Teacher Academy
Professional Learning from an Educator Who Is Still Teaching
The most meaningful professional development connects research to the realities of actual classrooms.
After 27 years in education, I continue to work directly with students every week—providing reading intervention and dyslexia therapy through Literacy Academy, teaching Literacy Blocks for students in grades 3–12 through Coastal Academy, collaborating with teachers across content areas, and developing and refining the Power Words Layered Literacy Framework.
I believe continuing to teach makes me a better trainer.
Every lesson I teach, every student I serve, and every challenge I encounter helps shape the resources and professional learning I share with educators. My training is grounded in research, but it is also informed by current classroom practice, ongoing intervention, and lessons refined with real learners—not simply educational theory.
Two Ways to Participate in Teacher Academy
Teacher Academy professional learning is available to individual educators as well as schools, districts, and educational organizations. You don't have to wait for your school to schedule professional development—or bring an entire faculty with you—to participate.
1. For Individual Educators
Throughout the year, I offer Teacher Academy workshops at The Literacy Lady's Learning Studio in Diamondhead, Mississippi. Educators may register independently for any workshop that meets their professional interests and needs.
These sessions often bring together educators from multiple schools, districts, grade levels, and instructional roles. That variety creates opportunities not only to learn new instructional practices, but also to collaborate with other educators who bring different experiences and perspectives to the conversation.
2. For Schools & Educational Organizations
Teacher Academy professional development can also be brought directly to schools, districts, and educational organizations. Training can be customized around the needs of your educators and students and may range from a single workshop to more comprehensive professional learning and implementation support.
Professional Learning Designed to Make a Difference on Monday Morning
Teachers don't need another professional development session filled with great ideas that are difficult to translate into actual classroom practice.
Through Teacher Academy, I provide practical, research-informed professional learning designed to help educators better understand how language works, why students struggle, and what we can do differently in response.
Training can be designed for classroom teachers, interventionists, special educators, content-area teachers, instructional coaches, and other professionals who support literacy development.
My goal isn't simply for teachers to leave knowing more.
I want them to leave knowing what to do next.
Areas of Professional Learning
Teacher Academy workshops and professional development can be designed around the needs, goals, and experience of participating educators.
Language, Words & Literacy
Explore the connections among meaning, structure, sound, and word history—and learn how morphology and etymology can deepen instruction in reading, spelling, vocabulary, grammar, and writing.
Topics may include:
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Morphology and etymology for literacy instruction
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Structured word inquiry and word investigation
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Vocabulary and academic language development
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Connecting phonology, orthography, morphology, and meaning
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Using word history to make sense of spelling
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Applying word study across academic content areas
Reading Intervention & Learning Differences
Learn how to provide explicit, engaging literacy instruction for students who need foundational support without reducing the intellectual level of their learning.
Topics may include:
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Innovative reading intervention for struggling readers
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Supporting older students with foundational reading needs
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Dyslexia-informed literacy practices
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Multisensory instruction and learning pathways
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Bridging foundational skills with age-appropriate content
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Supporting diverse learners while maintaining high expectations
Power Words Layered Literacy Framework
Discover an investigative approach to literacy instruction that helps students understand how words work rather than simply memorize disconnected rules and definitions.
Professional learning can introduce educators to the Power Words Layered Literacy Framework and its four instructional components:
Power Words Explorations — larger instructional units designed to layer meaningful word study onto foundational literacy instruction
Power Word Case Files — investigations of one-syllable words that reveal connections among sound, spelling, structure, and meaning
Power Word Investigations — deeper studies of academic vocabulary and complex words, including Latin bases and other meaningful word elements
Power Word Clues — focused studies of individual morphemes and the evidence they provide about word meaning and structure
Training can range from introductory experiences to more comprehensive implementation support designed to help educators integrate Power Words into existing literacy instruction.
Literacy Across the Curriculum
Literacy isn't limited to the English classroom. Students need explicit support in understanding the language, vocabulary, and text structures of every academic discipline.
Topics may include:
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Literacy in the content areas
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Academic vocabulary across disciplines
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Morphology and etymology in science, math, history, and other subjects
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Literacy in Career Technical Education
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Supporting struggling readers in content-area classrooms
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Practical strategies for integrating literacy without turning every teacher into a reading teacher
Instructional Practices for Diverse Learners
Effective literacy instruction is about more than what we teach. It's also about how students access, process, and retain new information.
Topics may include:
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Multisensory instructional practices
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Using visual, auditory, and tactile-kinesthetic learning pathways
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Explicit instruction and intentional scaffolding
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Active student response and engagement
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Differentiation for diverse learners
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Co-teaching and collaborative support in the general education classroom
Professional Learning That Fits Your Needs
Professional learning doesn't have to look the same for every educator or organization.
An individual teacher may join us at the Learning Studio for a focused workshop on a topic she wants to explore. A school may invite me to provide full-day professional development for its faculty. A district implementing the Power Words Layered Literacy Framework may need a series of training sessions followed by implementation support.
Teacher Academy is designed to accommodate all of those possibilities.
Professional learning opportunities may include:
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Individual educator workshops
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Half-day or full-day professional development
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Multi-session training
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Grade-level or department-specific sessions
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Curriculum and instructional planning
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Implementation support and follow-up
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Educator coaching and consultation
Rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all approach, I work to ensure that professional learning reflects the educators involved, the students they serve, and the instructional challenges they are working to solve.
Why Teacher Academy?
My work has always centered on students who need us to look more closely, think more deeply, and sometimes teach differently.
For 27 years, I have worked with learners whose paths to academic success haven't always been straightforward. That experience continues every week in my own classrooms.
The questions teachers bring to professional development are often the same questions I am actively working through with students:
How do I explain this differently?
Why isn't this student making the connection?
How can I provide foundational support without making an older student feel like a little kid?
How do I make a complex concept understandable without making it less intellectually meaningful?
Those are the problems I love solving.
I don't want professional learning to end when the presentation ends. I want teachers to leave with a deeper understanding of their students, a clearer understanding of language, and practical tools they are excited to use.
Because ultimately, the goal isn't a successful professional development session.
It's better instruction for students.
Ready to Get Started?
Whether you're an individual educator looking for your next professional learning opportunity or a school leader searching for meaningful professional development for your team, there's a place for you in Teacher Academy.
I'm an Individual Educator
Explore upcoming Teacher Academy workshops, choose a topic that interests you, and register online. You do not need to participate through your school or district.
I'm Looking for Professional Development for a School or Organization
Tell us a little about your educators, students, professional learning goals, and the challenges you're trying to solve. From there, we can discuss training options designed around your needs. Please get in touch.