Orton-Gillingham based approaches, incl. Wilson and PAF Archives

Erin Sauchelli Farrell

September 8, 2020

Erin Sauchelli Farrell graduated from Lafayette College with a BA in International Affairs and Spanish, and with honors from New York University with a dual MA in Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language and Teaching English as a Second Language. She draws on experience from her career in advertising and marketing, as well teaching different subjects and age levels, to help support students in language and literacy development. Erin loves to travel and spent several semesters abroad during her time in undergraduate and graduate school.

Erin spent 10 years teaching elementary age children in various districts across the New York City public school system, from Title 1 schools in Brooklyn, to high performing District 2 schools in Manhattan. As a private tutor, she brings her expertise in supporting children in literacy, phonics, and bridging language development with content area instruction to her practice. Erin is well versed in phonics instruction, specifically Wilson Fundations, an Orton-Gillingham based curriculum, and Letterland. She believes in strong phonemic awareness as a foundation for reading as well as writing. She can support struggling readers and writers by diagnosing their areas of weakness and creating individualized programs to help them move forward. She also has experience with teaching across content areas, such as mathematics, science and social studies, and she loves to bridge the concrete to the abstract with manipulatives in math instruction. Erin believes in a strengths-based approach in her instruction, and spends time getting to know her students in order to foster confidence and motivation.

When Erin is not teaching, she enjoys cooking, spending time outdoors, whether on the golf course or ski slopes, and most of all, being with her dog – who may make an appearance during a virtual tutoring session!

Vanessa Khemlani

August 21, 2020

Vanessa Khemlani is a NYS-certified teacher with a dual master’s degree in early childhood education and early childhood special education. Vanessa cares deeply about child development and how best to support growth and learning at every stage. For over eighteen years, she has worked in classrooms and homes in New York City, Long Island, and Lower Westchester. She specializes in cooperative learning, supportive interventions, multi-sensory lesson plans, differentiated instruction, organizational skills, social / emotional skill development, literacy instruction, and classroom curriculum support for early childhood and elementary school students.

Working in a multitude of school settings over the course of her career has afforded Vanessa the opportunity to see the implementation of different approaches and curricula. She calls on these experiences frequently when creating individualized educational programs. Incorporating elements from The Greenspan Floortime approach, Reggio Emilia, and Montessori, Vanessa has worked with a large and wonderfully diverse group of children in their schools and at home.

For the past ten years, she has been an independent educational facilitator working with students, families, and school administration to support successful learning. Vanessa works with students one-on-one, both in the classroom and at home, integrating emotional, intellectual, social, and physical aspects of learning.

Vanessa is well versed in the protocols of CSE and CPSE and works with educational advocates to support families as they navigate assessments, participate in IEP meetings, and testify at Department of Education impartial hearings. In addition, she assists in coordinating therapy referrals, neuropsychological evaluations, and ongoing school admissions process. When working in the home, Vanessa creates a curriculum to support each child’s growth in and out of school. Vanessa has received Orton-Gillingham training and incorporates this approach when developing literacy programs.

With a strong understanding of child development and a working knowledge of how children learn, Vanessa builds working relationships with her students and their families to support sustained academic success.

Otis Kriegel

August 18, 2020

Starting as an international outdoor adventure guide, Otis Kriegel made his way to the classroom afterwards and has been teaching and tutoring privately for the past 18 years. Having taught in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Berlin, Germany, Otis has taught all of the grades 1st -8th in monolingual, dual language (Spanish/English), and fully inclusive classroom setting as well as also created and taught a Digital Arts program for a public Middle School in New York City.

Otis Kriegel has expertise with numerous literacy and math programs and approaches such as Words Their Way, Teachers College Reading & Writing Project, Sounds in Motion, Fundations (an Orton-Gillingham based approach), TERC (Investigations), Engage (Zearn), Math City and Marilyn Burns methods of teaching math. He is also well versed in the FOSS and Amplify science curriculums and is very experienced in mixing and matching different curricula and approaches to match the student, group or class with whom he is working.

A product of a Montessori education himself, Otis Kriegel is familiar with these methods as well and utilizes them in his everyday teaching. Otis is also comfortable teaching remotely using many different programs such as Google Classroom, Zoom, Raz Kids, Zearn, Loom, Flipgrid and other platforms that make remote learning both effective, captivating and fun!

