Teaching Literacy in Third Grade

Janice F. Almasi, PhD, is the Carol Lee Robertson Endowed Professor of Literacy Education at the University of Kentucky, where she teaches courses in research and theory in literacy. She earned her PhD and MEd in reading education from the University of Maryland and her BS in elementary education from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. Before becoming a university educator, Dr. Almasi was an elementary classroom teacher and a reading specialist in Maryland.
Keli Garas-York, PhD, is currently an assistant professor at Buffalo State College, Buffalo, New York, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate literacy courses. She was a reading specialist in the West Seneca Central School District, where she worked with students in kindergarten through grade 6 for 2 years. She also taught third graders in the Buffalo Public School System for 7 years. Dr. Garas-York earned her BS in elementary education from the State University of New York College at Oswego, her master's degree in special education from St. Bonaventure University, and her PhD in reading education from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Leigh-Ann Hildreth, MEd, is a third-grade teacher in the Sweet Home Central School District, Amherst, New York. She earned her BS in elementary education from the State University of New York at Geneseo and her master's degree in elementary education from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She is a trained Reading Recovery teacher. Mrs. Hildreth successfully taught first graders for 8 years in the Sweet Home Central School District before changing grade levels 2 years ago, when she found herself teaching third graders for the first time in her career.