Hi! I’m Joanna.
Thanks for visiting Chirp, a free evergreen site about the pursuit of literacy.
Why Chirp
First of all, little birds are cute!
My wedding dinner plates have little birds on them… somehow we began calling them “chirp plates.” Then I found whimsical “chirp curtains,” a “chirp throw pillow, ” and without exactly knowing how we got here… we now refer to all live birds we hear as, of course, “chirps.”
I say “hear” because we also call the sound little birds make a “chirp”
…a tiny effort to contribute to our world via voice…
to tell us something,
to make us smile…
because chirping is what they do,
because chirping is a part of who they are…
Isn’t that what we all really want to do when we speak? 🙂
That’s our story, anyway
They tell me I was “born talking”… curious, imaginative, and fascinated by words and stories from the start.
Twenty-five years later, no one around me seemed alarmed to find me pursuing an elementary teaching degree, but it was a surprise to me!
Apparently,
working with children is not a universal passion.
I most enjoy teaching practical skills that encourage self-responsibility & cultivate awareness of one’s role in their “ecosystem.” Examples include table manners, taking turns & daily habits that often seem small, even insignificant in the moment, but make a difference over time.
I’ve had the opportunity to teach in a number of different contexts and discovered a career teaching day-to-day is definitely not boring, though filled with more politics than I ever would have suspected.
Meet Jeremy
My wise husband spends his days as an applied mathematician & professor, attempting to make theoretical concepts concrete in discussions of math literacy. He is especially interested in statistical data, technology, & project-based learning.
Why Promote Early Literacy
Both readers & thinkers, we’ve experienced that what begins as an idea in our minds is influenced by what we hear,
read
and continue to think about…
those thoughts eventually find expression in our words…
and those words have a powerful ability to shape our interactions with others…
their thoughts,
and ultimately, all of our lives.
Our combined educational and professional experience includes English, French, Math, Teaching (Early Childhood, Elementary, Secondary & Higher Ed), Customer Service, Project Management, and most recently Strategic Consulting, Copywriting & Data Science.
All of these are being channeled into Chirp Early Literacy!
Chirp’s goal is to provide a free, focused and informative space for a topic that has always been near and dear to my heart, and that also happens to be a topic of concern in today’s literacy market: early literacy.
A Conversation
At Chirp, we believe literacy starts early so this site is about working together to spread awareness of the importance of these beginnings – the development of language, children, education, and literacy.
Whether your questions are about marketing, the classroom, or helping your preschooler learn their letters, we have information that will help you promote early literacy in your context.
We invite you to participate and partner with us in this conversation because we all have different parts to sing, yet working together, our individual notes create a symphony.
Chirp at us…
