Andrea: Meriden tutor

Certified Tutor

Presently, I have twenty 27 years of successful teaching experience. I am certified as a Wilson Dyslexia Practitioner, a Reading Specialist (K-12), a nursery through sixth grade teacher, and as a TESOL teacher. I have a B.S. in Elementary Education and an M.S. in Reading and Language Arts from Syracuse University. Also, I hold an Administrator Certificate from the University of Bridgeport.

In continuing my professional development, I have completed the LETRS Science of Reading course, Al the Wilson Reading System Level 1, and am as a Certified Wilson Foundations Facilitator in Levels K-3. Moreover, I participated in the TESOL Institute at Fordham University. This program added to my skill set in working with MLL children as did my experience teaching in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic at the Carol Morgan School.
Currently, I am a Literacy Facilitator and provide school based support for teachers. My duties include leading the Science of Reading Based curriculum implementation, increasing teacher knowledge surrounding Structured Literacy through professional development workshops, facilitating the application of the Common Core State Standards, and promoting and leading change through new initiatives and programs. Moreover, I develop curriculum, provide classroom modeling, coaching, and observation of literacy lessons. These coaching cycles provide teachers with timely corrective feedback and consultation that leads to continuous teacher growth. In addition, I use district, school, and classroom based assessments to identify student and teacher needs.

Previously, I was an Academic Intervention Service teacher. In this position, I provided diagnostic prescriptive instruction to third, fourth, and fifth grade struggling readers. I am trained in Wilson, ECRI, Rewards, Rode to the Code, Lively Letters, and Words their Way phonics based programs. Moreover, I am capable of implementing programs such as but not limited to Reading Recovery and Reading Rescue. Also, I integrated a variety of comprehensive assessments that detailed student progress. I am knowledgeable in DIBELS, LECTURA, DRA, and DRP. Furthermore, I utilized data to guide my instruction. This allowed me to differentiate the instruction and focus on student needs. The instructional routines followed a Structured Literacy approach providing explicit and systematic instruction that focuses on building accuracy to achieve automaticity. Student progress was monitored formally by DIBELS and the CORE Phonics Surveys and informally by anecdotal notes, conferencing, and portfolios.

My experiences and continued passion for professional growth have lead me to become a highly skilled literacy teacher. I welcome the opportunity to work with your child. I hope that it will be possible for us to discuss our compatibility in the near future.