This spotlight series is our way of highlighting educators who are transforming reading instruction. These are educators who test new techniques, think like there is no ‘box,’ and are helping students develop a life-long love of reading. These are educators who all use ReadTheory differently, whether it be for K-12, ESL, Special Ed, or Adult Learning. They come from different parts of the United States and from all around the world – but they all have the same goal – to improve their students’ reading comprehension.
As a company founded by educators and chosen by educators, ReadTheory views the Teacher’s Lounge (our blog, not the one in your building!) as a place to celebrate achievement, share ideas, struggles, and triumphs – so that’s what we’re doing here.
Each week of November, we’ll be adding educator spotlights to this post, until we get to our top 30 educators using ReadTheory to transform reading for #30inThirty.
Without further ado… drum roll please 🥁
#1. Meet Brittany!
School 🏫: Carillon Elementary, FL
Grade 🙋🏽♀️: 5th
Subject📚: English Language Arts and Social Studies
What’s your best advice for building a culture of reading?
Get a text in a student’s hands as often as you can. Read to them and take turns having them read! Make reading fun and engaging by switching things up. One of my favorite ideas is to have students read in the dark and use a flashlight. Even more fun, transform your room to be the setting of the book you’re reading!
How has ReadTheory helped teaching and / or learning in your class?
I use Read Theory as a way for students to practice their reading skills and strategies at home or when they finish early. It’s an amazing resource that is endless. Students will always have something to practice without printing anything!
#2. Meet Amy!
School 🏫: Parkview Elementary, TX
Grade 🙋🏽♀️: 4th
Subject📚: All of them!
What’s your best advice for building a culture of reading?
Students need to enjoy reading in order to love reading. I stress the importance of personal growth as opposed to comparing with each other. I also allow them to read various books and find topics they enjoy.
How has ReadTheory helped teaching and / or learning in your class?
I use ReadTheory to help with reading comprehension by allowing students multiple practices using various text and questions. It’s great!
#3. Meet Dr. Yanetsi!
School 🏫: Hialeah Elementary School, FL
Grade 🙋🏽♀️: 5th
Subject📚: Reading, Language Arts, Social Studies
What’s your best advice for building a culture of reading?
Daily practice is key! Students can only improve their fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension when they are exposed to literature daily.
How has ReadTheory helped teaching and / or learning in your class?
It has motivated my students immensely, it’s the first activity both my classes do every day. They have come to love Read Theory and look forward to it!
#4. Meet Amber!
School 🏫: Southeast Bulloch Middle, GA
Grade 🙋🏽♀️: 6th
Subject📚: ELA
What’s your best advice for building a culture of reading?
Chat with students about what they’re reading. Ask questions and relate it to their personal lives to peak interest.
How has ReadTheory helped teaching and / or learning in your class?
Read Theory has helped my students to increase their vocabulary usage by challenging themselves to “level up” on ReadTheory.
#5. Meet Jennifer!
School 🏫: Loganville Middle School, GA
Grade 🙋🏽♀️: 8th
Subject📚: ELA
What’s your best advice for building a culture of reading?
READ every.single.day. We do this together for the first ten minutes of class. Nothing else is allowed and students (plus the teacher) are reading for the first ten minutes. By the teacher also reading, you are modeling the behavior!
How has ReadTheory helped teaching and / or learning in your class?
I use ReadTheory because it is a research-based intervention. Students are taught how to use the progress tab to monitor their program average vs their pretest Lexile. Individual goals are made and recorded so that students are aware of their reading level. I do take a mastery grade on their growth at the end of each quarter.
#6. Meet Pam!
School 🏫: Stony Point High School,TX
Grade 🙋🏽♀️: 9, 10, 11, 12
Subject📚: Reading, English and Science
What’s your best advice for building a culture of reading?
Make reading relevant even if you are reading a classic. Make connections, and relate it to their world.
How has ReadTheory helped teaching and / or learning in your class?
There are a few ways that ReadTheory can help. First, ReadTheory gives the students independent learning choice. Next, they can read anywhere, even on their phones, so it’s easy to slide into the day. Another reason the students like ReadTheory is because the amount of reading is not overwhelmingly intimidating because the passages are bite-sized. Students like that they get immediate feedback and can be in charge of their own learning.
#7. Meet Toni!
School 🏫: Higher Colleges of Technology Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Grade 🙋🏽♀️: Adult Learners
Subject📚: ESL
What’s your best advice for building a culture of reading?
Dedicate time in class for reading, and reward progress with recognition and incentives.
How has ReadTheory helped teaching and / or learning in your class?
ReadTheory allows students to progress at their own individual rates with no social pressure or shame; they can also self-monitor, which they appreciate. As an instructor, I love the platform because it assesses students’ level and slowly builds upon that level step by step. The site is incredibly easy for an instructor to use!
