Lynette Smith-Davis

Dr. Osha Lynette Smith recently graduated from Walden and earned her Doctorate degree in Reading and Literacy Leadership from Walden University. Her dissertation was titled "Content Area Teacher Perspectives on Integrating Literacy Strategies". Dr. Smith has completed two years as a Post-doctoral Fellow in the first cohort for the Richard C. Riley School of Education at Walden University under the supervision of Dr. Amy White. In this capacity, Dr. Smith has taught READ 6708, READ 6609, READ 6718, READ 6605, READ 6708, READ 6610, READ 6718, READ 6707, MSED 6160, MSED 6190, and MSED 6185 and has worked with Kelly Kelly as a Subject Matter Expert (SME).

Apart from Walden University, Dr. Smith has taught seventh-grade academic literacy at a suburban middle school in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and is a certified Reading Specialist. Teaching is her second career, and she has been a teacher for 18 years. Dr. Smith retired from teaching public school on January 5, 2021. Before teaching, Dr. Smith worked in state government and facilitated the training of adults for 24 years. In addition, she was an Adjunct Professor for Penn State University in Harrisburg, where she taught a graduate course titled Teaching Reading through the Content Areas. Dr. Smith retired from Penn State on January 5, 2021. She is a recent widow after losing her husband to Pancreatic Cancer on January 8, 2021.

Dr. Smith served on the board for The Notable Books for a Global Society(NBGS), for three years, where she reviewed over 600+ books a year to help select the top 25 books for this award. In addition, she has scored teacher portfolios for Pearson and reviews journal articles for Walden. She serves as Membership Coordinator on the Keystone State Literacy Association (KSLA) board and enjoys reading and discussing hundreds of newly published books for grades K-12. She also serves on the Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts (NCBLA) committee and reviews over 600+ books each year to select the award-winning top 30. Dr. Smith loves to share her vast collection of books in a Little Free Library in her neighborhood with the children in her church, her grandchildren, and anyone else she can find to share her love of literacy. She sent books to Moboleh village in Sierra Leone, Africa, with her Pastors on their recent trip.

Her other interests include traveling and taking pictures of family and friends and the places she visits.

Courses Taught

EDUC 472 - Teaching Reading through the Content Areas

EDUC 6610 - Teacher as Professional

EDUC 6708 - Literacy in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Classrooms

MSED 6190 - Literacy Growth in Grades 4-6

MSED 6185 - Literacy in the Primary Grades (P-3)

Education

BS, Albright College

EdD, Walden University

Post-master's Certificate, Penn State University Harrisburg

Publications

Smith, O. L. (2020). Teacher perceptions & Implementation of a content area literacy professional development program. Journal of Educational Research and Practice

Presentations

Smith, O. L. (2018). Enhancing your Literacy Tool-Kit to Support Reading in the Content Areas. KSLA

Smith, O. L. (2019). Notable Books for a Global Society 2020 Awards. ILA

Smith, O. L. (2019). Notable Books for a Global Society 2020 Awards. NCTE

Smith, O. L. (2020). Notable Books for a Global Society: The Impact of Diversity in Literature. Penn State Harrisburg, Dr. Mary Napoli

Smith, O. L. (2019). Scientific Literacy Requires Literacy . NSTA