Lea Mercantini Leibowitz

Lea taught in public and private schools where her classrooms served as a visitation site.  She later worked as a literacy coach, where she supported her colleagues in establishing reading and writing workshops in their classrooms, planning units of study, and implementing best practices for explicit instruction.

Lea then became a graduate level teaching assistant and international consultant in literacy.  She was a frequent presenter at numerous national institutes and workshops and has co-presented at ILA alongside Georgia Heard.

Currently, Lea works with Jennifer Serravallo as her Professional Learning Specialist.  This role allows Lea to use her extensive background and knowledge to counsel districts and individual schools who are interested in learning more about the professional learning opportunities Jennifer Serravallo and her team have to offer. 

Contact Lea: lea@jenniferserravallo.com

Clarisa Leal

Clarisa Leal holds a Master’s degree in Curriculum and Teaching from Teachers College, Columbia University and a BS in Education from Texas A&M University. Clarisa also has studied literacy coaching through Near East South Asia Council of Overseas Schools (NESA).

She was part of the book review team for the trans-adaptation to Spanish of The Reading Strategies Book and The Writing Strategies Book, and continues to give support in the translation of her work to Spanish. She facilitates workshops in Spanish and English.

Earlier in her career, Clarisa worked in a school in Nicaragua as a first-grade teacher, grade level coordinator, and later as a literacy coach. Under Clarisa’s guidance and through her strong communication, organizational, and leadership skills, the school made sustainable improvements in literacy. After relocating to New York City, she worked as a Spanish teacher at a private school . It was through the school’s innovative, diverse and collaborative perspectives that she enriched and broadened her experiences as an educator. With the benefit of being fluent in two languages, she was part of the school’s Spanish Department team and taught Spanish as a second language in first and sixth grade. She is now serves a literacy specialist at a school in Florida.

Gabe Ortiz

Gabe Ortiz is a proud father of three, a solo theatre artist, a television host on PBS, a teacher, a literacy coach, and the co-founder & vice principal of a Title 1 charter school in Florida. With over 20 years of teaching and administrative experience, he has worked with all types of learners in grades 6-12, from ESE and ELL to Gifted. He serves as a coach and mentor for new teachers and has led professional development classes for educators on literacy strategies, the reading and writing workshop, classroom management, and instructional methods that propel student learning.

Gabe has known Jennifer Serravallo for 15 years as a friend and mentor. He has had the privilege of piloting several of her resources and has provided prepublication feedback. He holds a B.A from Cal State Northridge and an M.F.A from Penn State University, where he also taught undergraduate classes. He is certified to teach Reading, Theatre, Science, Math, Social Studies, Language Arts, ESOL and ESE.

Gabe believes that teaching is an art form which takes practice. His workshops provide a framework for that practice and gives teachers the opportunity to rehearse their newly acquired skills before implementing them in the classroom.

Ami Mehta

Ami Mehta began her teaching career in St. Louis public schools. She’s now an experienced educational consultant who has researched and implemented best practices for reading and writing instruction in a variety of school districts. 

Ami’s consulting career began more than a dozen years ago where she traveled throughout the country leading lab sites, developing curriculum, and working closely with teachers and building and district level administrators.

In addition, Ami has led numerous study groups, workshops, and summer institutes on research-based reading and writing instruction for teachers across the country.  Her approach is practical and hands-on.

She holds a BA in Elementary Education from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri and a MA in Curriculum and Teaching from Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City.

Ami now resides in Houston, Texas with her husband and two children.

Elisha Li

For over fourteen years, Elisha has worked at both public and private schools. At P.S. 158 in New York City, she served as co-teacher in an inclusive classroom where she differentiated curriculum for neurodiverse learners and where her classroom was a lab site for teachers throughout NYC. For the past eight years, at Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn, she has mentored new teachers, served on the Literacy Skills Leadership team, and led her grade team to collaborate on new Social Studies and Literacy units with a focus on social justice issues. 

 Her Master’s Thesis was titled: What Makes Effective Professional Development?: What Research Says, What Teachers Say. Under the mentorship of Kathleen Tolan, Elisha modeled best practices in the video, The Intersection of Danielson’s Framework and Workshop Teaching. Jennifer Serravallo was Elisha’s staff developer as well, and Elisha has piloted Jen’s work and has contributed anchor charts and student work to Jen’s publications. 

Elisha holds a B.A. in Education and Psychology from Swarthmore College and an M.A. as a Literacy Specialist from Teachers College. In 2013, Elisha was presented a Blackboard Award by New York Family magazine to “honor teachers of excellence”.

She resides in Brooklyn, NY with her husband and son and runs @AAKidLit in her spare time, a resource to help families and educators find children’s books from diverse voices. 

Jerry Maraia

Over the last 20 years, Jerry Maraia has worked in schools throughout the world as a classroom teacher, staff developer, curriculum director, and principal.  He began his career teaching in Upper Elementary and Middle School classrooms in New York City.  After years in the classroom, Jerry began a career as a literacy consultant, working with hundreds of classroom teachers and school leaders of public and private schools to develop research-based literacy curricula and teaching practices.

