MARYLEN
Marylen received her M.S.Ed. in both Teaching Literacy (all ages) and General Education (Grades 1-6) from Bank Street College of Education. She completed her supervised fieldwork with Bank Street at P.S. 40 in Manhattan, teaching as a reading specialist in the first, third and fourth grades and providing small group reading intervention for upper and lower elementary students. Marylen enjoyed teaching for a number of years as a clinical teacher with Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes and the Northside Center for Child Development. In these roles, she developed her one-to-one teaching skills and became an expert at tailoring her instruction specifically to individual students, learning what works and what doesn’t.
Marylen’s extensive background in clinical literacy allows her to teach reading and writing to children and adults experiencing complex learning challenges and also to those who just need a little push in the right direction. She has a special interest in assisting students with dyslexia-like reading difficulties, executive function challenges, and ADD.
Marylen is a citizen of Brooklyn and a happy mom to Liv (9) and Smith (2). Since Marylen became a parent, she has developed a humbling fascination with literacy development from birth to kindergarten. When Marylen is not in the Learning Studio, she can be found at Bank Street Graduate School, teaching the course Teaching Decoding to Diverse Learners. Marylen is always interested in getting involved with fun professional projects. If you would like to collaborate with her, reach out!
Marylen and her daughter, Liv
SARA
Sara and her son, Gordon
Sara received her M.S.Ed. at Bank Street College of Education in Teaching Literacy in a Clinical Setting. She completed her supervised fieldwork at Brooklyn New School in Cobble Hill and the School for Children at Bank Street in Manhattan. In these settings, she designed and implemented literacy interventions for struggling learners in the elementary grades. As a clinical teacher with Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes, Sara taught reading, writing and comprehension skills to children from six-years-old through high school age. Sara specializes in thinking outside the box to meet the needs of the most challenged students. She also enjoys teaching children who need a little extra boost to achieve their literacy goals and to find confidence with their reading and writing. She has a special interest in teaching children with dyslexia-like reading difficulties, written language challenges, executive function challenges, ADD and autism spectrum disorder.
Sara knows that unique ways of thinking lead to success. She comes from a family of successful learners who overcame dyslexia. Both her son and her sister were diagnosed with dyslexia and benefited greatly from the specialized teaching of reading and literacy specialists. Sara’s first hand knowledge about the challenges that children experience when their learning style does not match the expectations at school, along with her extensive knowledge about learning differences, gives her a special insight when working with children and families. She understands that very smart people can doubt their intelligence and she knows the positive impact that specialized teaching has on a child’s learning and confidence. Her son, Gordon, now 14 years old, is doing fantastically well in school and is currently reading the Eragon book series.