Literacy Specialist

As a Literacy Specialist, you are sometimes called a Reading Teacher. You’re like a Literacy Coach, but instead of working with Teachers to come up with new ways of teaching, you work directly with students who need extra assistance to learn how to read.

For the most part, as a Literacy Specialist you work in a school, whether that’s an elementary or a high school. You might work with kids who have learning disabilities, are non-native English speakers, or just need a little extra help. Additionally, when you’re a Literacy Specialist, you can work with adults who suffer from illiteracy or who aren’t native English speakers.

Whoever you’re helping though, each of your cases starts with an assessment. In the case of kids, you observe them in the classroom to see which ones are falling behind, or you get recommendations from their Teachers. You then use different techniques to help them improve their skills and get them to the level they should be. You might offer one-on-one instruction, extra reading work, easier books, or different teaching techniques to find one that makes sense to them and agrees with their learning style.

Your job is all about books, so in addition to teaching reading skills, you might do some general marketing for reading. Remember those reading challenges in elementary school? Those were the work of a Literacy Specialist. In this role, you can set up contests, have giveaways, or arrange book fairs—pretty much anything you can do to get kids excited about reading.