Jeanette Toomer is an author, educator, and literacy expert. She is the founder and executive director of Drama, Discovery and Learning (DDL). Her consultancy firm specializes in literacy and literature education for all grades, educational theater, conflict resolution, communication, and diversity appreciation.
Since 2002, she has taught English language arts and literature, primarily in New York’s public and charter high schools. In addition, over the years she often served as a staff developer for schools and educational corporations. She has integrated educational theater strategies into her teaching strategies to increase student engagement and to improve student achievement in literacy skills. Jeanette also taught Advanced Placement courses and first-year composition courses in local colleges.
Curriculum development is her area of expertise as she has written curricula for 10th-, 11th-, and 12th-grade and AP courses. For the National Conference on Student Writing, she created a popular social change research project based on Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. She has facilitated staff development sessions focusing on writing memoirs, argumentative essays, and research papers.
Jeanette holds a bachelor’s degree from Barnard College and master’s degrees in education from New York University and Touro College. Most recently, she completed her first year of study at Pace University’s Advanced Literacy certificate program.