 Jennifer Abrams is a professional developer for Palo Alto Unified School District and a national and international educational consultant for public and private schools, charter schools, universities and non-profits. An English teacher for nine years, Jennifer, now in her second decade in education, trains and coaches teachers and administrators on successful teaching practices, new teacher support, supervision and evaluation, generational savvy, having hard conversations and effective collaboration skills.
She works with cadres of PAUSD teacher leaders to lead sessions on Elements of Instruction and Equity=Excellence and provides all new teacher trainings and supervisor trainings at the secondary level. Jennifer also is a lead coach for the Palo Alto – Mountain View/Los Altos Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment program.
In her consulting work, Jennifer has presented at annual conferences such as NSDC, ASCD, NCTE, and the New Teacher Center at UC Santa Cruz Annual Symposium, and has trained new teachers in the Stanford Teacher Education Program, new administrators through Santa Clara University’s Masters in Educational Leadership Program and international school leaders at the Principals’ Center for International School Leadership.
Her publications include Having Hard Conversations published by Corwin Press, the chapter, “Habits of Mind for the School Savvy Leader” in Art Costa’s and Bena Kallick’s next book in their Habits of Mind series, Learning and Leading with Habits of Mind: 16 Essential Characteristics for Success, published by ASCD, and a contribution to the book Mentors in the Making: Developing New Leaders for New Teachers (The Series on School Reform) edited by Betty Achinstein and Steven Athanases, published by Teachers College Press.
Jennifer was featured as a generationally savvy expert for "Tune in to What the New Generation of Teachers Can Do," the lead article in the May 2008 edition of National Staff Development Council's Tools for Schools newsletter and has been interviewed by the Illinois Principals Association’s weekly podcasts focusing on communications between the generations.
Jennifer considers herself a “voice coach”, helping teachers and administrators learn how to best use their voices, be it in a group, in front of a classroom, coaching a colleague, or in a supervisory role. Jennifer holds a Master’s degree in Education from Stanford University and a Bachelor’s degree in English from Tufts University. She lives in Palo Alto, CA. |