 Jerry also served as the Head of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment at an international school in NYC where he led the development and evaluation of PK-12 curricular programs and provided professional learning for all faculty and staff.  Most recently, Jerry was the Principal of the Lower School Division, Kindergarten through Grade 5, and worked collaboratively with teachers to implement strategy-based literacy instruction and responsive approaches that centered student voices.     

 In addition to Jerry’s work in PK-12 schools and districts, he is also a frequent presenter at national conferences and universities on curriculum and instruction, and adjunct professor in teacher education and educational leadership programs.  Jerry holds a B.S. in English and Theatre from Skidmore College, an M.A. in English Education and Educational Theatre from New York University, an M.A. in Educational Leadership from Bank Street College of Education, and an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania.    

Darren Victory

During his years as a classroom teacher, Darren worked primarily at bilingual and Title I campuses, collaborating and planning with educators in multilingual classrooms to provide support for both current ESL students as well as those exiting bilingual programs. Darren was also instrumental in developing campus initiatives designed to improve K-5 writing instruction, supporting multiple grade levels in planning units of study as well as individualized student support. 

Prior to his career as an educator, Victory spent 15 years as a writer and editor for a variety of newspapers and magazines. His work has appeared in both print and online publications in the United States, South America, Europe, and Japan -- including The Associated Press, Denver Rocky Mountain News, The Dallas Morning News, The American Editor, Mobile Asia-Pacific Magazine, Thomson Financial Media, and The Poynter Institute. He is a co-recipient of the Associated Press (APME) Community Service Award for his work on a feature series about the impact of poverty in rural Texas and the recipient of an Associated Press award for his assistance with media coverage of the space shuttle Columbia disaster. 

Victory currently works with teachers and school districts across the country, leveraging his experiences as both a teacher and writer. 

He lives in Fort Worth, Texas.

Macie Kerbs

Dr. Macie Kerbs holds a Ph.D. from Texas Woman’s University in Reading Education, with a concentrated focus on emergent literacy, literacy coaching, and writing instruction. Macie also holds a BA in Elementary Education, and M.Ed in Language and Literacy from the University of South Carolina.

Macie began her teaching career as a fourth grade reading and writing teacher, eventually transitioning into a reading interventionist role on campus. During her final years in public education, Macie served as a district-wide literacy coach where she wrote district-wide literacy curriculum and customized professional learning plans for individual campus needs.

In addition to working as a literacy consultant for Jen, Macie is also a faculty member at Sam Houston State University, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate literacy courses. Macie is passionate about conducting literacy research, specifically focusing on the professional learning experiences of in-service and pre-service teachers. Her academic writing is featured across literacy journals and aims to bridge the gap between literacy theory, research, and practice.

Macie currently lives in The Woodlands, Texas with her husband, three children, and two dogs.

Molly Feeney Wood

Molly, an alum of both Cornell University and Teachers College Columbia University, was a NYC public school teacher for several years before focusing her work exclusively on literacy.

While in the classroom, she was a key contributor to numerous units in widely-used curriculum, and has presented at a variety of national conferences.

Molly works closely with Jennifer Serravallo on her team of consultants and as a freelance writer. She wrote the research whitepaper for Complete Comprehension, collaborated with Jen on three book-based study guides, and is the primary developer of additional assessment texts for Complete Comprehension. She is also one of the primary admins in the Reading and Writing Strategies Facebook Group.

If she's not in a school, Molly can usually be found at the Northport Library or her local independent book store, or co-leading her local chapter of Not in Our Town, an organization to stop hate, racism and bullying, and build safe, inclusive communities for all.

Lainie Powell

After graduating from the University of Georgia with a degree in English Education, Lainie began her education career as a high school English teacher in rural Georgia. Soon, she decided to work with middle grades learners and taught Language Arts in Atlanta Public Schools. While there, she pursued her Masters in Education at Georgia State University in the heart of downtown Atlanta.  

Lainie enjoyed working with adolescent learners, but ultimately found her heart in elementary school, where she spent a large part of her teaching career and ignited an enduring passion for primary and upper grades literacy instruction. She worked as a classroom teacher and as a curriculum coach in a prominent independent school in Atlanta.

Through her studies in the doctoral program at Teachers College, Lainie examined issues related to social justice and best practices in literacy instruction.

She enjoys merging theory and practice, supporting skills and strategy-based instruction, and helping schools support differentiation.

Currently, she lives in Atlanta with her husband, three children and their furbaby.

Aeriale N. Johnson

Aeriale is a Reggio-inspired, abolitionist educator who taught public school for twenty-three years in Florida, Alaska, and California. In 2021, she transitioned from being a classroom teacher to serving school communities as a consultant focused on equity and inclusion, building joyful and meaningful learning environments for early childhood students and multilingual language learners, and literacy instruction. 

From 2017-2021, Aeriale worked as an associate director for the San Jose Area Writing Project, facilitating professional development for teachers and writing workshops for children. She continues to work with affiliates of the National Writing Project across the country.

In 2010, Aeriale achieved National Board Certification, specializing in early-middle childhood literacy. She is also a recipient of many grants and fellowships, serves on NCTE’s Elementary Steering Committee, and is a column editor for Language Arts.

