Her Work With Teachers and Students...
Over the last year, I have worked with Dr. Brooke as a consultant to provide professional development for our teachers and paraprofessionals. She first worked with our Kindergarten and 1st grade teachers to help develop common commitments around language and literacy instruction to impact our students' learning experiences. Our first grade team focused on learning about and implementing Guided Reading. Thanks to Dr. Brooke's training and support, our first grade team was able to implement the use of running records and Guided Reading to differentiate and meet the various needs of our students during remote and hybrid instruction. She also provided training for our paraprofessionals on the following topics: using data to support instruction, supporting students through high leverage instructional practices, cultural awareness, and equity. The staff provided great feedback from all the training opportunities, and we look forward to working with her more in the future.
-Marah Gannaway, Director of Student Services, Hoquiam School District
I have had the opportunity to work with Joy for two school years as my supervisor. Working with her has been a fantastic way to learn and grow. She is open to listening and has the time to come to the class to observe and work with the children and with us. Joy has a fantastic way of finding solutions to daily issues, and she enjoys working with the team of teachers and Instructional Assistants. She has been a great leader to help us adapt to change and to learn about new teaching programs.
Her office door is always open to us when we have a need or when we want to just share with her special moments and relevant information about our students. She knows the children well; she gets involved in their growth and needs. She will provide feedback and will be asking about their improvement and what she can do to help when we need support with parents and/or further information.
Joy is very professional when she has to give feedback and has good comments and observations that help us grow and become better teachers.
She is passionate about reading and writing and knows so much about those two topics. She is always trying to implement new elements as part of the lessons and to help as grow when we have the opportunity to observe her teach. She has helped develop learning labs in my grade level to engage in professional discussions.
It has been a pleasure to work with her during these two years.
- Mary Paty Sanchez, Classroom Teacher
As a new teacher to the world of international teaching, Dr. Brooke offered me guidance and support as I entered a new school community. She is a dedicated administrator that has inspired me to further my literacy education. She is so knowledgeable about the best practices in the classroom and has a drive and passion for education that is incredibly inspiring. Thanks to Dr. Brooke, the Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop in my classroom is thriving.
- Lindsay Becker, Classroom Teacher
Joy is a wonderful person that always has a smile and things to teach you. Her work leaves a mark not just on children but on everybody who has the honor to work with her.
- Dani Proano, Classroom Instructional Assistant
Who is Dr. Brooke?
- A proactive leader who greets teachers and students with smiles and hugs every morning, setting a comfortable atmosphere.
- A former teacher who has been in your shoes, understands your struggles and celebrates your successes.
- A caring and effective communicator who gives you not only specific feedback, but the best possible advice and suggestions without judging you.
- Someone who sees you for who you are not only professionally but personally; a fantastic listener who empathyzes with you.
- A confident professional and resourceful researcher who will share her wealth of knowledge and data to inspire and motivate everyone around her.
- A creative problem solver ... and one with lots of initiative!
- A team player who knows how to work collaboratively with children, school administrators, staff, and parents.
- And most importantly, an educator who truly cares for the children and who will develop pathways to improve their education and make it more meaningful. She has made a difference in our school and shall be deeply missed... but who, without a doubt, will make any school community a better place!
-Cathy Vorbeck, Classroom Teacher
I have had the pleasure of working with Joy as my direct coordinator for K-5 art these two last years. She is always open to listening without judging in a safe environment, always finding positive solutions and guiding you to give the best, not just to the students but to the world. She has a wealth of knowledge as she herself has been a teacher before. She gives you coherent and useful guidelines to improve in your practice, all under a friendly but in a very professional way.
- Valeria Misle, Art Teacher
Working with Joy, especially during my first two years of teaching, has been amazing. Her expertise and kind nature are found in everything she does. Every time she observes me I learn something new and am able to think of things differently so as to better help my students maximize their understanding. I love working for her!
- Gaby Rincon, Music Teacher
Without trying to sound redundant “Working with Joy is a Joy” There is no doubt that she has passion for what she does. Her nickname Dr. Books (given to her by her son) reaffirms her love for literacy. However, Joy is much more than just a person who loves books and teaching reading and writing. Joy is an incredible individual who will walk the extra mile to help those around her accomplish their goals. She is known for giving up her lunchtime to run book clubs for teachers. She is insightful and finds solutions to problems. Normally as teachers we dread observations, right? Not when Joy is the person observing. She will observe critically and provide just the right feedback. She will tell you all the things you are doing well, and all the things where there is room for growth. Joy presents it in such a way that you immediately see the importance of what she is saying, and the minute you know it you will put it into practice under her guidance. I have become a much better reading and writing teacher thanks to her. Our classroom libraries were in much need of a revamp, she took care of those. Our literacy program was far from being adequate, she made sure we got the very best consultants. Our benchmarks and assessments were not in line, she helped implement those. All around, you couldn’t ask for a better leader and professional. I am a veteran teacher, and yet I have found that I have learned so much from her. Consider yourself lucky and blessed it you have Joy in your school. She is a great leader and team member. I have been very fortunate to have her as my mentor these past years.
-Cristina Jimenez, Classroom teacher
Joy's dedication to her job is exceptional… consistently brings creativity and innovation to what teachers are doing about reading and writing.
She is on top of everything. She can help you with small issues and fight for you even though is not her role. She is well respected and loved by all teachers and assistants.
Besides that she is an extremely good worker, she is kind, compassionate and a great friend.
-Lorena Bueno, Spanish Teacher
To find an administrator that is not only so committed to continuing to grow as an educator but also supports their faculty and students in such a hands on and approachable way is rare. Her knowledge, humour and passion for what she does is inspiring. More than anything she's the administrator you're always happy to see in your room whether she's there to support student learning, help you solve a problem or just check in to see how you're doing.
