Tamra Dollar grew up in a religious home where she spent much of her childhood in church and reading the Bible. She loved watching Romper Room as a young child and would write letters to Ms. Margaret, learning to write her name in the process. Dollar attended an experimental elementary school in Washington where reading and writing were taught through an embedded science curriculum. She has always loved reading since childhood and credits her college reading professor with inspiring her to become a literacy teacher and coach. Currently, she teaches struggling readers using the Read 180 program and is a strong proponent of instructional and digital literacy.

1. Tamra Dollar
Literacy: Practice to Theory
Dr. Watson

2.  My dad was the preacher of a small
Baptist church which meant I was in
church Sunday morning, Sunday
night and every Wednesday! I spent
hours thumbing thru my Bible and
underlining scriptures long before I
could read. I loved looking at the
pictures in my Bible….and
wondering things like, "How did
Noah get ladybugs into the Ark?”

3. Ms. Margaret Romper Room Letters to Texas!
My parents say I was glued to the television
everyday and actually believed Ms.
Margaret could see me in her magic mirror.
I wrote her letters and finally I was
rewarded with the words, “And I see
Tamra!”
Calling “long distance” in the 60’s was a
luxury we couldn’t afford. As a result I
became a letter writer. This is when I learned
to write my name! My letters are stuffed in
old shoe boxes and it’s fun to see how I went
from pictures to words to sentences!

4.  Blog: Why I Blame My Second Grade Teacher!
I had a unique educational
experience. I lived in
Renton, Washington which was the
hub of experimental space aviation.
My school, Benson Hill
Elementary, was an experimental
school built during the “Race to
Space” years. Reading and writing
were not taught in isolation. Instead
they were embedded in the science
curriculum. If you click the link to
my blog above my school picture you
can learn more about my experience.

5. My mom read to me when I
was little. Truthfully, I was sick
of Bible Stories, so when she
read Doctor Dolittle I thought
I had died and gone to heaven!
When my
brother, Rodney, was born, I
was old enough to read all of
my favorites to him. I started
reading to him the day he
came home from the hospital!

6. Nancy Drew mysteries were the
first series I read! I was ten-
years-old and I remember
reading with a flashlight under
my covers even after my parents
told me to go to sleep! I read
the whole series and have been
an avid reader ever since!
I co-authored Exposed Heart
with a friend. I wanted to mail
a copy to my high school
English teacher who would
never give me above a B on a
paper. She told me to my face
that I wasn’t made to be a
writer!
This is my college
reading
professor, Dr.
Kingore. I saw her
last summer and
was able to tell her
that she is the
reason I became a
reading
teacher/literacy
coach!

7. My grandmother read this book
to me. It’s a book to teach
character like “bee obedient.” I
remember a boy who disobeyed
wound up drowning because he
went fishing when he was told to
do chores!
Boring and predictable!
…Not!!! Frustrating!
I never read Dick and Jane in
school, but played with a friend who
showed me the series! As far as
instructional manuals, if there aren’t
pictures I chunk them!

8. Stephen King is genius! I read
this book recently and
especially like the theory of
“the butterfly effect.” It’s ironic
that I enjoy the horror genre
over inspirational since I grew
up in a religious home! Go
figure!
Being a Middle School reading
teacher is my excuse for reading
amazing novels like Hunger
Games and Divergent! The truth
is I’d read them anyway!

9.  Confessions of a Literacy
Coach
Addicted to Twitter
blogging!
I’ve taught Read 180 for the past eight
year and have seen unbelievable gains in
my struggling readers. Love it!
Sold on Instructional and Digital
Literacy!