Lucy is the Founding Director of both Mossflower Reading and Writing Project (formerly the Reading and Writing Project) and of Teachers College Reading and Writing Project (TCRWP) . She’s been on the faculty at Teachers College, Columbia University for over four decades, as both the co-director of the Literacy Specialist Program and the Richard Robinson Professor of Children’s Literature.

Lucy has written over fifty books, including the widely adopted Units of Study curriculum. Pathways to the Common Core was a New York Times best-seller selling book, and The Art of Teaching Writing is generally regarded as a foundational book in the teaching of writing. Recently, Lucy has edited a series of decodable books for children (Jump Rope Readers) and been the lead author for new editions of Units of Study for both reading and writing.

Lucy began her career as a teacher for elementary, middle and high school students, then joined Don Graves as a researcher on the National Institute of Education’s first major study of children as writers. That research has been credited with transforming the teaching of writing, bringing writing workshops, which were once the province of college classrooms, into K-8 classrooms. For decades since then, Dr. Calkins has devoted most of her time to leading organizations that aim to support best practices in the teaching of reading and writing. Lucy says, “It has been my greatest honor to work alongside the talented staff developers, teachers, and the school leaders who have helped develop, pilot, learn from, and teach reading and writing workshops, K-8.”

Amy’s super-power is organizational leadership. She is best known as the person who gets things done, swiftly and well. She creates the structures, systems and relationships that allow this organization to run efficiently, while never losing sight of our core values. For example, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Amy organized an effort to film, edit and curate over 3000 virtual minilessons. More recently, she has organized all the principal conferences and Thursdays for TCRWP. Amy has worked as Staff Developer and Project Manager for TCRWP, and she has taught university level classes within the Literacy Specialist Program at Teachers College. She studied Educational Leadership at Southern Methodist University.

Katie leads the writing team at Mossflower Reading and Writing Project, working with the entire staff to help pilot, develop, write and revise books, podcasts, web sites, tools, and curricula that extend our organization’s reach far beyond what we can accomplish through professional development alone. Katie herself is author, co-author, and editor of many units in the reading and writing Units of Study, including Journalism, Tackling Complexity, and Literary Essay. Her interests in environmentalism and social justice inform her work. She received her M.A. in Science Education from Teachers College.

Yasmina has 10+ years of marketing and strategy experience. She started her career in business development and field marketing at Oracle. During her MBA, she pivoted to luxury goods and services, where she has since worked in global strategy at Calvin Klein, strategic marketing and loyalty at Signet Jewelers, and rebranding at Luggage Forward. She also is the owner and editor of the Instagram influencer account Dress Well Travel Often where she shares her travels, personal style, corporate life, and daily musings. In her personal time, Yasmina is a voracious reader, having read 80 novels in 2023 alone. Yasmina earned a BBA in Marketing from The University of Texas at Austin's McCombs School of Business as well as a minor in French Literature. She also holds an MBA with a triple major in Marketing, Finance, and Managing Organizations from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.

Kathy is often the first and last person to connect with district leaders. She hears the particular needs and hopes that leaders have for a district, explores possible solutions with a district leader, and then works with Laurie Pessah and others to do the matchmaking which makes all the difference. Kathy’s great gift is that she builds enduring relationships. She also understands the pressures that district leaders and school principals experience as they try to juggle competing demands and hopes. Kathy was inspired to join the Reading and Writing Project because of the talent of its staff members and its mission to help teachers and students globally. During the year, she facilitates the dispatch of staff developers to schools and district homegrown institutes. She’s the go-to-person for help with resources, enrollments, and the inevitable challenges that arise…and she’s always ready to help anyone reach the exactly right person to help with their questions.

Elizabeth Franco is currently the Lead Writer and Editor for The Reading & Writing Project at Mossflower. She is the co-author of numerous titles across the Units of Study series, including Persuasive Writing of All Kinds: Using Words to Make a Change, a kindergarten opinion-writing unit, and Word Detectives, a beloved first grade unit that supports foundational skills. She has also authored several stories across the Jump Rope Readers decodable series, as well as the picture book Ocean Clean-Up Crew, inspired by her own children. Before joining RWPM, Liz served as general and special education teacher in NYC classrooms and holds a Masters in Literacy from Teachers College at Columbia University. Across her career, Liz has become especially known for her state-of-the-art work developing lessons and tools that motivate children to work with independence and zeal. She is a firm believer in the power of learning through play and has a passion for finding ways to make reading and writing both joyful and rigorous. 

