My Method

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I am a great believer in the value of a strong academic

foundation.  This foundation begins in Pre-School/

Kindergarten, and continues to grow throughout 

each child's lifetime.

I am an enthusiastic teacher who has a passion

for nurturing a love of learning. There is nothing

more rewarding than to be able to teach young

children to read their first words; their smiles of

achievement and joy are priceless!

READING SKILLS ~

4 Important Approaches to Decoding (or Cueing),

which help children to identify new words are:

PHONICS -  (relating sounds to letters)

VISUAL - (recognizing sight words)

SYNTAX (looking at how words & phrases are formed)

SEMANTICS -  (focuses on the meaning of words)

I utilize each of these approaches in order to help

children to become confident readers one step,

one day at a time. 

I teach children how to master high-frequency sight

words, which comprise 50% of the words that we

read. Mastering these words is essential in building

each child's self-confidence, and is the first step to

becoming a successful reader. A love of reading can

begin with the simplest of books, and if nurtured,

it can flourish with each and every passing year.

WRITING SKILLS ~

As children become more confident with their reading

skills, their writing skills improve, as well! 

Reading and writing go "hand-in-hand", in that writing

contributes to growth in:

PHONICS

WORD RECOGNITION

READING COMPREHENSION

SPELLING

I personalize my lessons for each of my students

every week. If I find that a child is struggling in a specific

area, we work together to help them to overcome 

these struggles/obstacles. In a short time, I find

that the children are flourishing, feeling a tremendous

sense of confidence and success.

In addition, I begin teaching Grammar and Vocabulary

Enrichment to my elementary school students,

and continue to strengthen these skills throughout

their middle/high school years.

I have found great success in utilizing ACT/SAT Reading

Comprehension and Grammar practice tests with my

7th/8th Grade students, as they are the perfect tool to

"take my students' knowledge of Grammar and Reading

Comprehension skills to another level". In this way,

I am able to teach more advanced levels of critical

thinking:

ANALYSIS

INTERPRETATION

INFERENCING

PROBLEM-SOLVING

EVALUATION

DECISION-MAKING

During their high school years, I spend a great deal

of time teaching rhetorical devices, which are essential

in elevating the quality of each student's writing.

The ability to be able to identify these devices

in novels, short stories, plays, and poetry is vital

in the area of literary analysis, as well.

We implement these rhetorical devices in our essay

writing, as well:

NARRATIVE

DESCRIPTIVE

EXPOSITORY

ARGUMENTATIVE

In addition, I teach ORGANIZATIONAL SKILLS

to all of my students from Elementary School through

High School. These skills help them to:

BECOME MORE PRODUCTIVE

IMPROVE THEIR TIME MANAGEMENT

GIVES THEM A SENSE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT

WHEN THEY REACH THEIR "REALISTIC"

GOALS

Learning organizational skills at an early age is an

invaluable building block in the foundation of a child's

education. Ultimately, these skills help students to 

become: confident, productive, and successful 

individuals.