I have been a reading professor for the last twenty years. Before that I was an elementary teacher for ten years. I currently teach; “The Teaching of Elementary Reading” and “Reading Assessment and Differentiated Instruction”. I teach my teacher candidates that assessment drives instruction. Therefore, I prepared them to make formal and informal assessments of their elementary children and then adjust their instruction to meet the needs of all the learners.
My passion and research for the past twenty years has been in the area of Creative Dramatics. My research has repeatedly shown that children involved in creative dramatic activities will use higher level thinking skills which will result in higher comprehension. Through the use of creative dramatics children will step into the role of a character and make inferences based on the character’s involvement and therefore, they are able to go beyond the printed word and read between the lines for a deeper meaning.
I believe that educators should be passionate teachers and excellent role models who apply effective teaching strategies in the classroom. I equip my students with concrete approaches for effective teaching while modeling these practices in my daily classroom interactions.
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