Building a Reader

Helping teachers create authentic, engaging, and effective reading experiences

For me, your students' engagement is personal!

I’ve spent 30 years in education, and I still get excited about helping teachers create classrooms where reading feels real, connected, and joyful. I started out as an elementary teacher, moved into reading instruction and training, and now I work as a literacy consultant, author, and curriculum designer. I help teachers and students understand the complexity of developing literate minds so that students fall in love and get lost in books and writing.

Read my story

Jennifer's passion for learning is contagious; she inspires everyone around her to reach their full potential. She has a gift in discovering strengths of her colleagues and gives them the confidence that they can positively impact their student's learning.

Kristen Craig

Erin Klopstad

Jen's depth of knowledge is incredible and she's always stretching us to have rationale behind the decisions that we make based on best practice and research in the field of literacy. She continues to stretch us and grow as as professionals by even again breaking things down in ways that are really easy to understand that we can apply that very same day into teaching.

It seemed like we were, maybe pushing kindergarteners further than they should be pushed. But through all the trainings and modeling that Jen showed us and all the examples Jen has given us and all the resources, I've seen that kindergarteners are more than capable of doing the things that we're asking them to do in reading. Our kids are in a much better spot at this point in the year than they have been in years past.”

Emily Holm, Kindergarten Teacher

"We hadn't been getting a lot of results (with our kindergarten students). Since doing this (Building Joyful Reads lessons) we've seen a switch in our student's ability to pick up texts and know how to read them and how to interact with them. It definitely helps with phonics. Students feel successful (which creates joy). Students are engaged all of the time. This gives me an avenue of teaching the skills in context and yet is the quickest they have been able to pick up sounds. It's fifteen minutes a day."

Megan Dodd, Reading Teacher

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