Pam Allyn (top row, second from left), founder and executive director of LitLife, an internationally recognized organization that trains hundreds of K-12 teachers each year (including here in the Hoboken School District), and the founding director of Books for Boys, an award-winning mentoring and reading initiative at the Children's Village spoke to a group of District parents, teachers and administrators at Brandt School on Wednesday evening. Pam is the recipient of a Points of Light/Disney award and two James Patterson PageTurner Awards for excellence in bringing literacy to underserved populations. She is also the author of The Complete 4 for Literacy, a guide for educators, and coauthor of the six-book series The Complete Year in Reading and Writing. Ms. Allyn fielded questions from all and spoke of her new book entitled What to Read and When. LitLife and the Hoboken School District have partnered in a multi-year, long term partnership bringing state of the art professional development in language, reading and literacy to our professional staff in Grades 1-3 with a planned expansion into Grades 4 and 5 for 2009-2010. LitLife emphasis on self regulation and metacognitive skills helps children transition from decoding text to the development of more complex comprehension strategies. NCLB Coordinator Jennifer Lopez has facilitated much of the professional development aspects in the district and Hoboken High School principal Lorraine Cella was instrumental in bringing LitLife to the attention of Dr. Petrosino and Superintendent Raslowsky. LitLife is also serving as an external reviewer for he Language Arts curriculum revision project for Grades 1-5.
Picture: Top Row - Left to Right
JRR, Pam Allyn, L. Cella, J. Lopez, Sharon Cantone (Literacy Coach),Mimi Park (Parent from Stevens Coop)
Seated - Left to Right
Felicia Sacci (Literacy Coach), Linda Malba (Parent), Edith Vega
