About the Learning Through Teaching Program
Learning Through Teaching (LTT) is an innovative, in-service program designed to help K-12 teachers meet their individual goals in teaching, reading, writing, and literature. It is unique, because it brings teacher education to the site of instruction—the teacher’s school and classroom. The format includes observation, feedback, individualized learning, and shared expertise. Each course will be coordinated by a faculty consultant from the New Hampshire Literacy Institutes who will work with teachers to develop individual programs.
Customized Approach
A critical feature of the course is the individualized mentoring offered on-site by the faculty consultant and developed according to your school’s professional needs. Whether the program is for your teachers at a particular grade level, in a specific subject area, or across the curriculum, we will customize the training to benefit you the most. Training is offered at your site—during the academic year or as an intensive one- to two-week summer option.
Graduate Credit
Participants can earn 1-8 graduate credits per year.
Course Length and Cost
Learning through Teaching is designed to be offered for a wide range of hours during the academic year, in response to the needs of your school. Cost varies depending on the number of participants, length of project, and contact hours.
Learning Through Teaching offers a range of literacy topics and issues including:
- Reading Workshop Essentials
- Literacy in the Digital Age
- The Power of Classroom Talk
- Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum
- The Art of Conferring
- Investigating Image and Illustration in the Writer's Workshop
- The Intersection of Art and Writing
- Notebooks
Take the First Step
Explore the possibilities in literacy development. A representative from our faculty will meet with individuals from your school to talk about your interests in teacher development and how the Learning through Teaching program can benefit you professionally. The first meeting is free of charge. To make a request and discuss some options, please contact us.
View complete program details in the brochure here.
Contact Information
For more information please contact Tomasen Carey or Candice Morey.
Tomasen M. Carey, Director of the UNH Writers Academy, Field Coordinator for the Learning Through Teaching Program, and Instructor of the New Hampshire Literacy Institutes. Her articles have appeared in the New England Reading Journal and she is the voice behind the blog conversationeducation.com .
Faculty
The Learning Through Teaching faculty are selected for their range of expertise in literacy and their years of classroom experience. They are published authors and graduates of the summer New Hampshire Literacy Institutes.
Alicia Spates-Messier grew up in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom but sought out the city for her undergraduate degree. She earned her BA in art and communications from Simmons College in Boston and later earned her Master’s in education at UNH.
She has spent the last thirteen years in education and has had a broad range of teaching experiences- from a general elementary school teacher to a middle school language arts teacher, a technology teacher and literacy specialist, she's done a bit of everything. Her passion lies in literacy and the arts and finding creative ways to merge the two.
Alicia stepped away from teaching full time in 2017 to take care of her babies, Poppy, Romy, and Thatcher, and found her way to the UNH Learning Through Teaching program. Since then, she has worked in several local schools with teachers focusing on the reading and writing workshop model. She's also spent summers at the UNH Writers Academy.
Jaclyn Karabinas is an energetic, creative educator who was a classroom teacher until 2014. Now an independent consultant and instructional coach, she is passionate about mixing and matching skill sets from the worlds of educational technology integration, arts integration, and progressive literacy instruction. She holds a Master’s Degree in Arts Integration in Curriculum & Instruction, is a Google for Education Certified Trainer, Heinemann Professional Development Online PD consultant, UNH Learning through Teaching adjunct, and mother.
Diana (Dee) Salonen taught 45 years at Winchester School in Winchester, NH. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from Keene State College and her master’s at the UNH summer literacy institute. Dee taught 3, 4, and 5 grades at Winchester School, was the part-time curriculum coordinator for 3 years, and served as interim principal for a few months. She has been a Learning Through Teaching facilitator at Winchester School for several years. She shared her classroom and love for teaching with dozens of methods students and student teachers from Keene State College over the years and found it a truly rewarding experience. She is currently enjoying retirement with her husband as they garden and preserve, kayak, hike, fish, ski, and golf.
Shawna Coppola has been a public school educator for over twenty years and received both her Bachelor's degree (in English Teaching) and her Master's degree (in Reading) from the University of New Hampshire. Certified as a literacy specialist as well as a K-8 educator in the state of New Hampshire, Shawna is also a sought-after speaker and consultant. She has written two books about writing for teachers, Renew! Become a Better--and More Authentic--Writing Teacher (2017) and Writing, Redefined: Broadening Our Ideas of What It Means to Compose (2019), both from Stenhouse Publishers. She is passionate about teaching literacy through both an inquiry and a social justice lens.
The New Hampshire Literacy Institutes
For more than 30 years, the New Hampshire Literacy Institutes have earned national recognition for their work with teachers. Courses typically include: Creative Nonfiction, Digital Storytelling, Blending Genre, Altering Style, and Boys’ Literacy. For information on summer programs visit www.cola.unh.edu/nhliteracy.
UNH English Department and The Graduate School
Master of Science for Teachers Degree
The English Department offers a graduate program designed for practicing teachers who are interested in innovative approaches to literacy education. Students in the program have the opportunity to learn from teachers who have helped shape classroom instruction in the United States. We invite you to be part of this continuing tradition.
