Our Teachers
About Jena Collins
Jena Collins, MA, founder of The Literacy Room in Ojai, California, is an educational therapist and dyslexia specialist. Her passion to promote literacy and help dyslexic students spans more than 35 years of teaching students in both public and private settings, as well as presenting literacy workshops and trainings for school districts, educators, and parents. She worked for Ojai Unified School District for 17 years as a classroom teacher and dual immersion bilingual specialist and continues to hold a California multiple-subject teaching credential.
Formerly the Center Manager for the Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes® in Thousand Oaks, California, Jena commands great skill in the diagnosis of reading delays and instructional intervention at the one-on-one level. Jena has assessed and helped hundreds of struggling students with learning disabilities, dyslexia, attention issues, and “working memory” deficits, to become readers who experience the confidence and pleasure of reading for a lifetime.
When Jena’s own daughter struggled with reading in elementary school, they tried the Lindamood-Bell™ method and learned she was dyslexic. Soon her daughter's literacy went up three grade levels. Impressed with her daughter’s improvements and increased self-esteem, Jena trained in the Lindamood-Bell™ method.
Today, Jena focuses on the structured literacy approach by combining her Lindamood-Bell experience with trainings in Slingerland, Orton-Gillingham, and Structured Word Inquiry to address dyslexia. These trainings are aligned with the current research of the science of reading. In 2023, she received her Dyslexia Advocate Certificate from the Dyslexia Training Institute. In 2022, Jena completed her Orton-Gillingham Associate Level Training.
Jena and her team work with students one-to-one to provide intensive, customized instruction in Structured Literacy. Structured Literacy (SL) teaches phonology, sound-symbol association, syllables, morphology, syntax and semantics in a systematic, logical order of our language. The International Dyslexia Association cites SL as the most effective approach for students who experience difficulty learning to read and spell.
Jena received her undergraduate degree in comparative literature from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and lived in Madrid, Spain while completing her degree. She received her master’s degree in educational administration from California State University, Northridge.
About Christel Rogero
Christel Rogero has worked in education for more than 20 years and has lived in the Ojai Valley for 30+ years. She is an experienced educator who has worked in both the public and private sectors. In 2020, Christel joined The Literacy Room, where she takes pride in providing consistent educational coaching. Formally trained in Lindamood Bell™, Christel specializes in reading intervention.
Preceding The Literacy Room, Christel worked in special education and facilitated the Elementary Learning Center within a private setting. She spent years servicing students with multiple learning differences to close educational gaps. Christel’s approach with students is to build a safe, healthy, and successful relationship without academic dependency in a one-to-one environment.
A University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) graduate with honors, Christel holds a bachelor of arts degree in interdisciplinary studies (psychology, sociology, and history) and a minor in English literature. In addition to teaching, Christel’s passion for the outdoors includes backpacking, hiking, and farming. She cultivates lavender annually and yields daily fresh fruit and vegetables in the beautiful Ojai Valley.