#8. Meet Willie!
School 🏫: McClintock Middle School, NC
Grade 🙋🏽♀️: 7
Subject📚: Language Arts
What’s your best advice for building a culture of reading?
Find time for kids to read something of interest EVERY DAY.
How has ReadTheory helped teaching and / or learning in your class?
Kids ask to complete quizzes on ReadTheory and are genuinely excited when they progress from one grade level to the next. I’ve developed a system for them to analyze the text on a deeper level and I use that same system on high stakes testing.
#9. Meet Cassandra!
School 🏫: Peoples Christian Academy, Ontario, Canada
Grade 🙋🏽♀️: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Subject 📚: Teacher Librarian
What’s your best advice for building a culture of reading?
A great way to build a culture of reading with students is to make reading about community! Encourage kids to talk about what they’re reading with each other.
How has ReadTheory helped teaching and / or learning in your class?
ReadTheory is a great tool that pushes students to want to improve their reading comprehension level. The points system is a good motivator to keep trying to level up their skills!
#10. Meet Kimberly!
School 🏫: Plato Academy Trinity, Florida
Grade 🙋🏽♀️: 5
Subject 📚: ELA & Social Studies
What’s your best advice for building a culture of reading?
Data Folders! I have three 5th grade classes. Every Monday, they track their progress, set a goal and use a bar graph to record their current grade level. I have a treasure box and comfy flexible seating options as my incentives for reaching weekly goals. This is a homework grade and the expectation is to complete 10 quizzes weekly with 70% accuracy. After the holidays, I bump that to 80%. Most students go above and beyond the 10 quizzes – they are competitive!! I love ReadTheory! Reading comprehension WILL DEFINITELY improve if the students are consistent with their weekly quizzes.😊
How has ReadTheory helped teaching and / or learning in your class?
Curriculum assessment scores start to increase by the end of Quarter 1 with consistent usage. Students begin to feel more confident and their stamina increases gradually throughout the year.
#11. Meet Nancee!
School 🏫: Rodriguez Middle School, Texas
Grade 🙋🏽♀️: 6th
Subject 📚: Reading Intervention
What’s your best advice for building a culture of reading?
Help students to believe in themselves and their abilities. Allow for student choice in what they are reading and incorporate healthy classroom competitions to keep engagement high.
How has ReadTheory helped teaching and / or learning in your class?
I have used Read Theory for years and have had high levels of student success as a result. This year I am using the paid version and it is great!
#12. Meet Khalid!
School 🏫: Abu Bakr Boys School, England
Grade 🙋🏽♀️: 8,9 & 10
Subject 📚: English Language and Literature
What’s your best advice for building a culture of reading?
I think it’s important to share research with students which shows that students who don’t read challenging texts for at least 3 mins a day will struggle to improve their comprehension and keep regressing.
How has ReadTheory helped teaching and / or learning in your class?
I have noticed comprehension has improved. Students who were not contributing before to class discussion are now contributing with thoughtful answers.
#13. Meet Chiquita!
School 🏫: Westover Comprehensive High School, Georgia
Grade 🙋🏽♀️: 9,10,11 & 12
Subject 📚: English Language Arts
What’s your best advice for building a culture of reading?
I have various books in my classroom for reading pleasure. I enjoy reading with my students so they can see and hear the joy of reading.
How has ReadTheory helped teaching and / or learning in your class?
ReadTheory supports my scholars as they improve their key ideas and details and increase vocabulary.
#14. Meet Adrianna!
School 🏫: Hillcrest High School, Texas
Grade 🙋🏽♀️: 8,10,11 & 12
Subject 📚: English
What’s your best advice for building a culture of reading?
Build it into your lesson plans and most importantly, let them see you reading!
How has ReadTheory helped teaching and / or learning in your class?
It helps me identify Lexile levels and allow students to know where they’re at as well as see growth. 
#15. Meet Stephanie!
School 🏫: Norwood Middle School, Ohio
Grade 🙋🏽♀️: 7 & 8
Subject 📚: Gifted Education Coordinator
What’s your best advice for building a culture of reading?
To build a culture of reading, provide students with a comfortable, safe environment. Allow them to have a choice on their reading selections and novels. Most importantly, allow students to monitor their own learning. It is important that students take responsibility for their learning, set goals for themselves for growth, and monitor their progress and ReadTheory provides the setting for this part of the process and learning!
How has ReadTheory helped teaching and / or learning in your class?
ReadTheory helps to begin the day with classroom procedures and structure with morning work; even more importantly, it provides students with Differentiation. Each student is working at their Lexile Level. The computer figures out each student’s area of strength and areas of weakness, then students are provided with selections that are what each individual student needs based on this information. This means students are reading different selections at various levels —it all comes down to what the student needs. What can be better than that?
#16. Meet Glory!
School 🏫: Dulwich College Suzhou, China
Grade 🙋🏽♀️: 2,3,4,5
Subject 📚: Language & Tech
What’s your best advice for building a culture of reading?
To lead by example and to integrate reading in all subject areas.
How has ReadTheory helped teaching and / or learning in your class?
We’ve used ReadTheory for years so teachers and students can see and track their progress, which in turn motivates the students to keep going. The consistent platform and algorithm has enabled students to be independent in their learning/reading.
#17. Meet Kary!
School 🏫: Cuthbertson High School, North Carolina
Grade 🙋🏽♀️: 9&10
Subject 📚: English
What’s your best advice for building a culture of reading?
By creating a sense of friendly competition amongst my students and classes, we have built a culture of active reading in my classroom! I enjoy watching the competitive spirit that the students exhibit when they try to complete the weekly activities. Setting high expectations in an effort to raise reading levels and show overall growth with the reading passages from ReadTheory is my ultimate goal.
How has ReadTheory helped teaching and / or learning in your class?
The differentiated passages allow each student to work at their own pace. The vast library of quality reading passages assure that all students will be given reading material and questions that challenge them to grow as active readers.
#18. Meet Christina!
School 🏫: Victory Charter School, Idaho
Grade 🙋🏽♀️: 7&8
Subject 📚: English Language Arts
What’s your best advice for building a culture of reading?
When kids know that reading is a blessing AND an expectation (with some unexpected rewards mixed in), they excel for me! Plus, ReadTheory brings them lots of “aha” moments, like when they connect the dots that the weird bug they see on their brother’s ear is actually a tick…all because they read a ReadTheory passage about ticks. When reading meets life, kids want to read more!
How has ReadTheory helped teaching and / or learning in your class?
Students who struggle with reading, struggle with writing. By leveling the playing field with reading, it frees students to have positive experiences with writing. Plus, we are able to think more deeply as a class, making connections and inferences easily, with the texts we read together. ReadTheory has helped make that possible since it challenges each student at his or her individual level.
#19. Meet Theresa!
School 🏫: Discern To Learn Virtual School, Canada
Grade 🙋🏽♀️: 6-12th
Subject 📚: Literature
What’s your best advice for building a culture of reading?
Building a reading culture is all about leading by example. When students see parents and teachers reading and especially enjoying reading they are more likely to want to read as well. When respected adults show interest in what the student is reading, their interest and the ensuing conversation is its own reward!
How has ReadTheory helped teaching and / or learning in your class?
I use ReadTheory with all my classes online and my tutoring students. It is so easy to assign, most students enjoy it, and it is amazing how their comprehension has improved!
#20. Meet Adeeba!
School 🏫: Delhi Private School, United Arab Emirates
Grade 🙋🏽♀️: 5
Subject 📚: English
What’s your best advice for building a culture of reading?
Address equity to encourage all students to progress at their own level.
How has ReadTheory helped teaching and / or learning in your class?
The Lexile level of almost every child is increasing, the ones who took help in the baseline testing are also doing it independently now! I have been using ReadTheory for 3 years, I came across it during COVID, and now I got the full school on it!
#21. Meet Juan!
School 🏫: Valley View High School, Texas
Grade 🙋🏽♀️: 9,10 & 11
Subject 📚: English 1 and 2 STEM and Pre-AP
What’s your best advice for building a culture of reading?
When students think of reading as a task, they immediately express negative vibes. However, I approach reading as something more than a task; I encourage them to connect, reflect, and learn new ideas from everything they read. The more I tell my students this, the more they buy into it, and they come to view reading with a much different and positive scope.
How has ReadTheory helped teaching and / or learning in your class?
ReadTheory is such a great tool! It adapts and accommodates my students’ reading levels. I use ReadTheory as a motivator to help my students become better readers. The point system and progress levels inspire my students to continue doing better.
#22. Meet Neil!
School 🏫: Woombye State School, Australia
Grade 🙋🏽♀️: 5&6
Subject 📚: All!
What’s your best advice for building a culture of reading?
Talk about and show enthusiasm for reading, with students and also about your own reading.
How has ReadTheory helped teaching and / or learning in your class?
ReadTheory has allowed students to progress at their own pace or speed, especially my more confident readers, they can read at levels beyond what I would usually set for them.
#23. Meet Douglas!
School 🏫: West Memorial Junior High, Texas
Grade 🙋🏽♀️: 6,7,8
Subject 📚: ELA
What’s your best advice for building a culture of reading?
Lead students through a good book orally. Finish it. Discuss whether you were interested in completing it when you ‘ve only read chapter one. Books take time to build. Read daily and have students write something down each time they read. Sporadically share as a class!
