2020 Language & Literacy Fellows | Reading and Language Arts Center

Jen has been observing and supporting the growth of children since she was 12 - first as a babysitter and then as a camp counselor and coach. It's where she learned that kids will grow leaps and bounds when the learning is hidden in FUN. She later added on 6 formal years in the elementary classroom, and 8 years as a Reading Teacher with intervention, Reading Recovery, literacy coaching, consulting for curriculum work and professional development of teachers, and adjunct teaching with UCONN. Her writing has been published in The Reading Teacher and ASCD Smartbrief, and featured in The Marshall Memo.

"Teachers maximize their planning and instructional time when they consider ALL they do as a way of assessing student growth, strengths, interests and motivation. Instructional planning needs to be seeded by students first, then by curriculum."

Dominique Battle-Lawson is a Ph.D. student at the University of Connecticut in the Curriculum in Instruction Department (EDCI) in Reading Education. She graduated with her Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education in 2009; a Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction in 2008, both degrees from the University of Connecticut. She taught children as an elementary teacher for seven years, taught adults’ college level as a developmental-English instructor at a community college for two years, and worked as a high school English instructor in a TRIO program for four years.

Her research interest includes evaluations of the systemic and structural bias for marginalized communities in public education, specifically within literacy and formative assessments within the U.S. She seeks to promote methods of education that seek new opportunities for marginalized students.

Currently, she is the Assistant Director of Student Support at the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut. As the Assistant Director of Student Support, she assists students in their growth and development by constructing meaningful educational plans which are compatible with their life goals.

Symone James is a 5th grade teacher of all subjects. In the classroom, Symone enjoys encouraging her students to think critically about the world around them, and watching them grow through self-discovery and being directors of their own learning. Symone holds a bachelor degree in Elementary Education with a minor in Diversity Studies, a Master's in Curriculum and Instruction, and is currently completing the UConn Administrator Preparation Program. She has served as a NNSTOY pre-service teacher fellow and participated in the Voya-NNSTOY STEM fellowship.

She is passionate about supporting fellow educators in gaining the knowledge and resources needed to create classroom environments where all students can thrive and be successful. At her school, she serves as the Equity Committee Chair and is also on the district leadership team for equity, providing professional development for staff. From her time as an undergrad student at UCONN until now, she’s enjoyed devoting time to helping to connect BIPOC educators across her state through different organizations such as Leadership in Diversity, as well as presenting at and hosting conferences focused on culturally sustaining and equitable teaching practices. Currently she’s an organizing member of Melanin Magic which hosts annual conferences and events to specifically support and provide resources to BIPOC teachers across the country.

Tracey Lafayette is a third grade teacher in East Hartford, Connecticut. She just completed her fifth year of teaching. She is an alum of Neag’s Integrated Bachelor’s/Master’s program (’15,’16) and she is currently enrolled in Uconn’s Administrator Preparation Program (’22). In the classroom, Tracey has a passion for sharing her love of literature with students and she is also passionate about teaching her students about leadership, social justice, and activism.

Tracey is one of the co-foundesr of Leadership in Diversity, a student run organization at the University of Connecticut that focuses on supporting and encouraging students of color interested in the field of education. She is also the one of the founding members of Melanin Magic Educators, an organization that provides networking opportunities and professional learning opportunities for educators of color across the United States. When she is not teaching Tracey loves reading, dancing, and creating things.

Colleen is a language arts specialist with the Fairfield Public Schools. Her role consists of coaching colleagues in K-5 classrooms as well as providing intervention services for students in the areas of reading and writing. Colleen has worked on various committees in the district that involved curriculum development, SRBI planning and implementation, and development of district wide assessments and protocols. She is also the co-author of "30 Big Ideas for Small Group Instruction". Colleen has also worked as a consultant for LitLife Inc. and helped districts set up lab site classrooms for on site professional development in the areas of curriculum implementation as well as various components of balanced literacy.

"Emergent writers need an environment that meets their needs by honoring where they are in their learning and then teaching them what they need next. Students need opportunities to watch and observe and try it themselves with support and guidance, in order to eventually have the skills and confidence to take the risks in doing it on their own. If we never see what they are doing independently then we cannot provide the feedback and instruction that will take them where they need to go next."

