Colleen Doogan
education director
writing instructor
Biography
Colleen started her education career as a first grade teacher in Fair Haven and after eight years realized her passion for teaching reading and writing could take her beyond her classroom walls. Colleen left her job to pursue an opportunity as a reading specialist in Berkeley Heights, N.J., and then as a staff developer and literacy consultant at the Teachers College Reading & Writing Project with Lucy Calkins and her staff. While there Colleen not only helped others grow as writers, but she also rediscovered her own voice. She then worked in schools around the world teaching teachers about the reading and writing workshop as well as teaching at the TCRWP summer institutes in New York City and leading numerous coaching groups and institutes for those teachers who were becoming literacy coaches. Colleen’s love of writing goes back to when she used to write short stories sitting on the red shaggy rug in her childhood bedroom and keeping thousands of diaries and journals growing up. Now she records her daily thoughts as a mom of three children. She continues to have a passion for teaching and facilitating conversation about best practices for reading and writing. Colleen has an MA in Education with a Reading Specialist Certification from Georgian Court College and a BS in Elementary Education from Elizabethtown College.