Christy Thompson is a Literacy Coach in Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia. She has spent her teaching and coaching career particularly focused on listening to and learning from the talk of our youngest students.
Christy spent the first part of her career working as a K-2 classroom teacher, including several transformative years at Bailey’s Elementary school in Virginia, where she met her co-author, Kassia Omohundro Wedekind, and many other inspiring educators. There she participated in the ​Kennedy Center’s “Changing Education Through the Arts” (CETA) program and became Reading Recovery trained.​ At that time, Christy ​also earned her Reading Specialist certificate and a master’s degree in Literacy Studies through Virginia Tech. ​Christy then had the opportunity to expand her understanding of early childhood education and international education by teaching at an international preschool in Seoul, South Korea for two years. When she returned, Christy became a Literacy Coach at Belvedere Elementary school, reuniting with Kassia, who was the math coach there. Together, as they worked with students and teachers, Kassia and Christy explored the crossovers between the ways students talk in math and literacy, leading to their publication ​Hands Down, Speak Out​.

Christy lives in Falls Church, Virginia with her husband, Jeremy, and two young children, Sage and Ella. She and Jeremy enjoy their time at the dinner table each night, where they get to listen to the developing theories about life that Sage and Ella bring home.

Christy Thompson.

Founder Human Right