I am always looking for the most effective ways to support my students, teachers, and families.

I am proud to say that I am a lifelong learner. I am always researching the best resources available in structured literacy. I am always looking for the most effective ways to support my students, teachers, and families.

I am currently a K-5 Reading Interventionist for a small suburban school district in Kansas City, MO, and tutor students under the Orton-Gillingham approach as my second job. I am trained in LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling). I am an adjunct instructor at Baker University and co-teach a course titled “Phonics Fundamentals” during the summers to educators and parents to help them gain insight into the world of literacy. I am also an administrator for the MO Science of Reading Facebook group- a community of approximately 2,000 educators from all over the state and beyond who are dedicated to improving literacy in our school systems.

Before my current role, I spent 15 years as a classroom teacher at the elementary level. During this time, I struggled to identify why my students could not read and spell proficiently when I thought I was doing everything I could to support them. About 10 years ago, I began to understand the importance of using structured literacy when working with students- especially my struggling readers. Using this newfound knowledge, I began to make changes within my instruction.

During the past year, I knew I needed to “upgrade” my knowledge and dive into coursework that tightly aligned all the literacy components within a solid Reading Intervention program. This is where the SLANT System began to fit into all of the checkboxes I knew were necessary. I met Karla and Kristen through my SoR Facebook community and instantly began to soak up all the information this program offered. I was honored to receive a scholarship through the Classmates Literacy Foundation to partially fund the Introductory Course where I met even more knowledgeable educators. This fabulous cohort I began to work with collaborated on what the most current research was stating. SLANT System is accredited by the International Dyslexia Association and is endorsed by the Center for Effective Reading Instruction. I knew this program would fill in those gaps I had been missing these past few years!!

I began working with my second-grade spunky little student two afternoons each week and have fully implemented the SLANT program with her. The screening tools helped us identify her deficits which I used to place her appropriately on the provided scope and sequence. The resources are all interwoven which is such a beautiful thing for a teacher!! The Phonemic Awareness pieces, Phonics instruction, the “Gotta Know” words, the decodable practice pages- everything was easily accessible and engaging for my student. Throughout the past few months of implementing SLANT, I have seen mastery in identifying and discriminating those medial short vowel sounds, improvement in b/d reversals, and progress with her overall reading and spelling. However, the most critical piece in all this was the self-confidence I have seen her gain in her ability to decode and encode. She now has strategies to figure out those unknown words, and with a multisensory approach to this learning, she has anchored this knowledge into her long-term memory.

I am grateful to SLANT System for guiding me through an impactful program that I will continue to utilize with my students in the future. As for me and my ongoing learning… I plan to continue my work with SLANT System as I participate in the year-long 1:1 coaching they offer for the next school year. I look forward to seeing more of my students gain that same self-confidence in their reading and writing skills.