Biography

Bonnie M. Davis, Ph.D., is the author of the best-selling Corwin Press book, How to Teach Students Who Don't Look Like You: Culturally Relevant Teaching Strategies (2006). For the past ten years, she has served as a consultant on literacy coaching, writing across the content areas, and culturally proficient instruction to schools, districts, and professional organizations.
 

Bonnie's new book, How to Coach Teachers Who Don't Think Like You: Using Literacy Strategies to Coach Across Content Areas, is now available from Corwin Press. For 30 years, Bonnie taught English in middle schools, high schools, universities, homeless shelters, and a men's prison.  She is the recipient of several awards, including The Teacher of the Year, The Governor's Award for Teaching Excellence, and The Anti-Defamation League's World of Difference Community Service Award.  
 

Bonnie holds a Ph.D. in English from Saint Louis University, an M.A. in English from the University of Mississippi, an M.A.I. in Communications from Webster University, and a B.S. in Education from Southeast Missouri State University.  She has presented for the National Staff Development Council, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, National Education Association, National Council for Teachers of English, and National Association of Multicultural Education, among others.

Her publications include African-American Academic Achievement: Building a Classroom of Excellence (2001) and numerous articles on literacy and cultural instruction, such as A Cultural Safari, a National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Paul Farmer Writing Award runner-up winner. Recently, she authored the cover article in the Missouri National Education Association's (MNEA) publication, Something Better (Winter, 2006).  She appears with other experts in The School Improvement Network's video, No Excuses! How to Increase Minority Student Achievement (2006).  She is the co-author, along with award-winning author, Curtis Linton, of the workbook, No Excuses! How to Increase Minority Achievement, due out in 2008.

In addition to her writing, Bonnie spends her professional life coaching and presenting to educators. Because she spent 30 years in the classroom, she considers herself first a teacher and she relates to staffs in a lively, interactive manner.  When she works with educators, Bonnie is passionate, funny, and energetic, modeling for staff instructional and relationship strategies to "close the achievement gap" by improving instruction.

A former Midwesterner, Bonnie currently lives in Southern California and is available for keynotes, presentations, workshops, and consultation. You can reach her at a4achievement@earthlink.net,subscribe to her internet newsletter, or visit this website often for news, updates, and resources.