As part of my current role as Elementary EAL Coordinator at an international school, I administer screeners and dynamic assessments for our students across grades one through five to determine their most pressing reading needs. I address those needs through a series of game-like routines grounded in the Science of Reading (SoR) and through guided reading and rereading. These interventions help learners develop the phonemic awareness and fluency so critical to reading success. As part of this role, I also support classroom teachers in establishing routines and centres to develop phonemic awareness and to maximise classroom time with eyes on print.
My passion for seeing learners unlock the reading code has lead me to pursue a Reading Specialist qualification through the Ontario College of Teachers. I will complete the final part of this qualification in April 2026.
Reading and writing are foundational to every other area of the curriculum. I place a high value on starting students off right with their reading and writing skills. Foundational to my approach is creating a culture of reading and a love of learning in my classroom. As a result, my students read more and are more excited about reading. Students talk to each other about books, write about what they’re reading, and create a “book buzz” that pervades the classroom, encouraging even “reluctant” readers to join in.
In spring 2023, my grade four Literacy and Social Studies students were tested using the MAP test to measure their growth during the 2022-2023 school year and their improvement since the MAP test taken in October 2022. The following is a chart showing students’ growth, revealing that all students experienced high achievement, and more than half the class had high growth.
Lesson Plans
I create lesson plans in PowerPoint/Google Slides with detailed steps that serve as reminders to me and clear direction for students. I incorporate daily routines that sneak learning into the little moments I share with students during a lesson, such as the Vocabulary Word of the Day routine. Lesson objectives and the standards my school expects me to align to are clearly outlined so students understand where we are on our learning path. When these slides are used in a class, I eliminate the cover slide so the first slide the students see is the daily agenda.