Shelby Brody Ramirez, M.S.Ed. is a certified literacy specialist and educator with ten years of experience in elite independent schools. A graduate of Barnard College, Columbia University and Bank Street College of Education, Shelby has received world-class training in the science of reading, structured literacy programs, and Orton-Gillingham methodology.

Shelby’s classroom experience spans some of the most academically rigorous independent schools in the country, including Grace Church School in New York City and The Avery Coonley School in Chicago’s western suburbs. Their professional experience has shaped their philosophy that every child deserves instruction rooted in research, delivered with warmth, and designed around who they are as a human being.

Shelby is also an experienced and passionate teacher of elementary mathematics and brings the same concept-first approach to math that they bring to reading and writing. They believe that true mathematical understanding is inextricably linked with story, and they leverage this belief to bring mathematics alive for students in need of support and challenge.

In addition to their work in the classroom, Shelby has served as an adjunct instructor in Bank Street College of Educations’ Reading and Literacy program, teaching early career educators how to bring reading and writing to life for children ages three through eight. Shelby has also supervised graduate students through their clinical literacy fieldwork and served as a thesis advisor.

Shelby founded our practice out of a conviction that personalized literacy instruction opens doors—to academic success, to creative expression, and to a fuller and more engaged life. This conviction, alongside a commitment to developing authentic relationships with students and their families, forms the beating heart of what we do at Plot & Prose.