In this month's Staff Spotlight, we are highlighting someone who plays a crucial role in helping students improve the reading skills they need to further their education and become lifelong learners. This month's Staff Spotlight subject is Teri Ogden, Reading Interventionist at Kilmer Elementary.
What drew you to work in D38, and what has been your journey in education?
I like teaching in the neighborhood where I live. I love the small town feel of Monument, plus we have our own weather system, so I like that school is cancelled on the days I can’t get out of my driveway.
My journey in education:
I attended BYU and graduated (a long time ago) with a BA in Elementary Education. I taught third grade at Mead Elementary in St. Vrain Valley School District before I had my twins.
I received my master's degree from UCCS in Curriculum and Instruction with a Reading Emphasis after my twins left for college. Then after teaching as a reading interventionist in D38 I realized that I needed to learn more about dyslexia and the best evidence based practices on teaching reluctant readers. So, I applied for and began a fairly new two year program through Neuhaus called OCPDS- Online Certification for Dyslexia Specialists. It was a rigorous program with 150 hours of class time and 150 hours of practicum. I am now a C-SLDS Certified Structured Literacy Dyslexia Specialist.
What is your favorite thing about working in D38 and/or at Kilmer Elementary?
We moved to Monument in 2006 and my kids attended Kilmer, so I was really excited when an opportunity for me to work there opened up. I had previously worked at LPES and PWES (online school) with other great interventionists and mentors.
Kilmer is a small school where teachers work hard and genuinely care about students. They are dedicated to their work. They stay late, come in early, and often work during breaks, because being a highly effective teacher is the goal and that takes time. Many of the staff’s own children attend school here, making it have more of an extended family feel. When students move on to middle and high school, they come back often to visit the teachers here because they felt loved while they were at Kilmer and developed relationships that last.
I am proud to be a Coyote and to work alongside people who are here to impact lives rather than just pick up a paycheck.
For those who may not know, can you explain what all you do as a Reading Interventionist?
Interventionists in D38 work with small groups of students who are below grade level benchmarks in reading and they use evidence-based structured literacy curriculums to teach them. We monitor progress and adjust our lessons so that teaching is prescriptive and diagnostic. The goal is to catch students up to grade level as measured by DIBELS 8 and a body of evidence. Most students who have been in intervention learn the strategies they need to be successful readers before they enter middle school.
What is the most rewarding part of your job as a Reading Interventionist?
I love seeing reluctant readers blossom into confident readers who begin to read for pleasure and find joy in something that is such a critical life skill.
You’re in charge of Kilmer’s Literacy Night. Can you speak to what the goal of these events are and why they are a valuable thing for our students and families?
Our theme changes every year but it is always based around the 5 Components of Reading (identified by the NRP as essential for effective reading instruction): phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Our focus is always to give families ideas and strategies to use at home to help grow their readers no matter where they are in their reading journey.
This year our theme was to educate parents on how the brain works when reading and teaching them best practices so they can support their readers at home.
Is there a message or anything you would like to share with your students or team members at Kilmer Elementary?
Thank you for allowing me to work and learn alongside you. I get to read with kids all day! I have the best job!