Pauline Batista is a 3rd year PhD student at the Educational Leadership Department (LLEP). She graduated in 2016 with her M.A. in International Studies (Latino & Latin American Studies), from the University of Connecticut, and holds a B.S. in Communication (Film Production) from Mitchell College. She currently works at UConn’s African American Cultural Center Program Specialist under Dr. Willena Kimpson Price - and she loves it!

Her research interests include UNESCO’s power over educational curricula in Latin America. And also the exploitation of Paulo Freire’s Socratic method to reinforce standards for Heritage Studies in schools located in Latin American towns seeking UNESCO Heritage Site titles. She has been recently awarded a Pre-Doctoral fellowship through UCONN’s El Instituto to shoot a short-film in collaboration with Brazilian high school students titled “Alma e a Escola (The Soul and The School) in the Spring. She is also a 2018 Tinker Foundation grant recipient. And a 2020-2021 UConn ICD Fellow.

Pauline has 9 years of experience as an ESL teacher in underrepresented communities (Brazil). And over 10 years of film-making experience, credits include “Globo TV”, Latin American’s largest TV Network. She was also nominated by the International Olympic Committee to serve as a Summer Olympics Torch Bearer in 2016 due to her outstanding service to her community in Paraty, Brazil.

"We have to consider (and intentionally find) different perspectives as we plan “teaching.” For example, we have to make intentional efforts to use words and concepts that are familiar to learners (defined by learners and never assumed by us as educators). As Paulo Freire (1970) would say: 'there’s no such thing as neutral education. Education either functions as an instrument to bring about conformity or freedom.'”

A.Amaka Okwuazi is a passionate educator and youth empowerment activist who began her career teaching 7th grade language arts and 8th grade reading acceleration in Manchester Public Schools (CT). She transitioned into her role as a School Climate Specialist, focused on supporting students and staff to strengthen school climate and classroom culture. Being a certified Restorative Practice Practitioner, she also used restorative practices in her role as a School Climate Specialist to establish a culture where equity is the norm and excellence is always the goal through intentional relationship building, processing, circles, and workshops.

As of 2019, Amaka has worked as the district’s Youth Empowerment Coordinator, focused on centering and amplifying the voices of students, especially those with marginalized identities. Her role also focuses on creating safe spaces for youth and adults to learn, build meaningful relationships, and engage in intergenerational dialogues that center race, equity, culture, as well as school and lived experiences.

Amaka believes that these practices will contribute to true paradigm shifts within public schools and a step toward dismantling racial inequities in the community. She also believes that students need to have access to relevant knowledge and a consistent seat in decision making spaces, especially those that directly impact the current and future well-being of young people. She acknowledges that true educational and racial justice must include the voices of the youth, but has to be sustained through the education and continued solidarity of adult educators.

Jon Simmons is currently a PhD Student at the University of Connecticut studying curriculum and instruction. Prior to returning to UConn he taught elementary school and children's theater throughout the US and internationally. Throughout his career Jon has brought innovative experiences to the classroom and challenged his students to think critically and engage in the world around them. He is particularly interested in internationalizing teacher education, human rights education, and how we approach culture in the classroom and build intercultural competence in our students. Jon seeks to help teachers better understand their dialogue patterns and build more equitable and authentic dialogue in the classroom.

Caitlin Ryan Pelletier is an English Teacher and Reading Specialist in the Connecticut Technical Education and Career System. She previously taught Remedial Reading and Language Arts at East Hartford High School and Middle School, and was a Reading Intervention Specialist at O'Brien STEM Academy. Having taught a variety of grade levels, she realized that literacy education became less student-centered as students aged and is passionate about designing and delivering instruction that is engaging, inspiring, and meaningful for adolescent readers. Caitlin is currently an EdD student in this field and hopes to one day work with current and aspiring educators to help them rethink how adolescent literacy is approached and assessed.

Ryan Parker’s mission is to disrupt oppressive legacy embedded in our United States education system and to empower marginalized youth.

