Jeannine Pfautz: Literacy Warrior

Jeannie Pfautz M.Ed.’09, alumna of our Reading, Literacy, & Learning (RLL) graduate program, credits Longwood University for helping her find her niche as a reading instructor.

She started her journey teaching English in Uzbekistan with the Peace Corps, where she discovered she didn’t know enough about teaching students how to read.

Pfautz started her first job in 2006 teaching ninth-grade English at Powhatan High School in Richmond, Virginia.  At the same time, she started her first graduate class, “Reading in the Content Area”, at Longwood University.

Pfautz explains that it was during her first semester in the RLL program when she developed strong analytical skills, analyzing English literature, and how to help students, “I quickly learned that students needed to be able to understand the text first before they were able to do more critical thinking, and my Longwood classes helped me to support students in that access of text” she says. 

The class “Reading in the Content Area” was the opportunity she needed to learn techniques to help support her students, “I remember using nearly everything I learned in that course immediately in my English classes.” 

Pfautz says that the program was perfect for working teachers. She was able to pursue her masters, and receive the theoretical knowledge she needed, “I can’t imagine having gotten my masters without teaching or teaching without getting my masters.  It worked so well together,” she said.

After graduation, she headed to the Philippines for two more years with the Peace Corps.

In the Philippines, she worked at the high school with a co-teacher, Thelma Presbitero, and started a reading intervention program and a reading center that is operational today.

Pfautz recently completed an Ed.D from the University of Virginia, “Starting the program with my masters definitely helped me with foundational knowledge.  At this point, I had been a reading specialist for several years, so I had seen a lot of the practical side of things.  Without my masters from Longwood as well as my practical experience, I don’t think I would have been nearly as strong of a candidate.  I was also able to count some of my masters credits toward my Ed.D. coursework.”

Pfautz says what she loves most about her job as a reading teacher is the ability to see the progress her students make in reading development every year; and to know that this literacy growth will make a positive impact on their lives well after she has had the pleasure of working with them.