Angela’s deep knowledge of phonics and her delight in storytelling and writing all come together when she writes books for our Jump Rope Readers series. She’s the author of many of these books–both those that have been published and those that are still in the pipeline, and she works with Liz Franco to help other authors develop their own books, always keeping phonics and levels of text complexity in mind. Angela studies early childhood development, including early literacy assessment and oral language development, and supports staff developers in bringing research to practice. She is passionate about the need for all children to see themselves in the books they read, and has brought this commitment to all her work as a staff developer with the Reading Writing Project.

Marjorie leads the art and design team at Mossflower Reading and Writing Project. Her gorgeous anchor charts and one-day charts grace the walls of classrooms around the world and travel home nightly with students in their writing folders. Her art helps make complex and abstract concepts accessible for all kids. She is the lead artist for the Units of Study in Reading, Writing, and Phonics series, and she’s played an especially significant role in developing tools and resources for Writing Pathways. Marjorie has extensive experience as a staff developer, senior research associate, and co-director of Reading Rescue at the Reading and Writing Project. In those roles, she has led numerous leadership groups and presented at many national and international educational conferences. Marjorie is a co-author of titles in the Units of Study in Writing Series for K-2 and for 3-5. In addition, Marjorie is co-author of Smarter Charts and Smarter Charts for Math, Science, and Social Studies, two books which teach teachers what they need to know about creating their own charts for their classrooms. Prior to her work as a staff developer, Marjorie was a New York City public school teacher, a teacher-researcher, and an adjunct professor at Bank Street College of Education. She has a MA in Early Childhood and Elementary Education from New York University, and she is the author of two Brain Quest Math decks for first and second grade.

Jess’ role as Social Media Coordinator at Mossflower Reading and Writing Project grows out of her extraordinary work partnering with teachers across the world through her Instagram account @lovetoteachlitearcy. Apart from her social media work, Jess will continue to serve as Staff Developer, bringing to this role her experience working as a grade 2-5 teacher, a literacy coach, a co-author in the Units of Study series and a consultant to Reading and Writing Project schools. She is particularly skilled at helping young learners develop independence by turning their reading and writing notebooks into toolkits full of goals, strategies, resources and inquiries. The teachers fortunate enough to work with Jess frequently remark on how she makes teaching literacy natural, accessible and fun. Jess is a graduate of Tufts, with an MA in Special Education from NYU and certification in Orton-Gillingham.

Casey assumes the role of Project Manager because of her deep, research-based understanding of the Sciences of Reading and her strong organizational leadership skills. In this role, she will have responsibility for spearheading work on new writing projects, communicating with state offices, and maintaining a strong relationship with Heinemann Publishing reps, To do this work, Casey will draw upon her extensive experience with online resources at Heinemann, her authorship of three books in the Units of Study series, and her deep connections to schools that are so important to her that she will also continue to serve as their staff developer. Teach for America initially provided Casey with her introduction into the field of education, and she has since solidified her dedication to student-centered, developmentally appropriate literacy instruction. Casey is particularly interested in emergent literacy, in helping schools make the shifts to bring the Sciences of Reading into their curricula, and in play-based inquiry across all the disciplines.

Dr. Katie is a consummate student, with a never-ending desire to study and write. She holds a Ph.D. in Urban Education with a focus on curriculum and instruction from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and is the co-author of Tackling Longer Words and Longer Books and Small Groups to Support Phonics Instruction. Further, Katie has taught at every level: she’s been a primary-level teacher, a k-6 literacy coach, and a faculty member for both undergraduate and graduate courses. In her work with schools in New York (as a staff developer at TCRWP) and across the nation (as a staff member for The Reading and Writing Project), Katie is especially known for helping teachers develop toolkits that allow them to be agile, flexible and responsive educators. Her work allows teachers to make the shifts required to bring the best of reading research into their balanced literacy classrooms. Her videos of small group work supporting decodable texts are favorites throughout the organization.

