellingham region.

Kate Norem Morris is an intermediate classroom teacher and a Title I reading teacher from the Everett School District. Kate has drawn on a workshop model to build students’ love for literacy in her classroom at Horizon Elementary, a school with a free and reduced lunch rate of over 90% and a large ELL population. Kate’s work reflects her belief that “literacy instruction based on clear models and demonstrations, engaging texts and discussions, and student choice and goal setting will foster proficient readers and writers regardless of student background or circumstances.”

Kate has reached out to others in her school as a professional mentor, facilitating professional book clubs, modeling guided reading, and leading classes throughout the district for her fellow teachers. She also built a school-wide system that uses formative running records to create intervention groups for struggling readers, a clear example of the ways in which Kate confronts new challenges with tremendous enthusiasm. Kate’s project is truly localized and personal; the award committee was struck by its great potential to positively impact student learning. Kate will be reaching out to a new student population next year at the Bush School in Seattle, where she plans to foster a commitment to social justice and global citizenship through students’ meaningful engagement with literature.

We are truly inspired by these teachers’ work and look forward to seeing the ways this award will allow them to continue to grow as leaders within their professional communities over the course of the next year.

Joseph Swinea has been and continues to be a lifelong learner focused on strengthening professional learning of all teachers, including his own, to support strong student learning. From the very earliest years in his career, he has been keenly interested in literacy instruction and has studied numerous professional books to spark his own learning, volunteered to be coached by other professionals, and opened his classroom as a demonstration site in which other teachers could observe and learn how to refine their own instructional practices. His teaching experience in grades 2 – 7 spans from working in inner-city schools in San Diego with high populations of language learners, to his current position, where he works in at the John F. Kennedy School, a Berlin public school for both American and German students.

Joseph shares his belief about the importance of professional collaboration in this statement: “Teachers have a great deal of experience and wisdom about the profession, and it’s vitally important to the quality of education of our students receive that we meet and build capacity among each other.” Current economic issues reduced the public school budget in Berlin and little if no money has been allotted for professional learning for his staff. But that has not daunted Joseph in moving forward in planning and crafting professional learning experiences for his colleagues. The award committee was struck by Joseph’s strong initiative in the face of barren resources. By receiving the Bonnie Campbell Hill International Coaching Award, Joseph will be able to receive ongoing training over two years in coaching strategies to continue his focus on professional learning in his school. His vision is to support his colleagues in establishing classroom libraries, creating a family literacy center, and beginning a professional book study group as a part of an overall plan to create a stronger atmosphere of professional collaboration and learning among his faculty.

We feel that Bonnie Campbell Hill’s inspiration and dedication to the building of connections of educators will be realized in the selection of Joseph. Besides supporting and building capacity within his own school colleagues, Joseph will become a valued colleague in a professional network of other literacy leaders in international schools, allowing his school to learn from others whom they might not ever have had a chance to connect with before this training.

Joseph Swinea has been and continues to be a lifelong learner focused on strengthening professional learning of all teachers, including his own, to support strong student learning. From the very earliest years in his career, he has been keenly interested in literacy instruction and has studied numerous professional books to spark his own learning, volunteered to be coached by other professionals, and opened his classroom as a demonstration site in which other teachers could observe and learn how to refine their own instructional practices. His teaching experience in grades 2 – 7 spans from working in inner-city schools in San Diego with high populations of language learners, to his current position, where he works in at the John F. Kennedy School, a Berlin public school for both American and German students.

Joseph shares his belief about the importance of professional collaboration in this statement: “Teachers have a great deal of experience and wisdom about the profession, and it’s vitally important to the quality of education of our students receive that we meet and build capacity among each other.” Current economic issues reduced the public school budget in Berlin and little if no money has been allotted for professional learning for his staff. But that has not daunted Joseph in moving forward in planning and crafting professional learning experiences for his colleagues. The award committee was struck by Joseph’s strong initiative in the face of barren resources. By receiving the Bonnie Campbell Hill International Literacy Coaching Award, Joseph will be able to receive ongoing training over two years in coaching strategies to continue his focus on professional learning in his school. His vision is to support his colleagues in establishing classroom libraries, creating a family literacy center, and beginning a professional book study group as a part of an overall plan to create a stronger atmosphere of professional collaboration and learning among his faculty.

We feel that Bonnie Campbell Hill’s inspiration and dedication to the building of connections of educators will be realized in the selection of Joseph. Besides supporting and building capacity within his own school colleagues, Joseph will become a valued colleague in a professional network of other literacy leaders in international schools, allowing his school to learn from others whom they might not ever have had a chance to connect with before this training.

A twelve-year veteran public school teacher from Arlington, Texas, Saba Khan Vlach has been a leader of her grade level team for eight years and has served as a district staff developer on a variety of literacy topics, written language arts and math curriculum, served on textbook adoption committees for language arts, and taught the Early Literacy seminar for the district. This award will help further Saba’s ongoing classroom-based research on the response of African-American students to culturally conscious African-American literature. Saba writes that she is inspired by “Gloria Ladson-Billing’s conception of a culturally relevant pedagogy: one in which children thrive academically, maintain their cultural identity and are willing to challenge the status quo in society.”

