Hello! My name is Rachel! I am a former elementary special education teacher with 6+ years of experience. I graduated with a degree in Elementary/Collaborative education in 2015, becoming certified in both Elementary and Special Education K-6. I left the teaching field in November 2022 to join a local non-profit whose mission I am passionate about.

While I was a teacher, I worked with students with many different needs. I began my career working with elementary students in the self-contained classroom setting. While working with these students I focused on teaching life skills such as identifying coins, counting, reading menus, and more. I then moved to a resource setting in a district closer to my home. These students typically struggled with learning disabilities or ADHD. I provided individualized instruction to each student to address their needs in reading, math, and behavior skills. I used Orton-Gillingham based programs to help students with their reading needs and addressed math needs by helping students build the foundational math skills. I also helped to provide accommodations such as reading assignments aloud, movement breaks, and other accommodations students needed to succeed.

While I was a teacher, I also tutored online with both VIPkid and Prodigy Math Tutoring, giving me a greater understanding of tutoring online and allowing me to help students all over the world. I became proficient in using online whiteboards to help students as well as finding resources online that my students could use to enhance their learning. I often liked to utilize games such as sight-word tic-tac-toe or multiplication war to help students review skills while also keeping their interest in the lesson at hand.

No matter the need of the students I worked with, I always focused on reaching my students where they were and determining what was the best way to help them learn. I like to say that each student was a puzzle and that it was my job to help students put that puzzle together to be the best they can be!