Janiel Wagstaff always wanted to be a teacher, but didn’t realize the role literacy would play in her career. Once she came upon the strategies of a literacy coach, she was hooked and is the author of professional development books and workshops in addition to serving as a literacy coach and ELA coordinator at a K-6 school in Utah. She now adds picture book author to her resume with the Stella Writes series about a student who tackles all sorts of writing. Wagstaff also maintains a blog on literacy.
How did you begin your career, and what led you to your current position?
I come from a family of teachers and grew up instinctively knowing what I wanted to do. When I was young, I made a classroom in my closet complete with a desk, supplies, artwork on the walls and stuffed animal pupils. I created, completed, and corrected assignments. I had no doubt of my major in college, driving straight through to my degree. My first teaching assignment was second grade in a portable classroom out behind the school. We had one tiny slice of a window and it was much like back to teaching in a closet! That was more than 25 years ago.
Back then, we did a whole lot of worksheets. That first year, I realized my students weren’t making the progress in reading and writing I’d expected. We were working so hard, yet spinning our wheels. My “low kids” were still low at the end of the year. That frustration led me to continue my studies, searching, in particular, for literacy strategies that would make a real difference for my young readers and writers. I was fortunate to discover teaching methods that worked and my greatest joy was watching students come in struggling and go out thriving. They talked endlessly about favorite books, and moaned when it was time to end our writing workshop each day. I was hooked. I was a “literacy person.”
This passion for literacy has taken me in and out of the classroom. I taught full-time at the university level, but couldn’t stay away from the energy of kids! Currently, I work as a full-time literacy coordinator, supporting literacy learning by working with teachers and students in two K-6 schools in my district.
How long have you been a member of ILA? How has membership influenced your career?
ILA has been important to me throughout my entire career. I joined right away and relished curling up in the evenings with The Reading Teacher and attending and presenting at our state chapter conferences. I wrote a few short articles for RT, published some 20 years ago. This early success in the ILA community was thrilling and fueled my desire to learn, teach, and share with other educators, and write even more. Ten published books later, The Reading Teacher is still one of my favorite go-to resources.
I learn so much attending and presenting at ILA’s state and national conferences. The opportunity to hear and meet many of my literacy heroes is invigorating. I always return home from these events with renewed energy and purpose. I have to also mention the incredible support available through ILA’s many online outlets. As a member of ILA, I can learn and reenergize 24/7!
What do you consider to be your proudest career moment?
For many of us, our proudest career moments happen when our students succeed. After all, we got into this profession to impact learners. Triumphs with particular students tend to stand out. One kindergarten year, I had a student who struggled, struggled, and struggled to learn to read and write even at the most emergent levels. Others in the class were charging forward, using alphabet-knowledge they worked so hard to acquire as real readers and real writers. Meanwhile, this student was foundering. I had assessed, used all my tricks, completed several interventions, and involved the parents, with no progress. Something was truly holding this little guy back and, even with many years of teaching under my belt, I couldn’t figure out what it was. Even though he was only a kindergartner, I knew something was blocking his success and it wasn’t just a matter of his tender age. Luckily, with the help of our school’s speech pathologist, we were able to find a pathway to reach him. He began to grow and by the end of the year, he was a success story. But his tale doesn’t end there. This student is now 20 and, to this day, he keeps in touch with me. His family recently thanked me for recognizing his difficulty early on and doing something about it. Best of all, this young man loves to write. He writes poetry and short stories. He’s using writing to reflect on his place in the world. He shares his compositions with me and with others on the internet, hoping to one day be published. Write on!
I also have to mention an incredible recent career moment. After writing with students for so many years, I was finally able to celebrate the teaching, learning, and joy of writing by publishing three picture books about an avid little writer named Stella! Stella writes a narrative in one book, an opinion in another, and works collaboratively with her class to compose an informative text in the third. The best part is she is real. She has trouble, she gets stuck, she uses writing strategies, she perseveres, she writes for real purposes, and she believes in the power of writing. Her teacher, Ms. Merkley is an excellent model and Stella is, too. She’s a little writer to connect with other little writers. Creating these delightful books has been a dream come true!
Your website has a header: “All Things Literacy Because Literacy Matters in All Things.” Can you talk a little about what you mean by that?
Literacy is everywhere and critical for success in every facet of our lives. I think our number one job as teachers is to support children in becoming proficient listeners, speakers, readers, writers, and thinkers. It is equally important to help every child develop a love of literacy, recognizing the many different benefits reading and writing afford us. Losing oneself in a book for enjoyment or to simply escape can be as therapeutic as keeping a journal or composing a poem to tease-out one’s feelings. Literacy is not just important for college and career—literacy is important for a healthy, happy life!
Coaching is a hot topic right now. What do you enjoy most about that work? What’s the greatest challenge?
Funny, what I enjoy about coaching most is also its greatest challenge! I love working with kindergartners at 9 a.m. on phonemic awareness, then jumping up to sixth grade at 9:30 to work on argumentative writing. The diversity of the students, the lessons, the strategies, and the pace of the work is all very exciting. Working hand-in-hand with teachers is also rewarding and coaches wear many hats. The job keeps me on my toes, constantly learning. The challenge comes when I’m feeling wiped out by 2 p.m. and there’s still important work to do!
What advice would you give a new teacher that either you received or wish you had?
My best advice is to strive to make learning purposeful and joyful. When students see a real purpose for their hard work, they love to work hard at learning. Help them feel important. Show them they have power. When you teach something think, what might I have students do with this growing knowledge? How might they share what they’re learning beyond our classroom walls? How can our learning benefit or impact others? Ask the students themselves for ideas. Find a real purpose, encourage them to work for it, and you will enjoy joyful learning.
Yes, everyone has their “bad days” and teaching is a real challenge; sometimes it feels we run and run but can’t keep up. Here’s a tip that will help keep things in perspective. Post a class picture of your own child or a cherished niece or nephew right next to your computer. When the going gets tough, look at that picture. See that precious child standing among his classmates and think, ‘What kind of a teacher do I want for him? What kind of a classroom do I want him to be a part of every day?” Then make that your classroom. Make your decisions based on what that teacher would do. Be that teacher because every single one of your students is just that precious.
April Hall is editor of Reading Today Online. She can be reached at ahall@/.