Tequila Cornelious

MEMBER

​Tequila Cornelious is an Instructional Literacy Coach at Freedom Middle School in Franklin Special School District. She chose to become a literacy coach to promote the importance of literacy as a critical life skill and to support teachers in developing the expertise and confidence needed to deliver instruction in any discipline with a literacy focus.

Prior to moving to Tennessee, Tequila taught in Michigan, Louisiana, and Indiana in predominately high needs schools.  Her breadth of educational experience includes positions as an elementary classroom teacher, literacy coach, and reading interventionist, adult literacy instructor, community college literacy specialist, and curriculum developer. She also served as a consultant, content developer, and member of the grades 6-8 ELA Standards Review Committee for the Tennessee Department of Education.

Tequila holds a B.S. in Elementary Education from Tennessee State University and an M.Ed in Educational Leadership from Louisiana State University. She is currently in her third year of the Literacy Leadership Ph.D program at Concordia University Chicago and her research interests include coaching pre, and in-service, teachers toward implementing equitable literacy practices and supporting them in developing diversity mindsets so culturally and linguistically diverse students have more positive outcomes.