Lynne Dorfman

Lynne, a native of Philadelphia, received her bachelor's and master's degrees in elementary education, her supervisory certificate in elementary education and her educational leadership doctorate degree from Immaculata University. She has thirty three years' of experience with the Upper Moreland School District.

She became a teacher because "I wanted to make a difference and I love working with kids." Like many others, she also "played school" as a child. "I had some great teachers and I wanted to be like them."

Lynne is currently literacy coach for the Upper Moreland Intermediate School; codirector of the Pennsylvania Writing and Literature Project; adjunct professor for Arcadia University; and she also does independent consulting and coursework for the PA Writing Project.

Her latest book, Mentor Texts, was a collaborative work with her colleague, Rose Cappelli. "We based everything on classroom samples and our work with children. An important part was including anecdotesâ€” advice we received from Shelley Harwayne. It helped to keep a notebook of our ideas."

Lynne describes her approach to professional development as hands on and interactive, using the gradual release of responsibility model. "Very practical and user-friendlyâ€”let's take it right back to the classroom."

Lynne has two goddaughters, two Welsh Corgi dogs and she loves to plant flowers, read books, write poetry, and spend time at the seashore. She taught herself how to play the guitar and she loves the old folk songs and the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Rod Stewart, and Gordon Lightfoot.

Listen to an audio interview (podcast) with Lynne and her coauthor, Rose Cappelli