Meet us, the Chicago Literacy Group (CLG). In 2008, we set out to create an experience based upon what we as teachers valued in a coaching partnership — the opportunity as professionals to gather, learn, and evolve, to ensure that we’re doing right by children. Our mission is to provide professional development and coaching that is grounded in research and then guide educators to put the science into practice right away, in real classrooms with real kids.
Carissa believes that because teachers play such a pivotal role in the lives of their students, every educator deserves ongoing and intentional support and development. Carissa has a passion for taking the complex—such as how we teach children to read and write—and communicating it in a way that is clear, simple, and memorable. She is inspired by the collaborative partnerships she has developed with hundreds of teachers, coaches, principals, and superintendents and feels most grounded when teaching in a classroom full of kids. Prior to co-founding CLG, she served as a literacy coach at the Chicago New Teacher Center, as a classroom teacher at P.S. 102 in New York City, and as a writer and communications specialist for an HR consulting firm. Carissa holds a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Missouri and a Master of Education from Hunter College in New York City. She lives in Chicago with her husband, two teenagers, and Harvey, the cutest dog ever.
Guided by the belief that teaching is the most important profession, and that kids thrive when their teachers receive the ongoing coaching and professional learning they deserve, Maria co-founded CLG in 2008. Maria is driven by the desire to ignite in teachers a passion for learning, and the knowledge that in order for their instruction to be meaningful, it has to be manageable. A former literacy coach with both the Urban Education Institute at The University of Chicago and with the Chicago New Teacher Center, Maria has worked with teachers, literacy coaches, principals, network chiefs, and superintendents in hundreds of schools and districts in the Chicagoland area. She brings 11 years of teaching in Detroit and Chicago Public Schools, along with two years teaching in the UK, to her work. Maria is an alumna of The University of Michigan and received her Master of Education in Reading and Language Development from Harvard University. She lives in Chicago with her husband, Cy; enjoys Sunday dinners with her three young-adult children; and thinks her dog, Tommy, is just as cute as Harvey (who is pretty darn cute).