Aeriale’s blogs, articles, and essays have been published by NCTE, Heinemann, the International Literacy Association, Scholastic, School Library Journal, and ASCD. She is the author of the teacher’s guide for the glorious children’s book The 1619 Project: Born on the Water. Aeriale is currently co-authoring a book, Possibilities of Poetry, with Clare Landrigan.

Roseann Maurantonio

Roseann Maurantonio has been a classroom teacher for fourteen years.  She began her career at P.S. 158 in NYC, one of the highest performing schools in New York State and currently teaches at a suburban elementary school in Upstate NY. She remains close with many of her former colleagues, and especially with one of her staff developers during that time, Jennifer Serravallo. Rosie’s charts and her students’ work appear in two of Jen’s books: Teaching Reading in Small Groups and The Reading Strategies Book.

Rosie has also been an adjunct professor in the Literacy Teaching and Learning Department at the University at Albany.  She has worked with graduate students to help them understand the basics of the comprehensive literacy framework and how to differentiate their instruction to support a diverse range of learners.   

In 2014, Rosie was presented with the Milken Educator Award for her leadership in education and her success improving student achievement.  In 2016, she received an Excellence in Part Time Teaching Award from the University at Albany.  

Rosie holds a B.S. in Childhood Ed and Childhood Special Ed from NYU, an M.S. in Reading/Writing/Literacy from the University of Pennsylvania, and M.A. in Educational Leadership from NYU.

Emily Strang-Campbell

Emily Strang-Campbell began her teaching career as a middle school teacher in New York City, after earning her Master’s Degree from New York University, with a dual certification in Educational Theatre and English in the secondary classroom. As a middle school teacher, Emily regularly participated in and led professional development around literacy teaching methods. Her middle school classroom became a host for instructional lab sites for teachers and educational leaders from around the country. 

Her school-based professional learning leadership led her to begin consulting locally and nationally, supporting 3rd-8th grade classrooms. She has presented at institutes across the country, but her true passion lies in the classroom setting, coaching both teachers and students around powerful literacy work. 

In addition, Emily has co-authored two middle school curriculum books: Research-Based Informational Writing and Social Issue Book Clubs: Reading for Empathy and Advocacy. She is also the co-author of the revised informational writing middle school unit. She has a strong belief in literacy as a pathway into social action. Emily lives in South Orange, NJ with her husband and two kids and loves going on local bookshop tours with her three-year-old and seven-year old.  

Jennifer Felipe

Jennifer is an educator with more than twenty years of experience in K-6 classrooms. She began her career as a first grade teacher in the public schools in Maryland, and later served as a reading intervention teacher where she worked with students individually and in small groups to improve their reading skills and help them find their love of reading. In her current position as Instructional Coach in grades 3-5, she provides small group and individualized coaching to teams of teachers  working to improve student learning.  In addition to providing professional development, she works with teams of teachers to write and implement curriculum. 

She has been traveling to school districts across the United States to provide professional development on the teaching of reading and writing, as well as how to utilize and implement Jennifer Serravallo’s work and publications. 

Jennifer holds a BS and an MS in Education from SUNY Cortland. In 2002, she earned her National Board Certification in Early Childhood. She is a certified Reading Specialist and Reading and Language Arts Consultant.

Lisa Reilly

Lisa has over 25 years of experience as an educator having served in a wide array of positions.  Her journey began as a classroom teacher in Westport, Connecticut. She then became a literacy specialist supporting readers in need of Tier II intervention.  Now she is a humanities coach for third through fifth grade teachers in CT, and travels nationally as an independent literacy consultant to support K-8th grade teachers and their administrators.

In a seven year mentorship with Jennifer Serravallo, she helped transform a school into one with a consistent vision, instruction, and curriculum. She works with her colleagues to update literacy curriculum, and supports them with both state and district mandates by providing goal oriented, individualized coaching in reading, writing and social studies.  

She holds a BA and MA from Smith College where she was granted an Ada Comstock Scholarship for her undergraduate work and then a full fellowship to continue her graduate studies. She also holds a Remedial Reading & Remedial Language Arts certification from Sacred Heart University.

Angela (Angie) Forero

For over 20 years, Angie taught in early elementary to upper middle school classrooms. Her classroom served as a lab site for inquiry-based professional learning on effective literacy instruction. As a teacher leader in the district, Angela led in-service workshops, and mentored and coached colleagues including those new to the profession. Prior to joining Jennifer Serravallo’s team, she was a staff national consultant for another organization.

Early in her career, Angela earned a master's degree from Teachers College, Columbia University in Curriculum and Teaching. Angela then went on to receive National Board Certification. In pursuit of becoming a full time literacy coach, Angela earned a second master’s degree from TC’s Literacy Specialist Program. Currently, she is a doctoral student in the Teacher Education and Teacher Development program at Montclair State University. Angela’s research interest lies at the intersection of culturally responsive teaching, linguistic diversity, and developing teachers’ sociolinguistic consciousness. Angela believes that teaching from a social justice stance is an ethical and moral imperative.

In her free time Angela loves to read, write, meditate, and spend time with her husband and children.