For a very long time (most of my school age years), I wanted to be a writer.  In fact, I went off to college with the unwavering goal of becoming a newspaper reporter.  What I neglected to realize during all of those many years of planning however, was how much I loved school.  When I interned at a newspaper my junior year and the editor asked what section of the paper I’d like to write for, I immediately said, “Education.”  Apparently I was the only intern in any recent memory to respond in that way.

When I started teaching through Teach for America a year and a half later, it was always with the intention of combining those two passions.  Throughout the last decade I have fueled my passion for literacy into early education classrooms to help my kindergarten, first, second and third graders find their own love of reading.  Now it is high time (so says my grandma) to share what I have learned and exercise my writing muscles…

Name:  Married into the alliterative and nursery rhyme-tastic, Meredith McNamara
Teaching Alias:  Ms. Mac
Years as boss of a classroom:  Nine and a half
Current Job:  Part time second grade teacher, part time literacy specialist and reading interventionist
Current School:  an amazingly “green” charter school on the southwest side of Chicago
Favorite Literacy Gurus:  Debbie Miller, Tanny McGregor, and the Sisters (My reader’s workshop is Daily Five with Debbie and Tanny at my side for slightly longer than the Sisters would like mini-lessons.)
Favorite Read Aloud:  Fortunately by Remy Charlip
Favorite Genre to Read for Pleasure:  Young Adult Fiction
Favorite Author:  Alexander McCall Smith
Favorite Library: Reading Room of the British Museum, London