If you watch Lauren working with teachers, you’ll see her use a marker pen like magic to capture all their brilliant ideas on her iPad. One minute there is a blank screen the next minute there are images, linked with arrows, and captioned photos that highlight the gorgeous work of the teachers and kids with whom Lauren partners. “Look what these teachers are doing,” she’ll say. “Look at what these kids did!” Lauren never points out that the beautiful results come not only from the teachers and kids, but also from her own insights and ingenuity. Those of us who know her though never doubt that she is part of the alchemy at those schools. We’re lucky that Lauren left the American School of Barcelona, where she specialized in supporting multilingual language learners, to join the community of staff developers here. She livens the learning community at the Reading and Writing Project, just as she does her classrooms. Lauren reports that she is especially interested in vocabulary and note-taking, but you can be sure that a month from now, the interests will have morphed, because that’s just how she is.

More than a decade ago, Katy found her own way to her very first TCRWP summer institute, coming as a ‘lone wolf.’ Mid-week, she told her principal, “I’m going to need some money” because she decided she absolutely had to have the Units of Study curriculum. Soon she’d transformed her Newark, NJ middle school classroom into a flourishing writing workshop; her students’ passionate response led Katy to enroll in the Literacy Specialist Program at TC. Katy has co-authored the book Unlocking the Power of Classroom Talk, co-written several Units of Study, and she has authored the Ida series in the Jump Rope Readers. She is deeply interested in grammar, writing professionally, in supporting teachers’ writing lives, and in building strong learning cultures in schools and classrooms.

Laurie Burke is a graduate of the Teachers College Teaching of English MA Program. Before becoming a Staff Developer, Laurie taught literacy across content areas in Italy, Virginia, Florida, New York, and California. Laurie has supported schools across the country and internationally in Central America and Asia. She is committed to cultivating equitable, responsive places of learning and has a special focus on teaching for social justice. Laurie is also a co-author of Personal Narrative, grade 6.

Christine’s deep knowledge of the many ways teachers can support kids’ command of phonics and phonological awareness has been especially valuable during the recent tumultuous years. She’s known for her ability to help teachers analytically observe kids’ early reading and writing, noting the sources of meaning they call upon and tailoring instruction to help them approach reading and writing with agency and resourcefulness. Always, she reminds teachers that thinking is not an optional add-on for readers: rather, it is at the very core of what reading is all about. Christine draws on a deep and long background as a teacher, and for all of her 24 years in the classroom, she has been immersed in studies of literacy development. Even as a beginning teacher in Queens, her classroom was a labsite where teachers gathered to study together. Then, as now, she was especially fascinated by the power of small group teaching to respond to students’ needs.

Mandy has taught every grade pre-K-8 in public, private, urban and suburban settings and has worked as an elementary and middle school literacy coach, special education coordinator, and ESL coordinator. She was a teacher when the Reading and Writing Project first came to the Bronx in New York City and has been part of this work ever since. Mandy has mentored new teachers, served as a PTA co-president and been part of many school leadership teams. She has a strong interest in the Science of Learning– she is fascinated by how the brain processes information and connects new and existing information. Schools that partner with Mandy benefit from her passion for content area literacy, as well as her ability to work closely with administrators to build systems that support student growth.

Allyse Bader is a former staff developer for Teachers College Reading and Writing Project where she worked for the past decade providing high-quality professional development across the nation. In addition to building-based staff development, Allyse led many advanced institutes, full-day conferences, and lead teacher study groups in the tri-state area. She is a published co-author with Heinemann Phonics Units of Study where her passion for the transfer between phonics & writing and reading shine. She started the foundational skills institute at TCRWP to study the transfer of phonics into the reading and writing workshop. Since she has spent a lot of her SD working with teachers on making reading time a real balance for kids - promoting more decodable texts, words lists based on skill, as well as interest-based books. Allyse began her career in early childhood education as a first-grade teacher in the South Bronx while attending and later graduating from the Literacy Specialist Program at Teachers College. She continued teaching for several more years at PS 59 in Manhattan and fell in love with kindergarten while teaching in Larchmont, NY. She has joined The Educators Link team to provide virtual PD courses to school communities servicing a large number of new teachers. She most recently moved to Ridgewood, NJ, and enjoys raising her three young daughters.

