My name is Jenny and I have been a teacher for over 16 years. I have taught in elementary, middle school, and adult day program settings. I have licensure in the State of Colorado as an Elementary Teacher(K-6) and Special EducationGeneralist (Birth to 21) with English Language Learner and READ act designations. I originally began my education as a general education teacher as I studied at the University of Northern Colorado where in 2006 I received my bachelors in Interdisciplinary Liberal Arts with an emphasis in fine arts and teacher licensure. After spending many summers at Camp Paha which was specifically designed for individuals with disabilities I decided to go back to school to obtain my special education endorsement. I consider myself a life long learner and love exciting new adventures. 

    In my classroom time I worked initially as a teacher in Center Based Program for students with cognitive and communication disabilities in Jefferson County Colorado. I then spent the next 5 years as a teacher and special education building coordinator at the charter school, with National Heritage Academies. At the school Landmark Academy I was a special education teacher for students with mild to moderate disabilities. I was able to co-teach in many classrooms as well as providing 1:1 instruction, small group, and direction of para support. At Landmark Academy I served on the Response to Intervention team and supported other teachers in finding interventions and supports for students. I established a guide to support teachers with in class research based interventions to try in the classroom before bringing the student to the team. I was appointed as Special Education team lead and also served as the Special Education Building Coordinator.  Initially we were the only Colorado school in the National Heritage Academies network and I supported our contracted Special Education Service Providers including: Speech Language Therapist, Occupational Therapists, School Psychologist, and other special service providers as needed for students. I would ensure that they had the space, materials, and supports they needed by communicating with our school Principal and the Director of Special Education Services. I was also chosen as the leader for Crisis Prevention and was certified and taught Non-Violent Crisis Intervention to a team in all of the Colorado charter schools which included my school and our newly opened school Foundations Academy. During my time at Landmark I also enrolled in and completed a one week intensive course in Orton-Gillingham with Fellow Ron Yoshimoto who is recognized by the Rocky Mountain Dyslexia chapter. 

After spending many years in the classroom I joined a team at Highpointe a program designed for adults with developmental disabilities. Here I was the program director for the "Engagement Track". My neurodiverse adult learners all had non-traditional communication methods and who many would be considered non-verbal. As a director I created curriculum, scheduled outings, trained staff, and determined and organized for individual care needs while individuals were at our center. I was able to make community connections, learn a great deal about Medicaid systems, waivers, and adult supports. 

 My family needs began to change and although this might have been my favorite job it also included many long hours planning for lessons, attending meetings and training staff after program hours. This caused me to shift for some time as my husband and I decided to become Foster Parents. I worked part time in Douglas County Schools as Moderate Needs Teacher until my part time position became full time and at this point I decided that I wanted to focus on the care of my foster kiddos making a deeper impact with just a few rather than a surface impact with many. Our foster journey has ended but we are now the proud parents of 4 boys aged 5-18. Each of our boys have had very unique journey and each is a neurodiverse learner in a different spectrum. I have learned to advocate for their needs on a parent side. My joy has always been the classroom and teaching and so for the last three years I have been tutoring English online to students in China and most recently Math to students around the globe at Prodigy. Currently I am working as a Center Based Teacher focusing in on students with complex communication needs and significant academic support needs at my sons school in Littleton. I am excited to be an independent tutor focusing on individual students where I can make the most impact on student growth and learning. As a teacher (and a foster parent as well).

Through out my adventures I have also gained experience through the City of Lakewood where I worked at Camp Paha after working there for nearly 17 years I recently became inactive due to the pandemic. I have made lifelong connections in this therapeutic recreation program where I was an inclusion aide, assistant camp director, therapeutic recreational assistant, mentor, special olympics coach, and filling in where needed in a variety of programs. For the last 5 years I have also had the opportunity to dive into a world that I only sort of understood. In becoming a foster parent I completed over 20 hours of focused training every year where I learned to have a balanced approach and learned strategies in trauma informed care. I have learned to be an advocate for those who are voiceless and to understand a great deal of social and emotional learning styles which have supported my skills as a teacher (and a parent). You will find that my tutoring style is usually very upbeat and positive but also that I am not afraid to tackle and be direct with behaviors along the way. I typically use a collaborative problem solving method when difficulties arise. 

As a reading tutor you should know that I have training in Orton-Gillingham which is my primary method and organization for literacy lessons. In the area of mathematics I utilize the learning game Prodigy to provide additional data and a framework for student development. From parents it is helpful for you to provide any educational documents your child may have including progress measures such as MAP, I-Ready, ITBS, Co-Gat, report cards, teacher reports from conferences or any other documents that you feel would be helpful. This information helps us to maximize our learning time in tutoring by focusing on areas of strength to support areas students are struggling with. You can expect that in my tutoring sessions students will learn about setting goals, advocating for their own learning needs, and other access skills in addition to their academic tutoring.These meta-cognitive strategies help students to no only learn in our tutoring sessions but to increase their understanding of their own learning into their daily classroom lives. 

Check out my Linked In profile