Resume
Experience
2022-Present
UPPER SCHOOL ENGLISH TEACHER
Greenwich Country Day School
Greenwich, CT
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Co-designed concept-driven curriculum for 9th grade World Literature and 10th grade American Literature courses
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Co-created interdisciplinary and project-based learning experiences for 9th and 10th students culminating in public-facing exhibitions of learning.
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Volunteer member of the Identity, Diversity, Equity, and Social Justice team.
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Co-sponsor for the Podcast Club and Film Studies club.
2019-Present
EDUCATIONAL CONSULTANT
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Co-author of bestselling Learning that Transfers: Designing Curriculum for a Changing World by Corwin Press and co-host of educational podcast Conceptually Speaking
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Published by educational outlets including the National Council of Teachers of English, UC Irvine’s National Writing Center, and Corwin Connect
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Facilitates professional development sessions and ongoing instructional coaching for public, private, and international school educators and administrators around the world
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Selected to present at regional, national, and international conferences including the National Council of Teachers of English Conference, Annual Visible Learning Conference and the International Baccalaureate World Conference
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Co-designed online courses taken by teachers, administrators, and university professors covering K12 curriculum and instruction in English Language Arts
2013-2020
HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH TEACHER
Charles J. Colgan High School
Prince William County, VA
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Selected by the Virginia Department of Education to create units and lesson plans to support the rollout of new 2017 state standards of learning
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Led 10th and 12th grade level teams in curriculum design, data analysis, and responsive lesson planning using instructional technology and project-based learning methods
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Selected to partner with district leadership to redesign Prince William County’s curricular units, lesson plans, assessment methods, and reading/writing policies
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Served as cosponsor for Model UN, Muslim Student Association, & National Honor Society
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Served as assistant varsity soccer coach for Charles J. Colgan High School and DC United’s U-15 youth academy
WRITING WORKSHOP
TEACHER
Middlebrook Middle School
Wilton, CT
2020-2022
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Implemented Columbia Teachers College’s Units of Study while integrating authentic multimodal composition informed by my doctoral research into multiliteracies theory
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Leveraged research from cognitive science and disciplinary literacy to plan transfer-focused interdisciplinary units across 8th-grade humanities classes
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Served as a member of Middlebrook’s Racial, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, Technology Support Team, and teacher representative for the PTA.
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Led professional development sessions and book studies for Middlebrook faculty
Education
2019-Current
University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne
Doctorate of Education in Learning Design & Leadership
Urbana-Champagne, IL
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Studying how multimodal tools and processes influence secondary English Language Arts students' ability to compose literary interpretations
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Selected to be a member of the AERA Writing & Literacies SIG Graduate Student Board
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Serving as the Communications Chair for the Journal of Learning Design & Leadership
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Maintaining a 4.0 GPA average
2009-2014
James Madison University
Bachelors of Arts in English &
Masters in the Art of Teaching in Secondary Education
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Successfully completed 6-month student teaching and internship process at Kate-Collins Middle School and Spotswood High School
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Successfully researched and submitted Master Thesis exploring the relationship between students' factual knowledge and ability to engage in higher order thinking.
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Graduated with a 3.5 Major GPA in English Studies
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Graduated five-year MAT program with a 3.5 GPA average
Harrisonburg, VA
Educational Research
Publications & Public Scholarship
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Aleo, T. (2024) Fostering digital literary literacies: Moving students toward participatory forms of reading, writing, and thinking about literature. In Barnes, M. E., & Marlatt, R. (Eds.). Teaching for Equity, Justice, and Antiracism with Digital Literacy Practices: Knowledge, Tools, and Strategies for the ELA Classroom. Taylor & Francis.
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Aleo, T., Jerasa, S., & Nash, B. L. (2024). “What Would Other Swifties Think?”: Multimodal Composing with Communities in Mind. English Journal, 113(4), 27-36.
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Aleo, T. (2022). Crossing Thresholds: Critical Media Literacies in the Secondary English Classroom. In W. Kist & M. Christel's (Eds.), Special Issues, Volume 2: Critical Media Literacy: Bringing Critical Media Literacy into ELA Classrooms (p. 46-52). NCTE
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Stern, J., Ferraro, K., Duncan, K., & Aleo, T. (2021). Learning That Transfers. SAGE Publications.