Otis Kriegel was an adjunct professor at New York University and a guest speaker at The Bank Street College of Education, City College of New York, Touro College and others. An experienced presenter, Oits has spoken at numerous conferences and given workshops to hundreds of new and veteran teachers alike, as well as consulted with educational administrators and principals. He wrote Everything a New Elementary School Teacher REALLY Needs to Know (But Didn’t Learn in College) (Free Spirit, 2013) and Starting School Right: How do I plan for a successful first week in my classroom? (ASCD Arias, 2016). Most recently, Otis has been giving virtual workshops to corporations and organizations such as The Gap, The Office of the Mayor of the City of New York, Hoot Suite, TMP and others on how families can balance working from home while educating their child during the pandemic.

Otis is also an artist, who cofounded the public art collective, Illegal Art, whose book, Suggestion (August 2005), was published by Chronicle Books. Their work has been featured by such media outlets as National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered,” New York Magazine, Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, Public Art Review and The New York Times Op Art page. His work has been exhibited, commissioned and published in catalogs throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia and The Middle East, and he was an artist-in-residence at the 2013 SXSW Festival.

Otis Kriegel was also commissioned by The White House to participate in the South By South Lawn Festival (Obama Administration). In 2018, Otis gave a TED Talk about this work.

Pamela Burns

August 5, 2020

Pamela Burns’s passion for elementary education is realized every day as a Kindergarten teacher at a public school in Boca Raton, Florida, were she is the team leader for kindergarten. She has successfully worked with a wide range of students from primary through intermediate grades across the Boca Raton area.

A native of West Bloomfield, Michigan, Pamela moved to Boca Raton, Florida for college and found her new home in the Sunshine State. She graduated Suma Cum Laude from Lynn University with a Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood and Elementary Education and a Master’s degree in Special Education. Pamela serves as a faculty adviser on the school’s technology committee and models lessons for her colleagues as a Level 1 Google certified teacher. Pamela has also worked with Jane Olsen, creator of Handwriting Without Tears, to create documents that can be interactive on SMART technologies.

Pamela Burns is an expert at differentiating instruction to meet the needs of all learners. She is experienced at designing readers’ and writers’ workshop lessons that promote balanced literacy, student engagement, and strategy-based instruction. Pamela’s lessons integrate decoding, fluency, comprehension, vocabulary development, critical thinking, response writing and spelling. Pamela is trained in Orton-Gillingham and The Hochman writing process. Pamela is also skilled at teaching math to younger learners through a hands-on and experiential approach. Through use of various manipulatives, TouchMath and other programs, Pamela helps students to develop improved number sense, quantitative reasoning, and problem solving strategies.

Pamela’s high energy and enthusiasm for learning is contagious! In the words of Mark Twain, “It is noble to teach oneself, but still nobler to teach others.” Pamela creates magic in the classroom every day and helps every student to feel special, valued and connected.

Christie Alexander

July 17, 2020

Christie Alexander, a compassionate teacher and private tutor with a talent for building strong relationships with students and families, has filled multiple roles in early childhood education. Most recently, she taught kindergarten at PS 234 in Tribeca, where she successfully aided her students and their families in the transition to remote learning. It was during this time that she came to fully appreciate the value of connecting with her students through one-on-one online meetings. In a challenging new learning environment, Christie prevailed in providing her students with rich learning experiences, receiving much positive feedback from the parents of students in her class. Furthermore, she bolstered her students’ academic skills in reading and math through a variety of differentiated activities.

Previous to teaching at PS 234, Christie Alexander taught pre-k and kindergarten at Little Missionary’s Day Nursery, a private school in the East Village. In this role, Christie took great joy in creating a project-based curriculum which followed student interest and integrated learning across content areas.

Christie Alexander earned her B.A. from American University, double majoring in International Studies and Spanish Language. After earning an additional degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology, Christie worked in the private sector for several years. Christie’s diverse work experience has added to her robust skill set as an educator; along the way she has honed organization and management skills, problem solving skills, and the ability to coach young children through emotional learning. Christie has experience teaching Investigations, Teachers College Reading and Writing Units of Study, Fundations (an Orton-Gillingham based program), and Sounds in Motion.

Becoming a mother is what made Christie discover her passion for working with children and drove her to pursue a graduate degree in Early Childhood Education at Hunter College. After graduating, she entered the workforce and hasn’t looked back.

In her free time Christie enjoys traveling, reading, cooking and baking, kickboxing and exercising, and spending time with her family.

Erin Sauchelli Farrell

Vanessa Khemlani

Otis Kriegel

Pamela Burns

Christie Alexander

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