Mr. Ryan Scala

Ryan Scala (You can follow him on Twitter: @rscalateach) is a third grade teacher and curriculum coordinator for Language Arts K-8. He has a unique interest in professional development and has attended events at the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project for the past decade.

Through his relationship with the project, he has been able to engage in inquiries around fiction writing, independent writing projects, opinion/argument writing, methods of conferring and leading small group work in reading and writing, revision. He has learned from published authors and leaders in the field, such as Katherine Bomer on reading and writing for social action, Carl Anderson on conferring and designing targeted and individual learning plans for writers, Ralph Fletcher on deepening our work with a Writer’s Notebook, and Katie Wood Ray on reading like a writer.

In his own school as well as surrounding districts, he has designed workshops on the foundational beliefs, and structures embedded in launching and sustaining thriving reading and writing workshops, independent writing projects and using the components of balanced literacy to prepare students for standardized tests. He has a particular interest in the teacher as a writer, developing lenses that help us to read like writers, and using digital tools to support workshop teaching. He strives to infuse these beliefs and interests into his teaching practices whether he is working with students, teachers or administrators.