Melissa earned her Early Childhood Education degree at Palm Beach State College and her Bachelor’s Degree in Education at Florida Atlantic University’s Honor College in Jupiter, Florida. In addition, Melissa obtained her full ESOL endorsement (English for speakers of other languages), as well as additional reading endorsements. For the past 20+ years, she has worked in a variety of literacy roles.  Melissa acts as a consultant to educators both in the United States and internationally. She is a trained International Baccalaureate educator, which led her to personally collaborate with educators across the globe. Finland, in particular, has enlightened her on what is known as the “Finnish Secret.” This “secret” is perhaps why they have one of the top education systems in the world, while other countries continue to focus exclusively on testing and curriculum selection, excluding our very purpose for learning to read, which is human existence and connection to the world and each other.  

 

Melissa taught in Palm Beach County Schools as well as local private schools. She knew something was missing from the curriculum. As a result of her efforts, her 3rd-grade class, in a Title 1 school, rose in proficiency on state tests to 100 percent. The district noticed and decided to keep her class together for the following year. Melissa reached 95 percent proficiency in the first year and increased to 100 percent in the second year. She decided to step away from the classroom to focus on private instruction, where she provides students with a highly individualized and targeted approach that fosters their academic growth, confidence, and love for learning without the constraints of bureaucratic mandates that do not speak to individualized plans and, let’s be honest, sometimes do harm. 

 

Melissa grounds her work in the most up-to-date curriculums that have excellent results by taking a multisensory approach and incorporating developmental and cognitive neuroscience. These include Orton-Gillingham, Wilson Reading, and Sonday System.  Melissa is also trained in several of the leading curriculums popular among mainstream academic instruction, which is important to be able to understand what students are learning in school and translate it in a way that they can comprehend and command. In short, Melissa has touched just about every curriculum ever created and takes part in each to ensure progress. Sometimes this means using only one without deviating, and sometimes the combination is key to success. Through Melissa’s Coaching piece, she Empowers children to see how they learn while teaching tangible tools to feed their brain positive affirmation, eliminating negative self-talk. She teaches your child the tools they need to self-monitor. 

 

In between reading and growing confident youth,  Melissa spends time with her family, friends, and two Aussiedoodles. She works out three times a week, walks daily, loves to travel the world, and needs coffee.