Heather Reed is an innovative systems thinker with experience in special education, general education, coaching, and leadership. She also has certification and experience with reading intervention. No matter the role, Heather excels at supporting adult learning while building identity-affirming cultures with school communities that advance academic achievement. Her passion is increasing student agency and independence, most especially with literacy and thematic studies. She is also strong with standards-based curriculum.

Sarah’s work as a teacher-educator is rooted in her experiences as a general and special education teacher and as a literacy coach. Her MA in Reading and Literacy is from Bank Street College, and much of her education comes from working under the leadership of Sharon Hill, a former staff developer and principal of the Manhattan New School. Even when Sarah was a very new teacher, she was tagged as someone who could create turn-key curricula for other teachers. She reports, “I immediately knew that I loved supporting other teachers and being someone others could lean on.” Sarah is the author of both fiction and upcoming nonfiction Jump Rope Readers and the co-author of two Units of Study books. In her staff development, she often helps teachers welcome the disequilibrium that can come with growth, allowing them to form school cultures that support reflective practice and collaboration. She writes, “I believe in relationship building and in getting to know students as people, readers, and writers. When we know our students, we can adjust and modify the curriculum to ensure that we are inclusive and responsive to all kids. I’m equally intent on building relationships with teachers and school leaders, so together we can make plans for whole-school improvements to literacy practices, systems, and structures.”

Dani Sturtz taught for many years in Rockland County and New York City prior to becoming a Staff Developer. At PS 333, she participated in lead teacher and coaching groups and acted as a school leader, supporting primary teachers in literacy. Dani holds an MA from the Reading Specialist program at Teachers College. Dani is a Units of Study co-author of Marvelous Bloopers and Becoming Experts.

Logan is unique among the staff members who support Mossflower Reading and Writing Project’s many schools, because she is equally at home in primary and in secondary classrooms. This flexibility undoubtedly comes from her broad range of experiences, but it also comes from her adaptable personality. She is an avid student of reading, writing and phonics development, and this means that she understands the very beginnings of reading and writing, as well as the distant horizons. She is grounded in work with social and emotional intelligence and that work informs her relationships with both teachers and kids. Districts that have had the chance to work with Logan invariably ask for her to return again and again, and the secret to her success lies in her great range of knowledge, as well as her ability to form strong relationships with others.

Rebecca began her work in the field of education as a preschool teacher on a 1200 acre sheep ranch in Northern California. Since that time, she’s been a teacher and, for almost two decades, a staff developer. Recently, Rebecca has been a major leader in curriculum development with the brand new Units of Study in both writing and reading. Because of her deep grounding in the new units, she is often the spokesperson for them. Rebecca is a co-author of two reading Units of Study including, Sharing Reading and Learning About the World and a kindergarten writing unit, Writing for Readers: Writing Readable True Stories. She is also an author of a soon-to-be-released nonfiction series in the Jump Rope Readers. In her work partnering with schools, Rebecca especially enjoys helping teachers to draw on research and best practices in order to teach assessment-based small groups, and designing curricula that provides kids with a balanced and responsible education.

Grace is co-author of Reading History and of the upcoming, yet-to-be-named Unit of Study book on journalism. She has worked for decades as a teacher-of-teachers, both as a staff developer at TCRWP and through her national and international consulting work. Her M.A. and M.Ed. are from the English Education Program at Teachers College – a program that focuses on secondary English. Since graduating, Grace has taught writing courses and seminars for masters students at Teachers College. Schools that partner with Grace will benefit from her years of staff development experience, her extensive knowledge of reading and writing development and her special interest in helping schools cultivate professional learning communities in support of schoolwide goals.

