Due to the generosity of the Carlisle Education Fund, Carlisle teachers have had the opportunity and privilege to work with Lester Laminack, a nationally known literacy education consultant. Lester has worked as both a classroom teacher and as a college professor. He is the author of academic books and articles, as well as several children’s books and was co-editor of the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) journal,Primary Voices. He has also been the recipient of many awards given in the field of literacy.

Lester was contacted by Carlisle after the English Language Arts Curriculum Review Team recommended hiring a consultant to help us with our writing curriculum. In August of 2009, all teachers of writing spent two days on campus working with him. Since then his visits have been divided between working with grade level teaching teams, where he tailors his consulting to their needs, working with all of our writing teachers together to ensure that we create a vertically aligned writing curriculum, and modeling effective mini-lessons.

Recently, Massachusetts adopted the Common Core State Standards as our new state standards. The timing of their release has made this an opportune time for Carlisle to be reviewing and revising our writing curriculum. With Lester’s help we are well on our way to having a writing curriculum that reflects these standards.

Some quotes from teachers regarding working with Lester.

“We appreciate the opportunity to have sustained professional development that’s allowed us to reflect on our teaching practices and grow as teachers of writing.” – The First Grade Team

“As teachers we tend to look through a critical lens at student writing, Lester helped us to see that we need to celebrate their accomplishments first.”  – The Third Grade Team