-Catharine Luhtala, Classroom Teacher
I am excited because Joy is a world class leader and educator, and will add incredible value to any school and community around the world, and sad because I have only had the honor of working alongside her for a relatively short period of time...2 years. In my opinion, Joy is as good as it gets, and is truly ready to lead a school forward in immeasurable ways. I could not possibly give her a stronger recommendation. Her work with literacy and curriculum is world class, and her ability to develop strong and lasting relationships with everyone she meets is inspiring. Joy is as ready as any young leader on the planet to step into a Principal role, and in many ways she would be a lottery win for your organization.
I have worked very closely with Joy to bring literacy to life throughout our Lower School (Prek-5), and I have seen her lead initiatives around inclusion, technology integration, teacher professional development, culture and community building, and so much more. I have learned from her and have been impressed at every turn with her passion, work ethic, organization, and pedagogical knowledge. She cares so much about young people, and her focus is always on what is best for student learning. Given the chance I would hire Joy over and over and over again.
-Dan Kerr, Intermediate Division Principal, Academia Cotopaxi, Quito, Ecuador
Academia Cotopaxi was already an incredible learning community with high expectations as the top school in Ecuador, and one of the top schools in the Americas. Through Joy’s leadership and passion for teaching, AC has improved even more in the last two years. I am certain that Joy will be an asset to any school that is lucky enough to hire her.
First and foremost, Joy is an incredibly accomplished educator and leader who possesses skills such as vision, communication, and executive organization, which have allowed her to be successful at AC. For instance, I have witnessed the curricular changes that have been made possible thanks to Joy’s knowledge of the Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop. Joy came to AC with a vision to create a “culture of readers” in a community where that did not previously exist. She set about building this community by working with teachers, parents, and students directly with empathetic communication. She created a blog and conducted online sessions with parents about reading and writing in order to facilitate the culture at home. She has taught the teachers so much about creating this “culture of readers” in their classrooms through rigor and balance. Her classroom visits are positive, constructive, and always helpful. Her rapport with teachers is excellent and her walk-throughs have helped me become a better teacher. Also, thanks to her we have had the opportunity to work with Kathy Collins and Carrie Ekey, two of the most recognized experts in Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop. Throughout this process of implementing Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop, Joy has been able to communicate her progressive ideas and passion in both English and Spanish to a diverse community. This communication has made this vision successful. The primary section now incorporates Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop at every level and will continue to do so long after Joy leaves. It is a great and lasting legacy that teachers and the community at AC are grateful to Joy for.
Even more important than her leadership skills and vision, though, is that Joy’s success at AC is due to her positive, creative passion for education and her empathetic character. Joy always has a smile at school and her love for education rubs off on all the people that she works with. She gets excited about helping students develop passion. One specific example of this is how she helped inspire high school students to build a “Little Free Library” book box, which the students then mounted outside the school for the community to use. This creative and passionate initiative has made AC a more progressive, more innovative, and more inclusive learning community for students, staff, and the neighborhood. Along with her positive passion is that Joy displays a strong sense of empathy in her leadership style. I have been to countless teacher-leader meetings and witnessed Joy listen intently to issues from students or staff, listen actively to options, question others, and then make smart decisions that are respected, especially in the area of discipline at the school. Finally, Joy, more than anything, is a loving and caring mother who understands the role of education in life. She can see the big picture, both of school and life, for her teachers and students, and she works to make that picture connect in a meaningful, non-forced way. She allows for exceptions when needed, understands complicated issues in people’s lives, and works hard to make everyone feel comfortable, supported, and motivated to be better in the community.
She has great leadership skills such as experience (she is a parent, teacher, and principal), communication (with students, teachers, and parents), and vision. As evident by her work and extensive experience at AC, Joy is able to use her passion and intelligence to see the holistic goals and potential of a school and improve them with her demonstrated leadership skills. More than this though, Joy has a strong and empathetic character that will motivate and impassion others to want to follow her lead. She will provide the correct and good example for any school.
-Belen Paredes, Classroom Teacher
As an educational leader, Mrs. Brooke is keenly aware of the important attributes of good teaching. She is a talented teacher in her own right and highly experienced in the implementation of early literacy programs. She has demonstrated expertise as she has worked with beginning teachers in a mentorship role. As part of this process she modeled lessons and coached teachers in the improvement of lesson delivery and classroom management. Mrs. Brooke is familiar with the application of the Danielson Rubric for effective teaching and she has participated in classroom observations and the technical tasks of documentation and pre and post conferencing.
Mrs. Brooke’s work with families and parent education is also impressive and her contributions to the community as she works to support non-profits like ‘First Book”, is a demonstration of her professionalism and proactive service to reach out to those families that are traditionally underserved. She is an effective spokesperson and champion in the support of children and family engagement. Mrs. Brooke demonstrates through her personal and professional commitment that learning and educational achievement is accessible to ALL children and families.
Mrs. Brooke is also a supportive and collaborative team member and in her short time with us, she has won the respect of our teachers through her accessibility and eagerness to team and support others in their professional growth. Within just a few days on her joining our staff, Mrs. Brooke took on the development and delivery of the first installment of our school wide professional development plan that focused on classroom discussions in math and increasing math discourse. This was an area of learning that was identified by our staff as a result of a thorough data analysis of student assessment data and the development of our school improvement plan. Monthly workshops have continued throughout the year using Mrs. Brooke’s format and many of her engagement strategies for adult learning.
Mrs. Brooke is a talented and committed educator that enjoys collaboration and professional engagement.
-Mary Olin, Clyde Hill Elementary Principal, Bellevue, Washington
Dr. Brooke has contributed to our learning community since August 2015 in a leadership role as associate principal of the early childhood division, as well as, our literacy leader in grades PK - 5.
There are so many aspects of her leadership and personal character that deserve to be highlighted. Joy and I have worked collaboratively during both school years, and she has positively contributed to multiple division-wide responsibilities including community relationships (employees, parents, students), curriculum development and articulation, professional learning for teachers and assistants, faculty evaluation and supervision, parent education (webinars and workshops), facilities management, learning resources and more…
Joy’s effectiveness in leadership begins with her belief in building strong relationships and the importance that these play in a learning environment. She seeks to understand others and find ways to inspire their growth. Joy has set clear guidelines and structures for teachers and assistants to support student behavior. Students in our division all know her and enjoy her caring demeanor and motivation. She is seen daily inside and outside of our classrooms, welcoming students in the morning, reading to children, stopping by with news, participating in class meetings, engaging in the playground, attending student events, and connecting with all members of our school.
