Building a Reader
Powerful professional development for school districts
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
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.
My book, Building Readers from the Playground to Print was the book I had always wanted as a kindergarten and first grade teacher. I wrote it and my training system (contact me to learn more) to help teachers bring joyful reading experiences to both whole class reading experience and authentic independent practices. Cheers to loving teaching.
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Build a Strong, Literate School
Increase student independence, build foundational skills and create learning habits that transfer into other aspects of their educational journey
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Debbie Haywood
Literacy Coach
Working with Jennifer Burns is refreshing and energizing. She is able to focus on an area of need, identify the parts for improvement and know how to guide learning that best supports teachers. She is fearless and courageous, addressing needs that are avoided and does so in a professional, kind way. Teachers respect her because of her knowledge, guidance, focus and practical experience. Going back into the classroom herself adds credibility to her because she has most recently experienced it herself.
Brandy Clark
Principal, Southern Boone Primary School
On behalf of our entire staff, I want to extend our sincere gratitude for the outstanding professional development you provided. Your session on instructional strategies to support our readers and writers was both informative and inspiring. The scaffolding techniques and real-life scenarios you shared were practical, meaningful, and immediately applicable to our classrooms. Even more exciting was seeing our teachers implement the strategies you modeled in their own classrooms the very next day. The energy and confidence they brought to their instruction was amazing to see, and it's a testament to the impact you had on our team. I have attached some pictures I took during my observations yesterday.
Julie Schaefer, PhD
Elementary ELA Coordinator, Columbia Public Schools
Our collaborative learning with Jennifer Burns has been magical so far! The empowerment that teachers, instructional coaches, and administrators are already feeling after only two days of learning with Jennifer is such an amazing shift. The experiences that Jennifer brings directly from the classroom are the difference maker. Everything she shares is practical and her passion for student-learning is a gamechanger. She supports teachers to understand the why, the when, and the how (what to say and do) that empowers students see like a reader, hear like a reader, think like a reader, and believe, "I am a reader." The immediate transfer of this from learning together, seeing it in action within our classrooms, and then having a lesson planned and ready for each teacher to put into action the next day...truly made this learning come to life. I've never seen teachers so excited about learning that can be applied to their classrooms right away. I can't wait to continue this learning journey with Jennifer and see the impact on student learning and empowerment!
"We hadn't been getting a lot of results (with our kindergarten students). Since doing this (Building Kindergarten Readers - BKR) 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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