Jepi’s background equips her to help not only individual schools, but also entire districts. She came to the East Coast after serving for six years as the K-6 ELA Coordinator in a large Texas district, helping to bring reading and writing workshops to scale across scores of schools. In that capacity, she worked with literacy coaches, school leaders, data specialists and of course teachers to form supportive, assessment-based communities of practice. Although Jepi has a global vision for school reform, she is deeply interested in the fine details of early literacy. She has been a Reading Recovery teacher, she’s trained in dyslexia intervention and has served as both a literacy coach and a reading specialist. She teaches a course in literacy for the Preservice Program at Teachers College, and has been a staff developer with TCRWP. She is also the co-author of Meeting Characters in the first grade Units of Study and of the Blueberry Series, featuring Liann, in the Jump Rope Readers. Schools that partner with Jepilyn will come to understand that all brains and all hearts learn differently and that the joy of teaching comes from striving to support each student’s unique ways of learning.

Alicia began her career in education as a grade 3-8 teacher and then as a district-wide literacy coach. She has been one of the few staff developers at TCRWP to work across all grade levels, and that flexibility and expertise has made her invaluable in helping schools develop cohesive school-wide plans for implementing best practices in literacy. She’s committed to supporting coaches, administrators, and teachers, and she has a special interest in helping learners transfer their skills as readers and writers to their studies in social studies, science, and math. Alicia has dual masters degrees (in Curriculum and Teaching and Administration) from Fordham University. She has led advanced sections at TC institutes, presented at national conferences, and is the co-author of books in the Units of Study series. When Alicia is not partnering with schools, presenting or writing, she enjoys performing at festivals worldwide as a classical choral singer.

Enid Martinez has worked for more than a decade as a staff developer. In that role, she’s served as a national literacy leader and an especially powerful force in primary literacy education. Prior to that, she was trained by Fountas and Pinnell as a Literacy Coordinator for Literacy Collaborative. She specializes in supporting schools with tailoring their reading instruction to their data and with supporting all learners Enid has particular expertise in supporting English Language Learners. In this role, she draws on her extensive experience working with English Language Learners in bilingual and mainstream classrooms in New York, as well as her experiences supporting bilingual, dual language, and mainstream classrooms.

Kara’s best known in our community for her ground-breaking work with upper-grade spelling and phonics. She’s authored a pre-publication curriculum that includes a pathway of 100+ micro-lessons to help upper grade kids who need especially explicit lessons in the patterns and rules that inform how spelling works in the English language. Teachers who work with Kara are thrilled with her ability to make language arts education accessible and joyful for all students. She supports teachers as they address the essentials with their students (particularly those who need extra help) and strives to make learning engaging and exciting. When Kara was a classroom teacher, she piloted Mystery: Foundational Skills in Disguise and the fun-loving tone of that foundational unit is Kara’s trademark.

Kathleen (Kat) Schechter is a lead staff developer for the secondary team. Kat mentors colleagues, innovates and authors curriculum, designs institutes, and brings endless energy and wisdom to all of our work with middle and high school. Kat earned her master's degree from the Secondary English program at Teachers College. She taught middle school English for many years in New York City prior to joining the Project, including 10 years at East Side Community School. Kat is a co-author of a unit on memoir for the new 6-9 Units of Study in Writing.

Mike Ochs taught in rural and urban schools before becoming a Staff Developer. He has written dozens of nonfiction pieces for children, many of which are in published materials, and is co-author of two books in the Grades 3-5 Units of Study series: Reading the Weather, Reading the World and Literary Essay. Mike has also developed a particular interest in vocabulary acquisition and has authored the beloved Word Love curriculum. Mike is a graduate of the Teachers College Literacy Specialist program.

Cynthia has worked part-time as a staff developer for years, and her decision to work part-time has allowed her to do work outside of staff development that enriches her professional development. Her work as an adjunct professor in SUNY Old Westbury’s Literacy Education program, for example, helps her to be especially mindful of the support that new teachers need. Her own writing and research helps ground her staff development work. Of course, Cynthia also draws on her own experiences as a graduate student and a teacher. Her MS is in Special Education, and much of her teaching experience focused on supporting learners with IEPs. When Cynthia is asked on whose shoulders she stands in her staff development, her answer—like the answer of so many of us–is that she carries Kathleen Tolan’s wisdom with her always.