As an instructional leader, Joy has been instrumental in the design and implementation of an aligned balanced literacy approach PK - Grade 5. She has guided teachers and assistants in use of Teachers’ College Reading and Writing Units of Study from Lucy Calkins and the use of Fountas and Pinnell’s Benchmark Assessment with great effectiveness. Through her work and in collaboration with the grade 3-5 literacy coordinator, our elementary school now has well resourced classroom libraries, a guided reading room, a structure for the collection and use of literacy assessment data, and a pacing guide that aligns literacy with our PYP inquiry units for the school year.
In addition to literacy, Joy is sought out by faculty for her sound understanding of effective teaching and learning practices in all areas - all based on the belief that all children can learn. Her personalized vision supports the school’s inclusion model bringing positive enriching opportunities to all students.
Joy is responsible for faculty supervision and evaluation and teachers in our division truly benefit from her classroom visits, professional conversations and feedback. Joy believes in empowering teachers and supports them to reach their personal professional goals while providing the necessary resources and guidance. She has been responsible for designing and organizing year-long professional learning including the participation of external consultants (Kathy Collins and Carrie Ekey), professional book clubs, modeling in classrooms, and facilitating conversations using reading and writing data, and providing opportunities for continuous reflection.
Her involvement beyond our division talks to her visionary perspective and commitment. In collaboration with the MS/HS associate principal, Joy has led a “buddy” program that matches older students with younger students engaging in positive relationships. She also led a Summer Reading program inspiring students of all grades to read and contribute to providing books for children in some of Ecuador’s most impoverished areas. She has presented on different topics in our school-wide professional development afternoons, as well as, in conferences for international schools in Ecuador, Peru and Brazil.
We can always count on Joy to contribute to our administrative conversations. She invited our team to structure goal setting for all students, an initiative which is now happening school-wide. Her questions and ideas consistently relate to the reason for our work… Students! These are based on her well versed knowledge of research based best practices and the needs of today’s world.
-Paola Pereira, Early Childhood Division Principal, Academia Cotopaxi American International School
I’ve known Joy for at least fifteen years. We first met in New York City when she participated in my section during the Summer Institute on the Teaching of Reading at Teachers College, Columbia University. At that time Joy was a classroom teacher pursuing professional learning, and if I recall, she inspired several other teachers from her school and district to travel all the way across the US to join her in attending the summer institutes at Teachers College. She knows the value of company and collegiality in her professional pursuits.
Soon after the institutes, Joy invited me to work with teachers in her district and to present at the local IRA chapter, of which she was an officer. I was so impressed by this. I’m usually invited to do work in schools by district-level administrators, yet here was Joy, a classroom teacher at the time, mobilizing professional development to share with colleagues throughout her district. At this time, she was also speaking up at school board meetings about pedagogical concerns, participating in district-wide curricular committees, and working towards earning her National Board Certification.
When I worked with Joy, her colleagues, and the local chapter of IRA, I saw, first hand, that Joy is a wonderful and inspiring leader. Although her title was still classroom teacher, she was that and so much more. She led study groups of colleagues who were interested in learning more about workshop teaching, and it’s worth noting that most all of these meetings took place off-site and during teachers’ free time. It’s one thing to offer voluntary professional development to colleagues, and it’s quite another thing for colleagues to take advantage of the opportunity. Yet, they did. I credit Joy’s sense of what teachers would want and what they would need as well as her warmth, knowledge, and persistence.
In addition to all of the ways she gives to her school and district colleagues, Joy is also very community-minded beyond the walls of her school. She does extraordinary parent-outreach, and she began a charitable group that collects both books and money in order to provide greater Seattle area newborns with their first books.
I deeply admire Joy, both professionally and personally, and I have no doubts about her ability to support and inspire colleagues.
-Kathy Collins, Former Director of the Reading Project at Teachers College, Author and International Literacy Consultant
I have had the pleasure of working with Dr. Brooke this past year at B.A. Winans School in Livingston, Montana. Dr. Brooke was our principal this past year (2017-2018) and during her time here she made some incredible accomplishments. She created both student and teacher leadership teams. The student leadership teams met once a week during lunch and students created school and community projects. Teacher leadership teams met bi-monthly creating goals and looking at data to support student learning. Dr. Brooke started book clubs for teachers and parents. Teachers read professional books such as Best Practices by Steven Zemelman, Harvey Daniels, and Arthur Hyde and Mindful Teachers by Patricia Jennings while parents read books such as Mindful Parenting and Wonder by R.J. Palacio.
Dr. Brooke is very knowledgeable and continues to read and attend workshops to better herself and her staff. She is a strong advocate for Readers/Writers Workshop and is a great resource for any teacher wanting to update and support literacy in their classroom. She was an active player on our Literacy Committee and her expertise helped us secure a $4 million literacy grant for our district. She also secured a technology grant for our school to help us integrate technology more effectively and improve our student’s learning.
Dr. Brooke has an outstanding rapport with students and knows all 200 students by name. One can see students talking and hugging her in the hallways every morning.
-Tawnya Hawkins, First Grade Teacher
I have had the privilege of getting to know Dr. Brooke in a professional aspect through Winans School and being the President of the Winans School PTO.
My first experience with Dr. Brooke was in the spring of 2017 as I was part of the Interviewing process as Winans School had an opening for a Principal Position, during the interviewing process I was very impressed with the knowledge, sound strengths, compassion for teaching and reaching out to children of all ages to make learning to be fun and exciting. Dr. Brooke also has a high respect for adult education and has introduced and developed two wonderful book clubs to our school. A Parents book club and a Teachers book club of which partnered with PTO brings the opportunity for both groups to read and discuss a current book each month. This concept has opened the area for participants to engage in learning techniques in not only understanding a child’s views and develop learning methods but provides a great tool for the adults to learn and understand how to better communicate and teach.
