I help upper elementary teachers build deeper comprehension using powerful picture books. Through my A Book & A Look™ method, I show teachers how to turn mentor texts into meaningful literacy lessons that develop theme, perspective, discussion, and written response. My work focuses on helping Grades 3–5 teachers use stories to spark big thinking while maintaining a clear weekly literacy structure. You’ll find picture book companions, literacy systems, and culturally responsive read-aloud lessons designed to strengthen comprehension and classroom discussion.
Nobody Was Coming to Save Me
Published about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Weekly Classroom Reset
Week 17: True Story
Hi Reader,
Sunday Reset is a little different this week. I want to tell you a story.
Years ago, I was a multigrade teacher. Different grades, different reading levels, different standards, all in one room. And the kids who were labeled “struggling readers” were the ones I thought about on Sunday nights. Still do, honestly.
Here’s what I remember most. I had no help. No coach coming in to model a lesson.
No curriculum that met those kids where they were. No time built into my day to plan something better.
Just me, a classroom full of readers spread across four or five levels, and the quiet pressure to move the needle anyway.
So I did what most of us do. I stacked prep on top of prep. I pulled texts from everywhere. I made my own graphic organizers at 9 PM.
I stayed late. I cried in my car more than once. And at the end of the year, some kids grew and some didn’t, and I felt personally responsible for every single one.
Yup, that’s me despite wearing my signature Mickey ears -I was exhausted and this picture was after Spring Break
It took me years to name what was actually happening. It wasn’t that I wasn’t working hard enough. It’s that the structure I was handed wasn’t built to move the needle for struggling readers.
And nobody was coming to fix it.
That’s the whole reason the Garden of MTSS Reading Pathways exists.
I built it for the teacher I was back then. The one with no coach, no time, and a room full of readers who needed something different than what the curriculum offered.
One mentor text. Three tiers. A placement checklist built in, so you stop guessing who needs what.
The thinking is already done. Your job is to teach.
If this sounds like your classroom right now, I made a full YouTube video (after a 4 year hiatus) walking through the framework. Link below.
And if you just need someone to tell you this week: Reader, you’re not failing your struggling readers. The structure is failing them, and you’re doing the best you can inside it.
Upper Elementary Literacy Specialist Picture Book Literacy EducatorLiteracy Systems for Grades 3–5
I help upper elementary teachers build deeper comprehension using powerful picture books. Through my A Book & A Look™ method, I show teachers how to turn mentor texts into meaningful literacy lessons that develop theme, perspective, discussion, and written response. My work focuses on helping Grades 3–5 teachers use stories to spark big thinking while maintaining a clear weekly literacy structure. You’ll find picture book companions, literacy systems, and culturally responsive read-aloud lessons designed to strengthen comprehension and classroom discussion.