About

Welcome to Raising Literate Humans*! I’m delighted you’re here!

I’m an author, literacy specialist, mother, and former classroom teacher (4th and 5th grades). I’ve been teaching teachers how to implement or refine the teaching of writing using the workshop model since 2009. I also work as an adjunct professor for graduate students.

The Annual Pennsylvania Writing Institute at Millersville University was the first speaking engagement I did a few months after giving birth to my daughter. I was introduced by Donna Topping, one of the co-directors of the Institute, whose words touched me in a way no other introduction has ever done. She told the audience a bit about me, my book, my teaching background, and then said I was presently undertaking one of the most important jobs of all. She said I was “raising a literate human being.” Those five words resonated with me. They almost became like a mission statement for the work I do as a mother every day. I started a Twitter account a few months later with the username of @raisealithuman. (In 2016, I changed my Twitter handle to @sshubitz.) Naturally, when I got a well-needed push from a colleague (who attended the Institute at Millersville and another speech I gave in February 2012) to start a blog about reading, I decided to call it Raising a Literate Human.

I’ve been blogging professionally about the teaching of writing on Two Writing Teachers since 2007. I am a New York State certified literacy specialist. I received my M.A. from the Literacy Specialist Program at Teachers College at Columbia University. I’m on the editorial review board for The Language and Literacy Spectrum, the New York State Reading Association’s Journal.

On a personal front: I love to cook and bake. I’m constantly trying out new recipes. A New Yorker by birth, I enjoy eating my way through Manhattan whenever I go back for a visit. Before I went gluten-free in January 2015, my favorites included Barney Greengrass, BLT Steak, Katz’s Deli, Magnolia Cupcakes, Murray’s Bagels, Rosa Mexicano, and Tang’s Garden. Some of these places are a bit harder to enjoy nowadays. I also enjoy watching baseball and am a New York Yankees fan. I grew up regularly attending synagogue and therefore Judaism plays a big role in my adult life. I love to travel too! My favorite week of the year is spent in Maine with my family.

* = In 2016, I gave birth to a son so now I’m raising TWO literate humans. Therefore, this blog’s name changed from Raising a Literate Human to Raising Literate Humans.

BOOKS I HAVE PUBLISHED: