Case Study | Emerald Johnson | Instructional Support Specialist | Wingate Elementary

A note from Renee

Emerald and I met 2 years ago in Union County, North Carolina, at a neighboring school to Wingate Elementary School. I had just moved to the area and wanted to connect with fellow educators as well as offer my support in designing their professional study in literacy.

Emerald and I brainstormed, and we launched a professional study initiative at Wingate last spring with a think tank of teachers. We wanted to center teacher voice in their professional study and hear directly from them which areas they wanted to study.

At the time of publishing this post, we are almost at the 1-year mark of starting that study. The teaching of writing and the engagement with writing from K-5 at Wingate is quite inspiring — goosebump-worthy, even — because of all the work the teachers are doing.

They have prioritized their professional study in writing this year (and, hopefully, the next 3 years), and Emerald has been at the helm — supporting them, giving them time to plan, going through the writing process with them, thinking through the curriculum, and coaching them. It's amazing!

Testimonial

“What a joy and privilege it is to work alongside Renee. She is personable, relatable and brings such a vast bank of knowledge in literacy to the table. We look forward to the on-site and virtual opportunities to partner with her and learn more about growing and building our literacy instruction.
She comes prepared and ready for anything and is willing to get in the classroom to model. I enjoy the opportunities to collaborate and feel as though I have a West Coast colleague and friend whom I can count on to brainstorm together, build capacity at Wingate, and help talk through everyday realities. I look forward to continuing our partnership with Renee!”

The Story

Emerald is a curriculum supporter, facilitator, and coach. Part of Emerald’s work is on the literacy instructional team for the county, but the heart of her work is with Wingate Elementary, where she’s been the past 14 years.

Her work includes:

Making decisions about curriculum
Helping to provide professional development and support for teachers
Coaching them in professional learning communities as well as individually

Emerald works closely with the principal and is trusted to carry out the school’s mission and vision and provide teachers with the tools to do the same. Building and maintaining relationships by listening to the community's needs is the backbone of her work.

She met Renee about 2 years ago at another cluster elementary school but was already familiar with some of her work with the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project. She had also read Renee’s book, co-authored with Gravity Goldberg, What Do I Teach Readers Tomorrow.

After the visit and lab work she participated in, Emerald immediately went to her principal and advised him to invest in the other resources Renee offered and find a way to start partnering with her.

Shortly after that visit, the pandemic hit, and Emerald had the opportunity to investigate and study more of Renee's work. In addition, the teachers in her building had been asking about professional development related to writing instruction and how they could better meet the needs of their students in writing.

So when they returned to in-person instruction in August 2020, Renee and Emerald met a few times virtually, created a plan together, and the magic began!

The Challenge

The teachers Emerald works with chose to focus their professional study goals around the teaching of writing. They were seeking guidance to help them understand a process approach to teaching writing that supports all student writers throughout the K-5 community.

Emerald supports teachers in all subject areas. So while designing a year of professional study for the team, she considered inviting someone from outside Wingate Elementary School’s community as a way to bring a perspective that could help the team see the big picture, take the foundation of what Wingate had laid, and build upon it.

Although her expertise is in literacy, Emerald knew partnering with someone who works in multiple school communities and therefore could offer tools, insights, and experiences from outside the district would provide fresh eyes, perspective, and innovation to inspire teachers to move forward in their own professional goals and learning.

Wingate has such a reflective group of teachers who constantly seek out the opportunity to grow their craft in all subject areas, including the teaching of writing. They needed a resource, but the biggest challenge was timing.

After meeting Renee and participating in “Lab Study” with her at a neighboring school, Renee and Emerald were ready to move forward in growing their initiative at Wingate. The pandemic put moving forward with outside professional development to a halt, but luckily, that was only temporary, and they soon were able to get the ball rolling.

The Change (in Emerald’s Words)

“As soon as Renee stepped on-site, real change happened.
Our teacher think tank met with her in the Spring of 2021 in person and began the important work of clarity, alignment, and vision that is needed to launch a school-wide initiative that will inevitably be met with (important) tension when pedagogy, teaching, and curriculums are shifting and changing.
The teachers worked together to create a writing vision and culture of professional study to share with the entire community. Even after a challenging year of navigating the ebb and flow of teaching in a global pandemic, they were excited to renew their commitment to professional study and do the work to transform writing instruction. That work trickled into many facets of their teaching. We noticed a shift in the entire culture of professional study in our community that surpassed the teaching of writing.
After the team drafted the vision, it was messaged to every educator in our community, along with the support structures in place to help them in their professional study journey. Part of that support was launched with two mini summer institutes, the first at the beginning of the summer and then a second right before school started.
The timing was strategic so that teachers had a clear vision and understood the goals of the initiative, their own first-hand experiences of going through the writing process, and the professional study they needed to begin the year. Each time teachers met with Renee, either remotely or brick and mortar, teachers and students were excited to share the work they’d been doing and always wanted to learn more.
The teachers and students at Wingate Elementary School have a love for writing they’ve never had! They have increased their knowledge and understanding of the process and how to weave the language of “process learning” throughout their day. Our students’ writing has improved in quality and quantity, and their literacy scores and skills have improved, too.
Because Renee has such an incredible wealth of literacy knowledge, it has made crafting the instruction accessible, relatable, and attainable to both new and experienced staff. As a result, students feel successful and enjoy writing. Instead of dreading writing time, they are excited to write and disappointed when the block ends!
What an incredible shift in our culture through our professional study of the teaching of writing inspired and supported by Renee’s work.”

Need a thinking partner?

If you want to see results like Emerald’s and the Wingate community, Renee is here to help you read, write, and think your way through with free training exercises and articles to level up your teaching game. Get in touch!