One of Dr. Brooke’s strongest attributes is her ability (and desire) to connect with each of her students on a personal level. She takes the time to get to know them so that she can better assist them and meet their needs and goals and has a mirror image and respect for the school staff as a whole in the same manner. Dr. Brooke also makes a strong effort in reaching out to parents / guardians to insure they are informed of how their child is progressing and is open to conversation on any subject a parent / guardian might have concerns over.
Dr. Brooke has demonstrated herself as a fabulous leader/ teacher and I have no doubt she will be an asset wherever she goes and highly achieve great things in her career as with her strong determination of getting the job done and supporting others to make goals happen.
-Kevin J. Larkin, PTO President
As CEO of L’esprit Mental Health Agency, I can attest to Dr. Brooke’s strong leadership abilities, compassion with students and parents and especially in her expertise of trauma informed care and social and emotional teaching and learning.
As Principal of Winans Elementary School in Livingston, Dr. Brooke was dedicated to ensuring that the instructional environment is focused on continuous improvement of trauma informed practice and the integration of social and emotional teaching strategies. She models and promotes the effective use of these each day in her own interaction with students. She has collaborated and supported our therapists and specialists. She prioritizes relationships with adults and students and this can be in her daily powerful interactions. She even created an outstanding student leadership team that allows students to have voice in their school, learn about leadership, and make improvements to better their own community at a very young age.
Most important, Dr. Brooke shares her knowledge and expertise with her staff and her colleagues. Other principals in our district, as well as in other districts, often call on her to provide professional development support in the area of early childhood trauma in the school environment. She has advocated for healthier eating options as well and collaborated with Farm to School. She also has implemented much needed programs focused on literacy and family involvement and locally conducts extracurricular activities for students and parents.
Dr. Brooke is creative and innovative and inspires others to maximize their use of compassion and to expand their instructional practices. One most recent and noteworthy example is when she advocated to have her school staff become trained and certified in Right Response, a preventative de-escalation program designed to support awareness and responsibility with the adults that work with high risk children that have experienced difficult traumas in their lives.
-Chantelle Plauche, CEO L'esprit Mental Health Agency
She is an amazing leader and I have learned so much from her this year. My time under her leadership has positively affected my teaching practice and growth as an educator. Dr. Brooke is an instructional leader. She has helped me and other teachers in our building to truly reflect on our teaching practices and look at what is best for children. She had us research best practices and guided many discussions in staff meetings, PLC’s, and individually. She also had our grade level teams create academic goals based on data and guided sessions where we monitored and reviewed our student data often. Dr. Brooke cares about quality instruction for all students and looked for ways to support teachers to make this happen to benefit students.
Dr. Brooke cares about the development of the whole child. Though she is strong in her leadership for quality instruction, she is also a leader for positive social and emotional development and honoring children in their learning processes. Dr. Brooke had implemented many student-led initiatives where student leaders were part of changing their school culture monthly. She helped empower young learners to make positive changes in recess that included student helpers to prevent bullying, creating recycling awareness in our school, and students promoted a food drive to help the local food bank that support students over the long breaks away from school that need it. These are just a few examples of that initiative. Dr. Brooke cares and respects students and honors their voice.
Dr. Brooke has helped create new structures in the office and building to help it run smoothly day to day. One of her strengths is assessing the needs and/or situation(s) and created a plan to better it. One example was how our Special Education department was serving students with behavior needs. She worked to make sure all students were successful by being placed in their correct learning environments. This impacted the overall learning environments for all learners to maximize their learning potential.
Dr. Brooke is a caring and thoughtful leader. You will not be disappointed if you chose to hire her. She has amazing ideas for student growth academically and socially. Her vision for instruction is valuable and will take your school to a new level of reflective and purposeful instruction for all students. I am thankful for what she has done to grow my teaching practice and growth and the changes she has made for student growth in our school.
-Patti Durgan, First Grade Teacher
I have found Joy to be:
In my opinion, Joy’s greatest attribute is optimism. During Joy’s time with the Livingston School District Joy addressed several extremely difficult issues. Joy came to a school with high turnover in leadership, a high percentage of high needs students in special education, and many students with socially and emotional behavior issues. Throughout dealing with these issues she never doubted her core beliefs and her optimism for a better future for students. She practiced trauma informed practices and restorative justice in efforts to educate the staff and change much of the punitive culture through these progressive and much needed discipline efforts. Joy made great strides which she should be proud.
Below are just a few of these efforts:
· Joy implemented a schoolwide goal setting model, where all were invited to look at school data and make goals in the areas of reading, writing, math, and behavior and empowered teachers to use their professional learning communities (PLC’s) truly to examine data, share effective interventions, and reflect on best practices in education.
· Joy collaborated with staff to decrease the high level of behaviors in the general education
environment by rethinking the special education program. She also decreased behavior with students with social and emotionally disturbance by working to create a “Nest” or calming and sensory room that aligned with the Four Zones of regulation teaching students these skills.
· Joy developed a new PTO and partnered effortlessly with them through fundraising efforts
and various activities, including leading a monthly parent book club to engage parents in
the education of their children.
· Joy supported the Montana Behavior Initiative by leading monthly assemblies and recognizing students who have displayed the 3 R’s of respect, responsibility, and readiness.
· Joy modeled the way by using student centered approaches like project based learning and service learning during these student leadership lunches involving community organizations like the Food Resource Center, Farm to School, and local artists supporting the Montana Common Core Standards and the Indian Education For All.
· Joy earned a technology grant which allowed nine teachers to pilot a tech integration group who meet monthly with a Tech consultant.
·Joy communicated effectively through creating a new school website, weekly parent communication,
weekly staff communication, and a weekly blog titled, “Principal’s Nest” on the website.
