Developing Content Area Literacy

Patricia Antonacci is a Professor Emeritus of Education at Iona College. Antonacci entered the teaching profession as a classroom teacher for the middle and elementary grades and continued as a literacy specialist. Her long career in public schools brought her a range of experiences as a teacher at all grade levels including a number of years working in diverse classroom settings. As a reading specialist for K through 12, she assisted teachers in integrating literacy instruction in content areas. Working in a large urban district afforded her rich experiences teaching striving readers and English language learners. Antonacci has taught courses at Fordham University and Iona College including the following: reading in the content areas for middle and secondary grades, foundations of literacy, literacy across the curriculum, action research, as well as mentoring doctoral students in conducting research in literacy education. She has published numerous articles and books including (as coauthors) Antonacci & O’Callaghan, Portraits of Literacy Development: Instruction and Assessment in a Well-Balanced Literacy Program, K-3 (2004); Antonacci & O’Callaghan, A Handbook for Literacy Instruction & Assessment Strategies K-8 (2006), Antonacci & O’Callaghan, Using Children’s Literature Across the Curriculum: A Handbook of Instructional Strategies K-8 (2010), Antonacci & O’Callaghan, Promoting Literacy Development K-8 (2012).

Catherine O’Callaghan is a professor of Education and Chair of the Education Department at Western Connecticut State University. She entered the teaching profession as a classroom teacher and continued her career as a literacy specialist with teaching experiences that span across the grades. Teaching in New York City within diverse settings afforded her a wide range of teaching experiences. Her doctoral degree from Fordham University in Language and Literacy initiated her research interests in new literacies, critical literacies, teacher education, and intervention plans for helping striving readers and writers. O’Callaghan began working with preservice and inservice teachers at St. Joseph’s College in the Child Study Department and as an adjunct at Fordham University.  She also taught in the literacy specialist program at Iona College for twelve years before moving on to Western Connecticut State University. She has published numerous articles and books including (as coauthors) Antonacci & O’Callaghan, Portraits of Literacy Development: Instruction and Assessment in a Well-Balanced Literacy Program, K-3 (2004); Antonacci & O’Callaghan, A Handbook for Literacy Instruction & Assessment Strategies K-8 (2006), Antonacci & O’Callaghan, Using Children’s Literature Across the Curriculum: A Handbook of Instructional Strategies K-8 (2010), Antonacci & O’Callaghan, Promoting Literacy Development K-8 (2012).

Esther Berkowitz is an associate professor in the Child Study Department and Director of the Master of Arts in Literacy and Cognition, Brooklyn Campus of St. Joseph’s College. Berkowitz taught elementary through middle school for more than 30 years before moving to the college level at St. Joseph’s College. Berkowitz earned her doctorate in Language, Literacy, and Learning from Fordham University. Her dissertation was given Fordham’s Alumni Achievement Award for Outstanding Dissertation. She currently teaches literacy methods courses and supervises action research projects of pre-service teachers. On the graduate level, she teaches graduate courses in diagnosis and recommendations for reading problems and supervises the graduate in-service teachers in the literacy practicum.
Berkowitz’s interest in technology began with the TRS-80 computer when there were no programs and the computer had to be programmed by the user. Later, as an intermediate grade language arts teacher, she was one of the few teachers in her school to be presented with four classroom computers with the stipulation that computer use be integrated into the language arts. As a college teacher, she revised her literacy courses to integrate technology. Berkowitz has presented at conferences on integrating technology into the classroom.