I primarily work with students who are struggling readers. My students are amazing kids who work to overcome learning difficulties each day. I teach elementary grade students with disabilities; learning disabilities, dyslexia, autism, emotional and social delays. Although my students demonstrate a variety of needs, the one thing they have in common is their perseverance to overcome an obstacle and achieve success.
I am inspired by the perseverance that my students show when faced with learning tasks that other students find almost effortless.
I want to mirror their perseverance in learning everything that I can to make their journey a little easier. Reading is difficult for my students. Many of them lack the basic literacy skills needed to decode words and read fluently at their grade level. It would be easy for them to give up, but they never do. They continue to work hard every day and I owe them at least that much in return.
My Project
I am requesting funding for the IMSE Orton-Gillingham Intermediate training to complement what I have already learned. The IMSE Intermediate training will provide me with an understanding of IMSE’s Orton-Gillingham methodology specifically designed for upper elementary or older students who require foundational reading skills and continue to struggle in literacy development. I will learn how to teach advanced spelling rules, encoding/decoding with seven syllable types, morphology, and vocabulary. This course offers more of an in-depth study on orthography (advanced spelling rules) and morphology (affixes, Greek/Latin bases) for struggling students.
Using a multi-sensory approach in my classroom provides an opportunity for differentiated instruction so that a variety of learning styles can be addressed.
This training is an important step in my professional development because it is specifically geared toward helping older elementary students become better readers. In education, there is a saying that from Kindergarten to second grade, students are learning to read, but from third grade and beyond, students are reading to learn. I want to be able to help those students that are older and yet still struggling to learn to read.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Overacker and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