His 19-year career in teaching has been dedicated towards challenging United States education norms by reimagining what school looks, sounds and feels like and applying that reimagination to his own pedagogy while influencing others to do the same.

While Parker worked as a secondary English teacher for 18 years, he currently works as a pedagogy coach at a 5th through 6th grade alternative school in Manchester, CT. As a pedagogy coach, Parker supports teachers in establishing and maintaining effective classroom environments with a focus on culturally relevant pedagogy and restorative justice.

In addition to being an educator, Parker is Manchester, CT’s Poet Laureate, the state of Connecticut’s 2020 Peace Hero, a hip hop artist and a youth empowerment activist. Within all of these areas, Parker’s work focuses on race in education, the power of hip hop pedagogy and the necessity of centering, amplifying and embracing youth voice.

When he’s not teaching and learning from students, you can find Parker spittin’ barz, coaching his youth poetry team PaperVoices, gardening, penning poems or playing with his 2 year old daughter Luna Jane.

Shannon Kelley is a lifelong educator determined to develop and disseminate functional instructional practices for secondary English and special education teachers. She is currently a PhD student at the University of Connecticut where she studies special education and literacy. Prior to beginning graduate studies, she taught high school English, middle school Spanish, and middle school Special Education. After witnessing the reading challenges of many of her 9th grade students, Shannon pursued additional training as a literacy interventionist with a focus on phonics and morphological instruction for adolescents. Since that time, she has taught reading intervention classes for 2nd through 12th graders. In addition to K-12 teaching, Shannon has provided professional development and coaching for English and Special Education teachers through Teach for America's summer institute and taught undergraduate and graduate level courses on literacy and instructional practices.

Matt Delaney is an English Language Arts Educator who teaches in Manchester, CT. He has taught ELA and Journalism at Manchester High School and currently teaches 7th and 8th grade ELA at Manchester Middle Academy. Matt was the Manchester District Teacher of the Year in 2019. He has advised youth groups in Manchester such as Young Men's Leadership, the Youth Equity Squad, the Paper Voices Poets and the MHS Student Activist Team. He also is the Senior Creative Director of Just Experience, which is a Manchester based group of educators and entertainers who bring positive and unforgettable experiences to any event. Matt has a deep belief that race & equity work must be put at the forefront of educational reform and practice.

Michelle Horn works as an educational leader for Madison Public Schools in her role as a K-12 Literacy Coach. Her seventeen year career has always put students at the forefront as she collaborates with teachers and researches best practices in literacy. Notably, she has worked with Kate Roberts in the implementation of Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop at the high school level. She holds a degree in Elementary Education, Psychology and Remedial Reading and Language Arts from Southern Connecticut State University and a sixth year degree in Educational Leadership from Central Connecticut State University. Today, Michelle enjoys walks along the sandy shore of Connecticut with her three children and her husband.

Sandra Silva-Enos is a former English teacher for the New London School district and has taught many different grade levels throughout the district in a variety of positions, including work as an ESL tutor in the district’s dual language program. She has a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from the University of Connecticut and a master’s degree in English Literature from WCSU. She has recently returned to the University of Connecticut as a Dean’s Doctoral Scholar to pursue a doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction with a concentration in Bilingual and Multicultural Education. She is particularly interested in the educational experiences of Latinx immigrant students. Her interest in this topic is both personal and professional, as she herself immigrated with her family from Peru as a young child and navigated the U.S. educational system as an English learner. Sandra’s experience as a teacher drives her research interests in dissecting the impact of curriculum, rhetoric, and school culture on students’ perceptions of self, specifically for both documented and undocumented immigrant students.

Pamela J. Khairallah is an avid reader and writer who believes all students come to the classroom with strengths and interests to springboard instruction. Her teaching career included time in preschool, first and second grade classrooms, and time as a reading teacher. Pamela became a literacy coach for grades k-8 and then a curriculum leader at a district level where she oversaw grade K-5 literacy interventionists and coaches, library and media specialists, and the English Language Learner departments. She is passionate about children's literature and teaching and learning through text sets. Her writing has been published in The Reading Teacher and ASCD Smartbrief, and featured in The Marshall Memo.