Joy is a bright and energetic educator with an amazing future in front of her. She will serve any system well and where she chooses to work will benefit greatly from her gifts.
-Dr. Don Veigut, Superintendent
-Marah Gannaway, Director of Student Services, Hoquiam School District
I have had the opportunity to work with Joy for two school years as my supervisor. Working with her has been a fantastic way to learn and grow. She is open to listening and has the time to come to the class to observe and work with the children and with us. Joy has a fantastic way of finding solutions to daily issues, and she enjoys working with the team of teachers and Instructional Assistants. She has been a great leader to help us adapt to change and to learn about new teaching programs.
Her office door is always open to us when we have a need or when we want to just share with her special moments and relevant information about our students. She knows the children well; she gets involved in their growth and needs. She will provide feedback and will be asking about their improvement and what she can do to help when we need support with parents and/or further information.
Joy is very professional when she has to give feedback and has good comments and observations that help us grow and become better teachers.
She is passionate about reading and writing and knows so much about those two topics. She is always trying to implement new elements as part of the lessons and to help as grow when we have the opportunity to observe her teach. She has helped develop learning labs in my grade level to engage in professional discussions.
It has been a pleasure to work with her during these two years.
- Mary Paty Sanchez, Classroom Teacher
As a new teacher to the world of international teaching, Dr. Brooke offered me guidance and support as I entered a new school community. She is a dedicated administrator that has inspired me to further my literacy education. She is so knowledgeable about the best practices in the classroom and has a drive and passion for education that is incredibly inspiring. Thanks to Dr. Brooke, the Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop in my classroom is thriving.
- Lindsay Becker, Classroom Teacher
Joy is a wonderful person that always has a smile and things to teach you. Her work leaves a mark not just on children but on everybody who has the honor to work with her.
- Dani Proano, Classroom Instructional Assistant
Who is Dr. Brooke?
- A proactive leader who greets teachers and students with smiles and hugs every morning, setting a comfortable atmosphere.
- A former teacher who has been in your shoes, understands your struggles and celebrates your successes.
- A caring and effective communicator who gives you not only specific feedback, but the best possible advice and suggestions without judging you.
- Someone who sees you for who you are not only professionally but personally; a fantastic listener who empathyzes with you.
- A confident professional and resourceful researcher who will share her wealth of knowledge and data to inspire and motivate everyone around her.
- A creative problem solver ... and one with lots of initiative!
- A team player who knows how to work collaboratively with children, school administrators, staff, and parents.
- And most importantly, an educator who truly cares for the children and who will develop pathways to improve their education and make it more meaningful. She has made a difference in our school and shall be deeply missed... but who, without a doubt, will make any school community a better place!
-Cathy Vorbeck, Classroom Teacher
I have had the pleasure of working with Joy as my direct coordinator for K-5 art these two last years. She is always open to listening without judging in a safe environment, always finding positive solutions and guiding you to give the best, not just to the students but to the world. She has a wealth of knowledge as she herself has been a teacher before. She gives you coherent and useful guidelines to improve in your practice, all under a friendly but in a very professional way.
- Valeria Misle, Art Teacher
Working with Joy, especially during my first two years of teaching, has been amazing. Her expertise and kind nature are found in everything she does. Every time she observes me I learn something new and am able to think of things differently so as to better help my students maximize their understanding. I love working for her!
- Gaby Rincon, Music Teacher
Without trying to sound redundant “Working with Joy is a Joy” There is no doubt that she has passion for what she does. Her nickname Dr. Books (given to her by her son) reaffirms her love for literacy. However, Joy is much more than just a person who loves books and teaching reading and writing. Joy is an incredible individual who will walk the extra mile to help those around her accomplish their goals. She is known for giving up her lunchtime to run book clubs for teachers. She is insightful and finds solutions to problems. Normally as teachers we dread observations, right? Not when Joy is the person observing. She will observe critically and provide just the right feedback. She will tell you all the things you are doing well, and all the things where there is room for growth. Joy presents it in such a way that you immediately see the importance of what she is saying, and the minute you know it you will put it into practice under her guidance. I have become a much better reading and writing teacher thanks to her. Our classroom libraries were in much need of a revamp, she took care of those. Our literacy program was far from being adequate, she made sure we got the very best consultants. Our benchmarks and assessments were not in line, she helped implement those. All around, you couldn’t ask for a better leader and professional. I am a veteran teacher, and yet I have found that I have learned so much from her. Consider yourself lucky and blessed it you have Joy in your school. She is a great leader and team member. I have been very fortunate to have her as my mentor these past years.
-Cristina Jimenez, Classroom teacher
Joy's dedication to her job is exceptional… consistently brings creativity and innovation to what teachers are doing about reading and writing.
She is on top of everything. She can help you with small issues and fight for you even though is not her role. She is well respected and loved by all teachers and assistants.
Besides that she is an extremely good worker, she is kind, compassionate and a great friend.
-Lorena Bueno, Spanish Teacher
To find an administrator that is not only so committed to continuing to grow as an educator but also supports their faculty and students in such a hands on and approachable way is rare. Her knowledge, humour and passion for what she does is inspiring. More than anything she's the administrator you're always happy to see in your room whether she's there to support student learning, help you solve a problem or just check in to see how you're doing.
-Catharine Luhtala, Classroom Teacher
I am excited because Joy is a world class leader and educator, and will add incredible value to any school and community around the world, and sad because I have only had the honor of working alongside her for a relatively short period of time...2 years. In my opinion, Joy is as good as it gets, and is truly ready to lead a school forward in immeasurable ways. I could not possibly give her a stronger recommendation. Her work with literacy and curriculum is world class, and her ability to develop strong and lasting relationships with everyone she meets is inspiring. Joy is as ready as any young leader on the planet to step into a Principal role, and in many ways she would be a lottery win for your organization.
