An Interview with Dawn Castilleja

In this interview, get to know Dawn Castilleja, who has held multiple roles at Collaborative Classroom: first as a member of the Consultant Cadre, then as a Manager of Educational Partnerships in Texas, and now as an Implementation Manager supporting all phases of implementation.

Tell us a little about your background as an educator. What did you do before you joined Collaborative Classroom?

I came to Collaborative Classroom after 23 years in public education. I served as a classroom teacher, Gifted and Talented Specialist, Reading Interventionist, and Instructional Coach. 

When I was introduced to SIPPS, I immediately knew it was the type of evidence-based curriculum that I wanted as a teacher and what I wanted my teachers to have as an administrator.  I saw how SIPPS changed the reading lives of my middle school intervention students, and was determined to learn more! 

When I discovered that Collaborative Classroom was a non-profit organization, and truly supported teaching and learning, I was all in.

What were your first roles at Collaborative Classroom?

I started with Collaborative Classroom as a member of the Consultant Cadre, serving mainly SIPPS and Being a Writer implementations. 

After a time, the opportunity to become a Manager of Educational Partnerships came up.  I was so excited to be working at Collaborative Classroom full-time in that role, and I felt I could really make a big impact across Texas. The best part of that job was the relationships that I built with the administrators and teachers I served across Texas. It was an honor to work alongside such superheroes.

Just recently I shifted to an Implementation Manager role, which I’m finding equally rewarding. I’m proud that I’ve been with Collaborative Classroom since 2012! 

Collaborative Classroom is a mission-driven nonprofit. What about our mission drew you to the organization? What’s your “why” for joining Collaborative Classroom?

The first event I attended with Collaborative Classroom was a Literacy Summit in Chicago.  I knew not a soul there, but felt so welcomed. 

At that event Tim Shriver addressed the participants.  As he was talking about the importance of educating the whole child, the whole day, and used the phrase, “The heart and the head come to school in the same body,”  I got goosebumps.  I remember looking around the conference room feeling that for the first time, I was in a room with others that felt the same way about education and children as I did.  I had the biggest smile and knew I was right where I needed to be.

What are some other projects or passions in your career? 

I love attending many conferences each year and engaging in continuous learning! The opportunity to meet so many others in this field, and “talk literacy” is a thrill.  

What is something exciting or inspiring that you’re seeing out there in schools right now?

One thing I’m seeing right now is the move toward strong small group instruction as a means to differentiate, enrich, and remediate learning for all students.  I get tremendous joy from seeing students, at all levels, finding success and confidence with reading, and I must add—enthusiasm!  If children can read, but don’t enjoy it, I feel like we’ve missed the boat a bit, yes?   

Reflecting on your own lived experiences as a teacher or as a student, what was one experience that was particularly memorable or impactful for you?

I remember Jorge.  Jorge was an 8th grade student at a Title One middle school.  He was an older 8th grader, 15 years old.  He had never passed a state test, and read at about a 4th grade level. 

The first day of class he said to me, “You can’t make me read no book.”  I looked at Jorge for a moment and replied, “You are right. I can’t make you read a book.  But, I hope soon, you will want to.” 

Now there are many things that happened from here, but to make a long story short—with time, patience, humor, and SIPPS, Jorge did start reading books.  He fell in love with the poetry of Tupac Shakur, and nonfiction books about boxing, cars and computers. He started passing his other content area classes, and came to me during advisory periods for help with his math. 

At the end of 8th grade, Jorge asked me to nominate him for AVID classes at the high school, so they could continue to help him, and maybe he could go to college.  Good for you, Jorge.  Good for you! 

What strategies do you use to build and maintain strong, long-term relationships with the leaders and educators you work with?

I’m not sure you would call this a strategy, but what I have found to be true is that the way to build long-term, trusting relationships with others is common courtesy.

The acts of being respectful, professional, open-minded in conversations, listening actively, and being transparent as to what we can and cannot accomplish together go a long way in developing partnerships that positively impact teaching and learning. 

What are some common challenges schools face with implementing new curricula, and how do you help them overcome these obstacles? 

I would say that budget and bandwidth are always the two biggest challenges districts face in implementing new curricula. Whether it be a large or smaller organization, there are always obstacles in determining how best to spend their limited monies and how best to support their educators with limited time when creating a plan for a successful implementation.

With that understanding, Collaborative Classroom has done an incredible job of creatively thinking through various scenarios, and coming up with a menu of supports. Through talking with leaders and understanding their organizational needs, initiatives, and obstacles, an Implementation Manager might offer a mix of in-person and virtual professional learning sessions.

We also offer a unique option called Collaborative Coach, which provides 1:1 asynchronous coaching to individual participants.  Many organizations appreciate this approach to develop Instructional Coaches and/or Teacher Leaders and build internal capacity around our programs. We are also very excited for the spring launch of our new CC AI Assistant support that will be primed to answer on-the-spot questions from educators!

***

Visit our Field Team page to meet other Managers of Educational Partnerships and Implementation Managers.