Michael J. Rafferty

Michael J. Rafferty is an educator and author of 30 Big-Idea Lessons for Small Groups: The Teaching Framework for ANY Text and EVERY Reader, co-written with Colleen Morello and Paraskevi Rountos and published by Corwin in 2016. The book provides a framework for designing engaging, small‑group literacy lessons for intermediate‑grade readers across a wide range of texts.

Rafferty has served as Director of Teaching and Learning in public schools in Connecticut, including Region 14 and Derby Public Schools, where he has focused on building coherence from curriculum to classroom and strengthening small‑group instruction and RTI (Response to Intervention) practices. He has previously worked as a classroom teacher, Reading Recovery teacher, reading consultant, and curriculum leader for language arts, and has taught graduate‑level courses in reading assessment, intervention, and literacy leadership at Southern Connecticut State University.