TIS brought in the Teachers College Reading Writing Project(TCRWP) Writing Workshop model last year. These are rigorous professional development resources that our teachers in grades 1-6 have been using to guide writing instruction with their students. Havilah is here for intensive training and coaching for two weeks. She is running lab-sites in classrooms at every grade level while our teachers watch her teach and model best practices around writing. She is spending time in each teacher’s classroom watching each teacher teach, answer their questions regarding writing workshop and offering each one feedback while they teach.

Havilah is enjoying her sessions at TIS and is very impressed and appreciative of the school where the staff are extremely collaborative and great learners. She added that it is a privilege for her to be working with people who are working hard to try to make their practice better.

About Havilah (Heinemen website): 
Havilah Jespersen first fell in love with teaching reading as a Reading Recovery teacher, where she developed a passion for working with struggling readers and became an advocate for great literacy instruction in every classroom. She went on to earn her MA in the Literacy Specialist Program at Teachers College, and intern as a staff developer with the TCRWP. Havilah has extensive experience as a classroom teacher of grades 1-6 in Canada and at international schools in China. She currently works as a literacy coach supporting PreK through Grade 6 teachers in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.