Transformative Teaching: One Teacher's Journey from Classroom to Community Impact

Stefanie Husejnovic’s journey in education began not with ambitions of leadership but with a deep desire to be an effective kindergarten teacher. Now an instructional coach in Indianapolis and a board member of The Reading League Indiana, she has reshaped not just her classroom but has also impacted the wider educational community. Her evolution proves that one determined educator can catalyze change beyond individual students.

Foundations of Growth

Starting her career as an instructional assistant, Stefanie quickly learned the methods of various teachers as she prepared to manage her own classroom. In 2010, she began teaching kindergarten, initially following the conventional methods of guided reading and leveled texts. However, everything changed when her school established instructional leadership teams. It was during this time that Stefanie embraced a chance for professional growth and sought a better approach.

“I didn’t know what I didn’t know.”

Pioneering New Methods

In her tenth year, Stefanie was introduced to the concept of “structured literacy.” With encouragement from her assistant principal, who had a daughter with dyslexia, and insights from Andrea Setmeyer, the school psychologist and current VP of Marketing for The Reading League, Stefanie began to explore the science behind reading education. She connected with The Reading League Indiana, attending coffee chats, immersing herself in resources, and ultimately establishing effective phonemic awareness strategies in her classroom.

Transitioning to decodable texts instead of the favored leveled readers proved transformative. Without additional budget or professional development, Stefanie implemented meaningful changes that directly reflected in her students' outcomes.

At the end of that school year, all 21 of her kindergarten students, including those with IEPs and multilingual learners, met the end-of-year literacy benchmarks. These results epitomized the effectiveness of her newfound methodologies.

Scaling Impact

The decision to leave her classroom for the role of instructional coach was a significant one for Stefanie. Loving the direct connection with her students, she felt a pull to expand her influence beyond one classroom. She embarked on this new role with a commitment to foster relationships and trust among a diverse group of educators across elementary grades.

“If I have an opportunity to expand that impact beyond one classroom or one grade level, obviously I would want to help do that.”

Her inaugural year as a coach illuminated the challenges of building credibility, especially in upper grades she hadn’t previously taught. To reinforce her message of scientific literacy principles, she even worked closely with sixth graders to affirm that foundational skills are essential regardless of age. By the end of the year, 84% of students from her kindergarten cohort met their benchmarks, demonstrating that her influence had successfully permeated the school.

Advice for Aspiring Educators

For those fresh in the field of education, Stefanie’s guidance is straightforward yet profound: cultivate your community and focus on incremental changes. The drive to know everything before initiating change can be stifling; instead, she suggests starting with small, manageable adjustments that can lead to significant evolution over time.

“You don’t have to know everything right away to start making changes in your classroom. I started with one or two things, and each year it snowballed into something else. Just do the next right thing, and find that community to support you.”

For Stefanie, her community has been rooted in The Reading League Indiana, where her journey began with simple engagement and evolved into active leadership aimed at supporting fellow educators. She emphasizes the importance of including interdisciplinary perspectives, urging new educators to involve school psychologists, speech-language pathologists, and occupational therapists in conversations about literacy, as this collaborative approach enhances overall educational strategies.

Stefanie’s willingness to share her experiences and insights is invaluable, fostering a supportive environment where making impactful changes feels achievable, even amid challenges.