Gilda Martinez, M.S. has an undergraduate degree in Elementary Education-Science from the University of Maryland. Her M.S. is in Education-Reading from the Johns Hopkins University. She is currently working on her doctorate in Teacher Development and Leadership, also at the Johns Hopkins University.

Gilda’s dissertation topic is a case study on ten
Maryland public libraries in urban, suburban, and rural areas. By interviewing and observing librarians, she is investigating how they are implementing a training they attended (that she and Elaine Czarnecki provided). Her goal is to unveil how the training is being used, what librarians are doing during their story times to promote school reading readiness skills, and what types of outreach they provide.

As a reading specialist, Gilda has taught several graduate level reading courses at the Johns Hopkins University. She created and advises for the English as a Second Language (ESL) graduate certificate program at JHU. Gilda also provides technical assistance (i.e.; assistance with curriculum development, program evaluation, grant writing) and professional development to administrators, teachers, childcare providers, parents, and librarians throughout the state of Maryland.

Gilda has presented at various state and national conferences on topics such as best practices in early literacy instruction, ESL reading and writing strategies, mentoring beginning teachers, team building, and creating home-school connections. She is fluent in Spanish, and enjoys providing workshops to parents in her native language. Gilda is dedicated to helping students succeed.

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