About the Author…

Hi Everyone! I am guessing that if you are reading this blog you are one of my fellow classmates in LEE 213 at Fresno State (or possibly even Dr. DeVoogd).   I am embarrassed to admit this, but I haven’t ever stepped foot on our campus!  I am truly a long distance learner, living 319 miles away in Northern California. I know that I am a Bulldog now, and I think that is a bit more interesting than the Aggie I used to be in my undergraduate years.  I am concurrently enrolled in the Reading Recovery Teacher Leader program at Saint Mary’s College, so I guess that makes me a Gael/Bulldog/Aggie.

Despite my identity crisis, I feel passionate about early literacy.   I love my teaching position in Plumas County as a Reading Recovery Teacher/Teacher Leader Trainee.  When I earn my MA in Reading, and finish my coursework at St. Mary’s, I will teach Reading Recovery students and teachers full-time. I taught grades K, 1, 2, 4, & 5 for twenty-four years before deciding to go into Reading Recovery full-time.  My favorite grades to teach are first and fourth.

If you do not know about Reading Recovery, I would love to invite you over for a cup of coffee and talk to you for a few hours about a phenomenal woman named Marie Clay.  Her research and innovative ideas have forever changed the way we teach reading.  The important thing to remember is she studied the best readers, and learned how they use strategies to make sense of printed words.  The other part of Reading Recovery that I love is we build on a child’s strengths. We carefully assess what the child knows, and build on that known by reading meaningful texts. Children who are below grade level in first grade work one-on-one with their Reading Recovery teacher, and most children make gains that bring them up to the reading level of their classmates.

I am blessed to work with so many gifted, caring professionals.  I especially value the time I spend reading and writing with my students.

Thanks for reading my blog!  I can hardly believe that I, a technologically challenged, middle-aged teacher, actually wrote that last line!   I wish you all the best.

earlyliteracyteacher