I have worked very closely with Joy to bring literacy to life throughout our Lower School (Prek-5), and I have seen her lead initiatives around inclusion, technology integration, teacher professional development, culture and community building, and so much more. I have learned from her and have been impressed at every turn with her passion, work ethic, organization, and pedagogical knowledge. She cares so much about young people, and her focus is always on what is best for student learning. Given the chance I would hire Joy over and over and over again.
-Dan Kerr, Intermediate Division Principal, Academia Cotopaxi, Quito, Ecuador
Academia Cotopaxi was already an incredible learning community with high expectations as the top school in Ecuador, and one of the top schools in the Americas. Through Joy’s leadership and passion for teaching, AC has improved even more in the last two years. I am certain that Joy will be an asset to any school that is lucky enough to hire her.
First and foremost, Joy is an incredibly accomplished educator and leader who possesses skills such as vision, communication, and executive organization, which have allowed her to be successful at AC. For instance, I have witnessed the curricular changes that have been made possible thanks to Joy’s knowledge of the Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop. Joy came to AC with a vision to create a “culture of readers” in a community where that did not previously exist. She set about building this community by working with teachers, parents, and students directly with empathetic communication. She created a blog and conducted online sessions with parents about reading and writing in order to facilitate the culture at home. She has taught the teachers so much about creating this “culture of readers” in their classrooms through rigor and balance. Her classroom visits are positive, constructive, and always helpful. Her rapport with teachers is excellent and her walk-throughs have helped me become a better teacher. Also, thanks to her we have had the opportunity to work with Kathy Collins and Carrie Ekey, two of the most recognized experts in Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop. Throughout this process of implementing Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop, Joy has been able to communicate her progressive ideas and passion in both English and Spanish to a diverse community. This communication has made this vision successful. The primary section now incorporates Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop at every level and will continue to do so long after Joy leaves. It is a great and lasting legacy that teachers and the community at AC are grateful to Joy for.
Even more important than her leadership skills and vision, though, is that Joy’s success at AC is due to her positive, creative passion for education and her empathetic character. Joy always has a smile at school and her love for education rubs off on all the people that she works with. She gets excited about helping students develop passion. One specific example of this is how she helped inspire high school students to build a “Little Free Library” book box, which the students then mounted outside the school for the community to use. This creative and passionate initiative has made AC a more progressive, more innovative, and more inclusive learning community for students, staff, and the neighborhood. Along with her positive passion is that Joy displays a strong sense of empathy in her leadership style. I have been to countless teacher-leader meetings and witnessed Joy listen intently to issues from students or staff, listen actively to options, question others, and then make smart decisions that are respected, especially in the area of discipline at the school. Finally, Joy, more than anything, is a loving and caring mother who understands the role of education in life. She can see the big picture, both of school and life, for her teachers and students, and she works to make that picture connect in a meaningful, non-forced way. She allows for exceptions when needed, understands complicated issues in people’s lives, and works hard to make everyone feel comfortable, supported, and motivated to be better in the community.
She has great leadership skills such as experience (she is a parent, teacher, and principal), communication (with students, teachers, and parents), and vision. As evident by her work and extensive experience at AC, Joy is able to use her passion and intelligence to see the holistic goals and potential of a school and improve them with her demonstrated leadership skills. More than this though, Joy has a strong and empathetic character that will motivate and impassion others to want to follow her lead. She will provide the correct and good example for any school.
-Belen Paredes, Classroom Teacher
As an educational leader, Mrs. Brooke is keenly aware of the important attributes of good teaching. She is a talented teacher in her own right and highly experienced in the implementation of early literacy programs. She has demonstrated expertise as she has worked with beginning teachers in a mentorship role. As part of this process she modeled lessons and coached teachers in the improvement of lesson delivery and classroom management. Mrs. Brooke is familiar with the application of the Danielson Rubric for effective teaching and she has participated in classroom observations and the technical tasks of documentation and pre and post conferencing.
Mrs. Brooke’s work with families and parent education is also impressive and her contributions to the community as she works to support non-profits like ‘First Book”, is a demonstration of her professionalism and proactive service to reach out to those families that are traditionally underserved. She is an effective spokesperson and champion in the support of children and family engagement. Mrs. Brooke demonstrates through her personal and professional commitment that learning and educational achievement is accessible to ALL children and families.
Mrs. Brooke is also a supportive and collaborative team member and in her short time with us, she has won the respect of our teachers through her accessibility and eagerness to team and support others in their professional growth. Within just a few days on her joining our staff, Mrs. Brooke took on the development and delivery of the first installment of our school wide professional development plan that focused on classroom discussions in math and increasing math discourse. This was an area of learning that was identified by our staff as a result of a thorough data analysis of student assessment data and the development of our school improvement plan. Monthly workshops have continued throughout the year using Mrs. Brooke’s format and many of her engagement strategies for adult learning.
Mrs. Brooke is a talented and committed educator that enjoys collaboration and professional engagement.
-Mary Olin, Clyde Hill Elementary Principal, Bellevue, Washington
Dr. Brooke has contributed to our learning community since August 2015 in a leadership role as associate principal of the early childhood division, as well as, our literacy leader in grades PK - 5.
There are so many aspects of her leadership and personal character that deserve to be highlighted. Joy and I have worked collaboratively during both school years, and she has positively contributed to multiple division-wide responsibilities including community relationships (employees, parents, students), curriculum development and articulation, professional learning for teachers and assistants, faculty evaluation and supervision, parent education (webinars and workshops), facilities management, learning resources and more…
Joy’s effectiveness in leadership begins with her belief in building strong relationships and the importance that these play in a learning environment. She seeks to understand others and find ways to inspire their growth. Joy has set clear guidelines and structures for teachers and assistants to support student behavior. Students in our division all know her and enjoy her caring demeanor and motivation. She is seen daily inside and outside of our classrooms, welcoming students in the morning, reading to children, stopping by with news, participating in class meetings, engaging in the playground, attending student events, and connecting with all members of our school.
