ABOUT
Hi, I’m Courtney!
Former 3rd–5th grade teacher, forever ELA nerd, and the creator of Write to Understand™.
I make reading and writing resources for K–5 teachers, homeschoolers and parents, so your kids can explain their thinking, and you can get your weekends back.
MY STORY
My students understood what they read. They just couldn’t explain it.
I taught 3rd, 4th and 5th grade in South Florida for ten years. Over and over, I watched kids who clearly got the story freeze when it was time to write about it. I’d get one sentence, or a copy of the question, and nothing about why.
So I started breaking it down. Short passages. A RACES organizer: restate, answer, cite, explain, summarize. Sentence stems for kids who needed a way in. Bit by bit, one-liners turned into real paragraphs, with evidence.
That routine became Write to Understand™, and Create Inspire Teach is how I share it. Today my resources are used in more than 60,000 classrooms.
WHAT I BELIEVE
Three things I teach by
Writing shows thinking
When kids explain an answer in writing, you can see what they really understand.
Structure sets kids free
A clear routine like RACES gives every student a way in, from the first sentence to the last.
Your weekends are yours
Everything I make is ready to print and teach, so planning doesn’t take over your life.
OFF THE CLOCK