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Aleo, T. (2021b, April 21). Modern Literacies: Helping Students Navigate Our Complex World. Corwin Connect. https://corwin-connect.com/2021/04/modern-literacies-helping-students-navigate-our-complex-world/
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Aleo, T. (2021, April 2). Disciplinary Literacy: Empowering Students to be Knowledge Producers. Corwin Connect. https://corwin-connect.com/2021/04/disciplinary-literacy-empowering-students-to-be-knowledge-producers/
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Aleo, T. (2021a, March 10). Finding Instructional Balance: The Acquire-Connect-Transfer Learning Sequence. WRITE CENTER. https://www.writecenter.org/blog/finding-instructional-balance-the-acquire-connect-transfer-learning-sequence
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Aleo, T. (2020, January 15). Reading the World: The Case for Multimodal Literacy. NCTE. https://ncte.org/blog/2020/01/reading-world-case-multimodal-literacy/
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Aleo, T. (2019, November 1). Here’s Why You Should Start Teaching for Transfer. Corwin Connect. https://corwin-connect.com/2019/10/heres-why-you-should-start-teaching-for-transfer/
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Aleo, T. (2018, September 21). Connecting with Students’ Prior Knowledge. NCTE. https://ncte.org/blog/2018/09/pop-culture-prior-knowledge-an-untapped-resource/
Conference Presentations
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Navigation & Transformation: Interdisciplinary Inquiry Across Domains
Conference to Restore Humanity (July, 2024)​​ -
Literacy Through the Looking Glass: Navigating Dynamic Contexts, Cultures, and Communities (Keynote) ERWC Literacy Conference (June, 2024)
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Unseen Futures: Literary Literacies for Liminal Times
National Council of Teachers of English National Conference (November, 2023) -
#HackYourStack Roundtable on Digital Texts
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Take Out Your Phones: Using Multimedia to Teach Foundational Literacy
National Council of Teachers of English National Conference (November, 2023) -
Critical Media Literacy in Action Part 2: Taken from NCTE’s Special Issues CML V.2
National Council of Teachers of English National Conference (November, 2023) -
Watch, Listen, Arrange, Feel, Speak: The Influence of Multimodal Expression on Literacy
National Council of Teachers of English National Conference (November, 2023) -
Light, Color, Sound, and Texture: Multimodal Composition in K–12 Classrooms
National Council of Teachers of English National Conference (November, 2022) -
Cultivating Compositional Agility: Shining a Light on Learning that Transfers
National Council of Teachers of English National Conference (November, 2022) -
Multimodal Composition: Illuminating Our Humanity and Influencing Change
National Council of Teachers of English National Conference (November, 2022) -
Deepening Our Understanding of Transfer of Learning
The Language and Literacy Webinar Series from California State University (September, 2022) -
Designing Authentic Learning with Disciplinary Literacy
The Inquiry Educators Summit (April, 2022) -
Learning that Transfers: Designing Agile Learning for the ELA Classroom
New England Association of Teachers of English -
Learning that Transfers: Designing Curriculum for English Language Arts
Curriculum Camp Conference (July, 2021) -
Learning that Transfers for the Middle Years
The Inquiry Educators Summit (March, 2021) -
Reconnecting with Ourselves: Teaching for Transfer in the Humanities
Annual Visible Learning Conference (August, 2020) -
Teaching for Transfer: Designing agile learning for language and literature
International Baccalaureate Global Conference (Cancelled) -
Tools for Teaching Conceptual Understanding
Mid-Atlantic Association of International Baccalaureate Schools (2019) -
Tools for Teaching Conceptual Understanding in English Language Arts
Virginia Association of Teachers of English (2019) -
Tools for Teaching Conceptual Understanding in English Language Arts
Empower: Forsyth County Professional Development Conference (2019)
Professional Affiliations
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National Council of Teachers of English
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New England Area Teachers of English
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American Educational Research Association
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Writing & Literacies SIG​
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Semiotics & Multimodality SIG
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Conference on English Leadership
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Journal of Learning Design & Leadership
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Communications Chair​
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National Association for Media Literacy Education