As an instructional leader, Joy has been instrumental in the design and implementation of an aligned balanced literacy approach PK - Grade 5. She has guided teachers and assistants in use of Teachers’ College Reading and Writing Units of Study from Lucy Calkins and the use of Fountas and Pinnell’s Benchmark Assessment with great effectiveness. Through her work and in collaboration with the grade 3-5 literacy coordinator, our elementary school now has well resourced classroom libraries, a guided reading room, a structure for the collection and use of literacy assessment data, and a pacing guide that aligns literacy with our PYP inquiry units for the school year.
In addition to literacy, Joy is sought out by faculty for her sound understanding of effective teaching and learning practices in all areas - all based on the belief that all children can learn. Her personalized vision supports the school’s inclusion model bringing positive enriching opportunities to all students.
Joy is responsible for faculty supervision and evaluation and teachers in our division truly benefit from her classroom visits, professional conversations and feedback. Joy believes in empowering teachers and supports them to reach their personal professional goals while providing the necessary resources and guidance. She has been responsible for designing and organizing year-long professional learning including the participation of external consultants (Kathy Collins and Carrie Ekey), professional book clubs, modeling in classrooms, and facilitating conversations using reading and writing data, and providing opportunities for continuous reflection.
Her involvement beyond our division talks to her visionary perspective and commitment. In collaboration with the MS/HS associate principal, Joy has led a “buddy” program that matches older students with younger students engaging in positive relationships. She also led a Summer Reading program inspiring students of all grades to read and contribute to providing books for children in some of Ecuador’s most impoverished areas. She has presented on different topics in our school-wide professional development afternoons, as well as, in conferences for international schools in Ecuador, Peru and Brazil.
We can always count on Joy to contribute to our administrative conversations. She invited our team to structure goal setting for all students, an initiative which is now happening school-wide. Her questions and ideas consistently relate to the reason for our work… Students! These are based on her well versed knowledge of research based best practices and the needs of today’s world.
-Paola Pereira, Early Childhood Division Principal, Academia Cotopaxi American International School
I’ve known Joy for at least fifteen years. We first met in New York City when she participated in my section during the Summer Institute on the Teaching of Reading at Teachers College, Columbia University. At that time Joy was a classroom teacher pursuing professional learning, and if I recall, she inspired several other teachers from her school and district to travel all the way across the US to join her in attending the summer institutes at Teachers College. She knows the value of company and collegiality in her professional pursuits.
Soon after the institutes, Joy invited me to work with teachers in her district and to present at the local IRA chapter, of which she was an officer. I was so impressed by this. I’m usually invited to do work in schools by district-level administrators, yet here was Joy, a classroom teacher at the time, mobilizing professional development to share with colleagues throughout her district. At this time, she was also speaking up at school board meetings about pedagogical concerns, participating in district-wide curricular committees, and working towards earning her National Board Certification.
When I worked with Joy, her colleagues, and the local chapter of IRA, I saw, first hand, that Joy is a wonderful and inspiring leader. Although her title was still classroom teacher, she was that and so much more. She led study groups of colleagues who were interested in learning more about workshop teaching, and it’s worth noting that most all of these meetings took place off-site and during teachers’ free time. It’s one thing to offer voluntary professional development to colleagues, and it’s quite another thing for colleagues to take advantage of the opportunity. Yet, they did. I credit Joy’s sense of what teachers would want and what they would need as well as her warmth, knowledge, and persistence.
In addition to all of the ways she gives to her school and district colleagues, Joy is also very community-minded beyond the walls of her school. She does extraordinary parent-outreach, and she began a charitable group that collects both books and money in order to provide greater Seattle area newborns with their first books.
I deeply admire Joy, both professionally and personally, and I have no doubts about her ability to support and inspire colleagues.
-Kathy Collins, Former Director of the Reading Project at Teachers College, Author and International Literacy Consultant
I have had the pleasure of working with Dr. Brooke this past year at B.A. Winans School in Livingston, Montana. Dr. Brooke was our principal this past year (2017-2018) and during her time here she made some incredible accomplishments. She created both student and teacher leadership teams. The student leadership teams met once a week during lunch and students created school and community projects. Teacher leadership teams met bi-monthly creating goals and looking at data to support student learning. Dr. Brooke started book clubs for teachers and parents. Teachers read professional books such as Best Practices by Steven Zemelman, Harvey Daniels, and Arthur Hyde and Mindful Teachers by Patricia Jennings while parents read books such as Mindful Parenting and Wonder by R.J. Palacio.
Dr. Brooke is very knowledgeable and continues to read and attend workshops to better herself and her staff. She is a strong advocate for Readers/Writers Workshop and is a great resource for any teacher wanting to update and support literacy in their classroom. She was an active player on our Literacy Committee and her expertise helped us secure a $4 million literacy grant for our district. She also secured a technology grant for our school to help us integrate technology more effectively and improve our student’s learning.
Dr. Brooke has an outstanding rapport with students and knows all 200 students by name. One can see students talking and hugging her in the hallways every morning.
-Tawnya Hawkins, First Grade Teacher
I have had the privilege of getting to know Dr. Brooke in a professional aspect through Winans School and being the President of the Winans School PTO.
My first experience with Dr. Brooke was in the spring of 2017 as I was part of the Interviewing process as Winans School had an opening for a Principal Position, during the interviewing process I was very impressed with the knowledge, sound strengths, compassion for teaching and reaching out to children of all ages to make learning to be fun and exciting. Dr. Brooke also has a high respect for adult education and has introduced and developed two wonderful book clubs to our school. A Parents book club and a Teachers book club of which partnered with PTO brings the opportunity for both groups to read and discuss a current book each month. This concept has opened the area for participants to engage in learning techniques in not only understanding a child’s views and develop learning methods but provides a great tool for the adults to learn and understand how to better communicate and teach.
One of Dr. Brooke’s strongest attributes is her ability (and desire) to connect with each of her students on a personal level. She takes the time to get to know them so that she can better assist them and meet their needs and goals and has a mirror image and respect for the school staff as a whole in the same manner. Dr. Brooke also makes a strong effort in reaching out to parents / guardians to insure they are informed of how their child is progressing and is open to conversation on any subject a parent / guardian might have concerns over.
