Havilah Jespersen completed her masters degree in the Literacy Specialist Program directed by Lucy Calkins at Teachers College, Columbia University. While attending graduate school, she interned with the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, a think tank in literacy education. Since returning to Alberta, Havilah has worked as a literacy coach and consultant with Edmonton Public Schools, supporting schools with the implementation of reading and writing workshops. Havilah is the coauthor of Readers Have Big Jobs to Do, and Word Detectives, two of the Units of Study for Teaching Reading. She also co-authored two of the upcoming Units of Study in Phonics.
A classroom teacher at heart, Havilah has taught in K-6 classrooms in Edmonton and China as well as worked as a Reading Recovery teacher. In her role as a consultant, she continues to get into classrooms as often as possible, and is an advocate for hands-on professional learning rooted in the everyday life of classrooms.