Gretchen Courtney & Associates, Ltd.

Gretchen Courtney

Cathie Elsbree Joan Fitzgarrald Cindy Hollingshead

Julie Jacobs Christi Mulligan Jane Viccellio

Gretchen Courtney

Gretchen Courtney, a forerunner in the field of literacy instruction, founded her literacy engineering firm more than twenty years ago. Firmly grounded in current research and authentic study, Gretchen customizes professional development and literacy support services. Prior to establishing this business, Gretchen taught kindergarten through the eighth grade in the public school system.

Dynamically engaging, Gretchen presents informative research-supported services spanning all areas of literacy. She offers instruction with an enthusiasm that extends to groups large and small. Her intellect and experience uniquely qualify Gretchen to guide districts in designing literacy initiatives that result in the success of all students. A sought-after professional on both the international and national level, Gretchen works with more than three hundred clients nationwide annually.

In addition, Gretchen is an experienced Title 1 reading specialist and accomplished author in the field of literacy instruction. Her first publication, Celebrate Literature! is an annotated teacher’s guide for elementary level literature instruction. Story Drama: A New Literature Experience (PreK – 3) and Story Dramas for Grades 4 – 6: A Literature Experience for Children offers a way to increase dramatic response to reading. Her well-read publication, Nonfiction Literacy, is an insightful guide to the nonfiction genre. Gretchen has just completed a reading comprehension six part series of books for grades K – 12, entitled Comprehension Keystones.

Cathie Elsbree

Cathie Elsbree is a veteran elementary teacher with regular and gifted classroom experience. Her presentations are fast-paced, lively, and filled with classroom anecdotes. Cathie has taught intermediate grades for twenty-eight years and participated in all aspects of district level committee work. In addition to her work as a district literacy consultant, Cathie worked with a consortium from ASCD, developing integrated curriculum.

Joan Fitzgarrald

Joan Fitzgarrald comes to Gretchen Courtney and Associates after a twenty-eight year career of teaching at the elementary level. Joan was involved in district curriculum development and served on committees in reading, assessment, social studies, language arts, classroom management, textbook selection, gifted education, and administration policies.

Joan’s presentations are fast paced, but thorough, entertaining, but educational, and above all, dedicated to the needs of the teachers. She has a large repertoire of classroom experiences to share, as well as activities that have been tested in her classroom. She was involved in her district’s implementation of the Gretchen Courtney Balanced Literacy Program, serving as a Literacy Mentor for her school.

Cindy Hollingshead

Cindy Hollingshead is a thirty-four year veteran in various educational settings. Her expertise ranges from Title 1 reading K-12 to Advanced Placement English certification. For seven years, she authored and coordinated a competitive grant to provide services to potential dropouts and at-risk high school students. She has served on various advisory committees for the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). Her background as a reading specialist facilitated her position as the Faculty Chair of the School Improvement Team. In her final years she was the high school English department chair. Teaching high school-age students is her passion. “We must, as educators, provide our teenagers with the literacy skills necessary to become productive students, employees, and finally professionals.” Her presentations sharing her classroom experiences are dynamic, insightful, and inspiring for both the inexperienced and experienced teachers.

Julie Jacobs

Julie Jacobs’ professional career has been centered in the Chicago Public School system as a district-level Area Reading Coach and a school-based reading specialist. She earned her Master’s Degree-Reading Specialist from National-Louis University. Under Julie’s leadership, as an Area Reading Coach, she was responsible for providing high-quality professional development to principals, assistant principals, reading specialists, and classroom teachers to improve the teaching of reading and writing in thirty-four elementary schools. Under Julie’s leadership, each school made significant gains on the state exam. Because she was also a classroom teacher and school-based reading specialist, her presentations provide teachers with practical insights that strengthen and refine their classroom teaching techniques. Julie’s engaging presentation style is both energetic and dynamic. Her goal is to increase student achievement by developing teacher expertise in the field of literacy.

Christi Mulligan

Christi Mulligan has experience in the classroom and as a middle school language arts teacher as well as in administration, serving the past five years as a unit district's Administrator of Curriculum and Assessment. This is her second year with Gretchen Courtney and Associates (GCA). Christi, still associated with her school district, has been able to put to practice materials from GCA and knows first-hand how to implement at the classroom level as well as how to plan with teachers to "make these strategies work for them." In today's high stakes testing world, Christi has experience at the district level of working within the constraints of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and still getting the best literacy education for our students. "The best part of working with Gretchen is the opportunity to get a grasp on the latest research and see it applied in classrooms across the state…the results are amazing!"

Jane Viccellio

National Board Certified, Jane taught in Chicago Public Schools for eight years at both the primary and intermediate levels. Practical in her approach, participants walk away from her workshops equipped with strategies, lesson plans, and new titles to take back to their classrooms. An experienced and innovative presenter, Jane has mentored national board candidates, provided management strategies at new teacher initiatives and consulted users of city-wide curriculum. She has written numerous grants for school-wide initiatives, authored curriculum for summer enrichment programs, and served in leadership positions both school and city wide. Her experience teaching both underprivileged and gifted students is reflected in her presentations as she weaves hands-on activities, interactive games, and group challenges throughout.

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