Saba intends to present her research at three national conferences: in Chicago at NCTE’s Children’s Literature Assembly Post-Conference; in Jacksonville, Florida at the Literacy Research Association Annual Conference; and in Dallas at the Billie J. Askew Early Literacy Conference. The selection committee is proud to support Saba’s vision of a literacy-focused, inclusive classroom that helps all students develop a love of literature.

Dr. Mary-Kate Sabelski and Dr. Jackie Arnold currently lead and teach the Masters in Literacy program at the University of Dayton. They also work in cooperation with the university’s Center for Catholic Education, a center focused on cultivating collaborative relationships between university professors and local Catholic schools, in particular with the numerous urban elementary schools in the area. Last year, Mary and Jackie designed and implemented a one-day “Picture Book Read-In” to encourage urban schools and teachers who are passionate about literature, but in need of support, to find new, high quality reading material for their students. Over eighty teachers participated in last year’s read-in; this award will, in part, help support a similar event next summer.

During the read-in event, teachers will be able to discuss favorite books, curriculum connections, thoughts about their reading experience, and plans to integrate new literature into their curriculum for the upcoming year. Participants will then have the option to participate in a yearlong professional learning community focused on the reading and discussion of high quality children’s literature. Mary and Jackie are passionate about creating a group “grounded in the specific goals of the participants, resulting in an organically built professional development experience.” This professional learning community incorporates online discussions and other collaborative learning approaches and will meet on a monthly basis throughout the school year, concluding with a book luncheon for all participants. One of the participants will be awarded financial support, through a lottery, to attend and represent the group at the NCTE Annual Convention in Chicago. The selection committee was impressed by this teaching team’s creative approach to supporting urban schools and invigorating a network of teachers committed to the use of high-quality literature in the classroom.

With their thoughtful research, commitment to collaboration, leadership efforts within their professional communities, and love for great children’s literature, this year’s award winners exemplify the goals of the Bonnie Campbell Hill Award for Literacy Leaders. Their awards will be presented during the NCTE/CLA breakfast in November, at the NCTE national convention in Chicago.

Building a grass-roots movement in the Bellingham School District to improve teachers’ professional development from the inside out, Dawn Christiana and Pam Pottle are leading the charge to redefine the district’s core curriculum. Dawn and Pam have taken on leadership roles within the school district as members of the Literacy Advisory Committee and the Literacy Steering Committee, as well as leadership positions as District Level Literacy Advisory Facilitators.

Pam is a primary teacher with many years experience coaching, teaching, and leading colleagues to stronger instructional practice, as well as a deeply nuanced understanding of the Bellingham school district. Dawn is an intermediate teacher whose career has taken her from Pennsylvania to Washington State. Her range of classroom experience, along with her experience providing seminars with the Bureau of Education and Research throughout the United States and Canada give Dawn a broad national perspective on education. As two of the state’s finest literacy educators, the award committee was struck by the depth of collaboration that they’ve built into their projects.

In their role as District Literacy Advisory Facilitators, Dawn and Pam conducted a district-wide survey that identified major inconsistencies in approaches to instruction, as well as a number of resources being used in classrooms that did not mesh with a balanced-literacy approach. They tackled the issue head on, using their positioning within the steering committee to build a stronger foundation for literacy district wide. They wrote:

“To us, common core curriculum is defined as powerful core instruction, standards-based, intentionally focused on comprehensive literacy assessment and evaluation. We also believe that no common core curriculum can be guaranteed or viable without the foundation of strong, systematic, sustainable professional development for all teachers.”

Their commitment to enhancing professional development district-wide and to including all stakeholders in open and transparent lines of communication is providing teachers with vital support and opportunities for growth in the Bellingham region.

Kate Norem Morris is an intermediate classroom teacher and a Title I reading teacher from the Everett School District. Kate has drawn on a workshop model to build students’ love for literacy in her classroom at Horizon Elementary, a school with a free and reduced lunch rate of over 90% and a large ELL population. Kate’s work reflects her belief that “literacy instruction based on clear models and demonstrations, engaging texts and discussions, and student choice and goal setting will foster proficient readers and writers regardless of student background or circumstances.”

Kate has reached out to others in her school as a professional mentor, facilitating professional book clubs, modeling guided reading, and leading classes throughout the district for her fellow teachers. She also built a school-wide system that uses formative running records to create intervention groups for struggling readers, a clear example of the ways in which Kate confronts new challenges with tremendous enthusiasm. Kate’s project is truly localized and personal; the award committee was struck by its great potential to positively impact student learning. Kate will be reaching out to a new student population next year at the Bush School in Seattle, where she plans to foster a commitment to social justice and global citizenship through students’ meaningful engagement with literature.

We are truly inspired by these teachers’ work and look forward to seeing the ways this award will allow them to continue to grow as leaders within their professional communities over the course of the next year.