Scotch Plains-Fanwood Public Schools
Collegiate Academies
Portland Public Schools
KIPP New Orleans
Colegio Nueva Granada

Removing Barriers to Reading

When an adolescent struggles with reading, they often try to avoid it entirely. From gaps in skill to gaps in motivation, our courses help you identify what’s getting in the way and give you practical solutions you can use tomorrow.

See What Our Courses Target

Choose a Course

Start with the reading challenge you're seeing now. Each course offers a focused, practical way forward.

Want to Go Beyond Asynchronous Learning?

Pair any course with personalized feedback on your planning and instruction, including the option to submit classroom video for detailed feedback. Or bring a literacy expert to your school for live workshops, collaborative planning, coaching, and classroom demonstrations.

Set Up Personalized Support

Built for Busy Educators

Designed for PLCs and planning periods

  • Classroom-Ready Routines

    Routines, protocols, and tools teachers can use the same week.

  • Step-by-Step Demonstrations

    Watch every move modeled by an experienced educator before trying it with students.

  • Learning That Sticks

    Interactive practice in every session — teachers do the work, not just watch presentations.

Take a Look Inside

Watch a course session before you enroll

See how Gerrit combines concise instruction, classroom examples, guided reflection, and practical tools you can use right away.


Meet Gerrit Jones-Rooy

Instructional Leader • Adolescent Literacy Specialist

Gerrit Jones-Rooy has spent nearly two decades helping students become stronger, more engaged readers. He began in a fifth-grade classroom in New Orleans, where he learned how much can change when teachers remove barriers, build engagement, and make rigorous reading accessible.

Since then, Gerrit has taught high school English, served as Director of Literacy across five schools, and developed literacy initiatives in the United States and internationally through Columbia University's Consortium for Policy Research in Education. His classroom work was also featured on the final episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Today, he brings that experience to practical workshops and online courses designed to help educators turn good literacy ideas into daily practice. He lives in New Orleans and New York City with his three pets and, to the mild disappointment of his parents, zero children.
Gerrit presents to a room of educators at a professional development workshop in Thailand.

What Teachers and School Leaders Say

“Gerrit's work helping to grow kids' identities as readers and writers changed the trajectory of my teaching and the identities of my students. When Gerrit teaches them how to think like a reader, he makes texts — even ones above their reading level — more accessible and more fun. There's no better gift for teachers and students.”

Nora McGann - Teacher of the Year, Finalist (New Orleans, LA)

“Gerrit is one of the strongest reading practitioners and coaches I know. He was instrumental in setting up programming at our school and set a high bar for rigor. As a teacher, I also saw him build the best reading culture I have ever seen.”

Benjamin Davis - Principal (Chicago, Ill)

“The World is gonna be okay if Mr. Jones-Rooy is still teaching”

Colby N. (Gerrit's Student)

Questions About GJR Literacy Courses

  • What’s the teaching philosophy behind these courses?

    Everything here is rooted in two core principles: Access and Engagement. Access means equipping students to read what’s in front of them, including challenging grade-level texts, and persevere when reading gets hard. Engagement means helping students experience enough success, purpose, and momentum to keep going and begin seeing themselves as readers.

  • Who are these courses for?

    Educators: classroom teachers, interventionists, coaches, and school leaders. The routines are designed to work alongside the instruction you already use, in any subject where students read.

  • How are the courses structured?

    Short, focused sessions, each designed to take about the length of a planning period, so busy teachers can learn in their PLCs, planning periods, or anytime that works for them. Every course is self-paced and asynchronous, with lifetime access to the lessons and downloadable tools. Captions are available for all course videos.

  • Do the courses come with a certificate?

    Yes. Every course includes a certificate confirming your professional-development hours, for your records.

  • Can schools or districts purchase courses for teams?

    Yes. Schools and districts receive discounted pricing when purchasing for groups of 10+ educators. If you'd like help choosing the right courses, getting a group price, or setting up your team, contact Gerrit at [email protected].

Ready When You Are!

Practical courses. Classroom-ready routines. Real reading growth.

See the Course Catalog

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Get practical literacy ideas, course updates, and new tools for helping all students read, engage, and grow.

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