How has ReadTheory helped teaching and / or learning in your class?
ReadTheory gives students a chance to be placed into a reading level and to have independent level assignments at their fingertips. The written responses give me time to counsel students about answering all parts of a question, using punctuation, capitalization, and adding complete thoughts.
#24. Meet Jen!
School 🏫: Del Rey Elementary, California
Grade 🙋🏽♀️: 5
Subject 📚: All
What’s your best advice for building a culture of reading?
Provide time during the school day. Many students go home to chaotic households or busy lives.
How has ReadTheory helped teaching and / or learning in your class?
ReadTheory has helped in three important ways. First, it is differentiated. Students all can work on the program at their own level without constant teacher support. Second, it provides accountability. Students who might use the time for other activities know that the teacher can monitor what they are reading, how well they are doing, and how long they were on. Finally, (and most important to me!) is that the program provides all of the texts. In other programs, students can drag their feet or make excuses about “not having a book” or the “can’t find a book at their level.” Since the text is provided, there is less wasted time and procrastination.
#25. Meet Kelly!
School 🏫: Jacobs Fork Middle School, North Carolina
Grade 🙋🏽♀️: ELA
Subject 📚: 8
What’s your best advice for building a culture of reading?
Model and share – talk about books often and get to know your students well enough to know what kinds of books they might like-especially the “nonreaders”. Give them chances to read and discuss their books and try book passes on library day. 🙂 Make reading cool/fun!
How has ReadTheory helped teaching and / or learning in your class?
I use ReadTheory currently as an accelerated program for my students who have “graduated” out of a required program we are using in our school system, i-Ready.
#26. Meet Robin!
School 🏫: Quest Academy Charter, North Carolina
Grade 🙋🏽♀️: 7&8
Subject 📚: ELA and History
What’s your best advice for building a culture of reading?
My classroom instruction is based primarily off of student selected material. Being in control of “what” they read to learn personalizes the process and allows then to enjoy the content of what they are reading even when we are working on the most challenging concepts.
How has ReadTheory helped teaching and / or learning in your class?
ReadTheory allows me the opportunity to have students complete a quick check on their reading skills. The powerful part of the process comes in when the students miss questions. For any question missed, they write a narrative explaining what led them to choose their answer. After that, they explain what the correct answer is and quote evidence from the text that supports that answer. This self analysis in my mind is the most powerful way to use the ReadTheory platform.
#27. Meet Lizzette!
School 🏫: Indian Trails Middle School, Florida
Grade 🙋🏽♀️: 6, 7, 8 & Adult learners
Subject 📚: ELA and Reading
What’s your best advice for building a culture of reading?
ReadTheory has helped ALL my students whether advanced/gifted/ESE/ELL to track their progress and celebrate their growth.
How has ReadTheory helped teaching and / or learning in your class?
Celebrate their success: Build excitement for reading through Knowledge Points Competition. I have individual and class competitions!
#28. Meet Kara!
School 🏫: White’s Jr/Sr High Bridge Program, Indiana
Grade 🙋🏽♀️: 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Subject 📚: Intervention and Special Education
What’s your best advice for building a culture of reading?
Let your students see you read! Make time for reading a priority.
How has ReadTheory helped teaching and / or learning in your class?
ReadTheory frees me up to actually work with students instead of monitoring that they are reading. ReadTheory finds the appropriate leveled texts and comprehension questions and students learn by tracking their data and setting goals. It’s THE BEST comprehension intervention program I’ve used in over 30 years of teaching. I’ve been known to say I won’t even teach ELA without it!
#29. Meet Daniel!
School 🏫: Internationella Engelska Skolan Krokslätt, Sweden
Grade 🙋🏽♀️: 6
Subject 📚: English
What’s your best advice for building a culture of reading?
It is important to give students the power to take control over reading themselves. People generally like doing something that they feel confident in and feel they can succeed, so giving all students that feeling helps foster a love for reading.
How has ReadTheory helped teaching and / or learning in your class?
ReadTheory has been an incredible resource for our school since we teach English as a second language and have students in one class who range from beginner to highschool level and having a resource that targets students individual levels and gives detailed feedback has been invaluable.
#30. Meet Stacey!
School 🏫: Gutierrez Middle School of Arts and Sciences, Texas
Grade 🙋🏽♀️: 6
Subject 📚: Reading Language Arts
What’s your best advice for building a culture of reading?
I share my love of reading with my students. I talk about the books I am currently reading and why I find them so engaging, and I give my students time to promote their favorite reads.
How has ReadTheory helped teaching and / or learning in your class?
I use ReadTheory as a warm up. I allow students to see the grade level of the passages they are reading because I think it is important for students to know where they are in order to make a plan for where they want to be. Students and I discuss their progress and any obstacles they may be having.
