Hello.
I have a varied background, and have developed a set of skills that I have brought together to create this programme.
I have a strong background in research, having once worked as a research anthropologist. I have always had a love of writing. I have been a classroom teacher. And I am the mother of two children who were immersed in books as toddlers, but did not learn to read in school.
To bring all this together, I enrolled at Massey University as a distance student, studying the science of reading and reading disabilities at post-graduate level, and have followed new research ever since. I am driven by the evidence from this huge body of research.
I am especially grateful to the children I have worked with, who have taught me how to turn research and evidence into activities that appeal to them, that engage them, and give them the will to persevere. They taught me how to demonstrate that they are not stupid, but have yet to learnt what they are supposed to do in order to read and spell.
Betsy Sewell