Gov. Matt Meyer declared a statewide literacy crisis at the start of his term and promised to work with education experts to improve student outcomes.
Jenna DiEleuterio is on the frontlines, doing that work at Talley Middle School in North Wilmington. She is Delaware’s 2026 Teacher of the Year.
DiEleuterio said her strategy involves meeting kids where they are, slowing down and encouraging connection through reading.
She added students need to relearn how to be bored and suggested middle school families continue reading to their kids.
“They see the connection that comes out of that,” DiEleuterio said. “We have to create that because a lot of times it is a challenge to try and convince kids that when there's not flashy stuff in front of them, that they can still get something out of it.”
DiEleuterio explained students are more willing to engage in challenging reads when they’re doing it with someone. And that pushes them to sit through the discomfort and develop comprehension skills.
Small groups are the perfect place to do that learning, she said. Her own classes have fewer students than traditional classrooms and are tighter knit because of that. She also oversees literacy at the school level.
DiEleuterio said small group learning gives her the opportunity to break down what individual students need to succeed.
“Whether it's fluency and comprehension, whether it's vocabulary and comprehension, or, in some cases, it is still decoding,” DiEleuterio said. “It is breaking up longer words. And that's hard to do in a larger middle school setting when students are expected to read to learn.”
Even when students are still learning to read, DiEleuterio said the worst thing educators can do is decrease expectations and give students lower level texts. She supports students using books that are appropriate for their grade level.
Now that DiEleuterio is Delaware’s Teacher of the Year, she said she’s excited to center her platform around literacy.
“Sometimes the structure of the school day – 50 minutes, and then there's a bell, and then there's 50 minutes, and then they're going to the next class – and then we can kind of get lost in that,” DiEleuterio said. “And I think that when we slow down and really focus on the present moment and what's happening right in front of us, paying attention, giving our undivided attention to our kids, they're craving that. And that's where we notice the things… that's when we can find that information and really address that need so that we can move forward.”
DiEleuterio moves on to the national Teacher of the Year competition and won a $5,000 grant for use in her classroom along with personal grants totaling an additional $5,000.
DiEleuterio added she’s not sure yet what she’s going to with the prize money, but she knows literacy will continue to be top of mind.
