Lucy Calkins is an American educator and professor at Columbia University who is best known for creating the Units of Study reading and writing curriculum.

Calkins and her eight siblings were raised by their parents who were both doctors. Calkins used to babysit Donald Graves's children, which got her interested in reading and writing. She attended Williams College and graduated in 1973. She earned her doctorate in English education from NYU.^[1][2]

Calkins was a high school teacher in Connecticut. She left that job for an unpaid internship at a primary school in Oxfordshire to learn about the British education model, which was considered to be more effective at teaching reading than the United States.^[3]

In 1981, Calkins founded the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project institute in Columbia University's Teacher College.^[4]

In 1986, she published The Art of Teaching Writing before expanding her teaching philosophy to reading with the publication of The Art of Teaching Reading in 2001.

Calkins created the reading and writing curriculum, Units of Study, which is used in thousands of U.S. schools. It emphasizes teaching reading through context and cues (whole language) instead of teaching phonics. In the early 2000s, it became central to the New York City public school system's curriculum.^[1]

• Calkins, Lucy M (2020). Teaching Writing. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-325-11812-3.
• Calkins, Lucy M (2018). Leading Well. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-325-10922-0.
• Calkins, Lucy M (2014). Writing Pathways. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-325-05730-9.
• Calkins, Lucy M (2005). Big Lessons from Small Writers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-325-00748-9.
• Calkins, Lucy M (2005). One to One. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-325-00788-5.
• Calkins, Lucy M (1994). The Art of Teaching Writing. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-435-08809-5.

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