Leah taught middle and high school English for 12 years before transitioning into instructional coaching and professional learning. As a classroom teacher, she was twice recognized with a Distinguished Educator award and was showcased by EdLeader 21 (now Battelle for Kids) for her work with the four C’s (Creativity, Critical Thinking, Communication, and Collaboration). Leah has an MA in English and an M.Ed in educational leadership. She is currently the Director of Professional Learning in the highly acclaimed Catalina Foothills School District in Tucson, Arizona, where she has developed, implemented, and evaluated several programs for professional learning, including new teacher induction, disciplinary literacy, teacher leadership, and the collaborative inquiry teams school improvement model.
Leah has facilitated hundreds of workshops for diverse groups of educators in such areas as assessment and rubric design, student engagement, inquiry-based learning, and classroom management. She also coaches educators in pedagogy, leadership, school improvement, and curriculum development. As a consultant, Leah brings a wealth of experience in adult education and curriculum design across varied academic disciplines. She applies a systems thinking approach to problem solving, capacity building, and professional learning and is committed to providing high quality sessions that model best practices while meeting the needs of adult learners.
Areas of Expertise (in addition to Understanding by Design®):
- Designing a “macro” curriculum
- Assessment and feedback for learning
- Performance task / authentic assessment design and use
- Rubric design and use
- Deep learning competencies / 21st Century skills
- Disciplinary literacy
- Student engagement and reflection
- Collaborative inquiry teams / PLCs
- Teacher leadership