Dr. Brooke has demonstrated herself as a fabulous leader/ teacher and I have no doubt she will be an asset wherever she goes and highly achieve great things in her career as with her strong determination of getting the job done and supporting others to make goals happen.
-Kevin J. Larkin, PTO President
As CEO of L’esprit Mental Health Agency, I can attest to Dr. Brooke’s strong leadership abilities, compassion with students and parents and especially in her expertise of trauma informed care and social and emotional teaching and learning.
As Principal of Winans Elementary School in Livingston, Dr. Brooke was dedicated to ensuring that the instructional environment is focused on continuous improvement of trauma informed practice and the integration of social and emotional teaching strategies. She models and promotes the effective use of these each day in her own interaction with students. She has collaborated and supported our therapists and specialists. She prioritizes relationships with adults and students and this can be in her daily powerful interactions. She even created an outstanding student leadership team that allows students to have voice in their school, learn about leadership, and make improvements to better their own community at a very young age.
Most important, Dr. Brooke shares her knowledge and expertise with her staff and her colleagues. Other principals in our district, as well as in other districts, often call on her to provide professional development support in the area of early childhood trauma in the school environment. She has advocated for healthier eating options as well and collaborated with Farm to School. She also has implemented much needed programs focused on literacy and family involvement and locally conducts extracurricular activities for students and parents.
Dr. Brooke is creative and innovative and inspires others to maximize their use of compassion and to expand their instructional practices. One most recent and noteworthy example is when she advocated to have her school staff become trained and certified in Right Response, a preventative de-escalation program designed to support awareness and responsibility with the adults that work with high risk children that have experienced difficult traumas in their lives.
-Chantelle Plauche, CEO L'esprit Mental Health Agency
She is an amazing leader and I have learned so much from her this year. My time under her leadership has positively affected my teaching practice and growth as an educator. Dr. Brooke is an instructional leader. She has helped me and other teachers in our building to truly reflect on our teaching practices and look at what is best for children. She had us research best practices and guided many discussions in staff meetings, PLC’s, and individually. She also had our grade level teams create academic goals based on data and guided sessions where we monitored and reviewed our student data often. Dr. Brooke cares about quality instruction for all students and looked for ways to support teachers to make this happen to benefit students.
Dr. Brooke cares about the development of the whole child. Though she is strong in her leadership for quality instruction, she is also a leader for positive social and emotional development and honoring children in their learning processes. Dr. Brooke had implemented many student-led initiatives where student leaders were part of changing their school culture monthly. She helped empower young learners to make positive changes in recess that included student helpers to prevent bullying, creating recycling awareness in our school, and students promoted a food drive to help the local food bank that support students over the long breaks away from school that need it. These are just a few examples of that initiative. Dr. Brooke cares and respects students and honors their voice.
Dr. Brooke has helped create new structures in the office and building to help it run smoothly day to day. One of her strengths is assessing the needs and/or situation(s) and created a plan to better it. One example was how our Special Education department was serving students with behavior needs. She worked to make sure all students were successful by being placed in their correct learning environments. This impacted the overall learning environments for all learners to maximize their learning potential.
Dr. Brooke is a caring and thoughtful leader. You will not be disappointed if you chose to hire her. She has amazing ideas for student growth academically and socially. Her vision for instruction is valuable and will take your school to a new level of reflective and purposeful instruction for all students. I am thankful for what she has done to grow my teaching practice and growth and the changes she has made for student growth in our school.
-Patti Durgan, First Grade Teacher
I have found Joy to be:
- Very hard working
- Very knowledgeable
- A team player
- Well- liked by the parent community
- Student Centered
- Resilient
In my opinion, Joy’s greatest attribute is optimism. During Joy’s time with the Livingston School District Joy addressed several extremely difficult issues. Joy came to a school with high turnover in leadership, a high percentage of high needs students in special education, and many students with socially and emotional behavior issues. Throughout dealing with these issues she never doubted her core beliefs and her optimism for a better future for students. She practiced trauma informed practices and restorative justice in efforts to educate the staff and change much of the punitive culture through these progressive and much needed discipline efforts. Joy made great strides which she should be proud.
Below are just a few of these efforts:
· Joy implemented a schoolwide goal setting model, where all were invited to look at school data and make goals in the areas of reading, writing, math, and behavior and empowered teachers to use their professional learning communities (PLC’s) truly to examine data, share effective interventions, and reflect on best practices in education.
· Joy collaborated with staff to decrease the high level of behaviors in the general education
environment by rethinking the special education program. She also decreased behavior with students with social and emotionally disturbance by working to create a “Nest” or calming and sensory room that aligned with the Four Zones of regulation teaching students these skills.
· Joy developed a new PTO and partnered effortlessly with them through fundraising efforts
and various activities, including leading a monthly parent book club to engage parents in
the education of their children.
· Joy supported the Montana Behavior Initiative by leading monthly assemblies and recognizing students who have displayed the 3 R’s of respect, responsibility, and readiness.
· Joy modeled the way by using student centered approaches like project based learning and service learning during these student leadership lunches involving community organizations like the Food Resource Center, Farm to School, and local artists supporting the Montana Common Core Standards and the Indian Education For All.
· Joy earned a technology grant which allowed nine teachers to pilot a tech integration group who meet monthly with a Tech consultant.
·Joy communicated effectively through creating a new school website, weekly parent communication,
weekly staff communication, and a weekly blog titled, “Principal’s Nest” on the website.
Joy is a bright and energetic educator with an amazing future in front of her. She will serve any system well and where she chooses to work will benefit greatly from her gifts.
-Dr. Don Veigut, Superintendent
Ask Mrs. Brooke is copyrighted material:
© Copyright 2020 J2MP Consulting LLC.
PO Box 9337 Missoula, MT 59807. [email protected] .
© Copyright 2020 J2MP Consulting LLC.
PO Box 9337 Missoula, MT 59807. [email protected] .