Angelina Spiteri-Bender

Current Project & Priority Example: Course Request Process & Catalog Build

The District ensures students receive instruction that is aligned to state standards and geared towards student-specific needs. Students are offered various elective opportunities to enhance their growth as learners. Some examples of project management support that I current provide are as follows.

• Strategize alongside teams within the Office of Strategy & Academics to ensure new programs and courses can sustainably be brought on (funding, resources, curriculum development, roll out, etc.) and, if so, work together to make it happen.
• Communicate regularly with school principals to establish clear understanding of vision and instructional needs. Establish a game plan to ensure instructional needs are met for SY2024-25 (ensure the Curriculum & Instruction team (Central Office) is on board, verify teachers of record, navigate cost of instructional materials, etc.).
• Work intensively alongside Human Resources to codify a system that ensures every teacher within DPSCD has the required certifications necessary to teach assigned courses.
• Update the District's Course Catalog to reflect course modifications, deletions and additions. Achieve buy-in from the District's Superintendent and Board.

Overall Team Support, Project Management Tools

• Attend weekly project management shared services meetings, take on varying projects to meet ever-changing department needs.
• Utilize Microsoft platform in all aspects of project management to retrieve data, build efficiency and stay organized (Microsoft Planner, List, Power BI, Power Automate, etc.).
• Maintain a sense of positivity in the face of frequent change and tight deadlines. A little laughter goes a long way in these situations.

Instructional Experience

• Led Brainspring's Phonics First (Orton-Gillingham) training and coaching sessions to school districts nationwide, ensuring school teams (administration, K-12 ESE/General Education teachers, interventionists, etc.) are equipped and empowered to identify student literacy gaps via simple, yet effective, assessments, to then create and provide purposeful, multisensory instruction that is geared to the unique and specific needs of every student (heavy emphasis on teaching students with learning disabilities, dyslexia, etc., and why reading gaps are not only common, but understandable, especially in the current climate).
• Built Brainspring's Pre-Kindergarten course, along with instructional materials, to be used daily in early-learning environments, ensuring materials are user-friendly and evidence-based. Took the new course and then taught it to Pre-K teams nationwide.

Consulting Experience

• Strategized alongside district administration nationwide on how to best implement and adapt Phonics First to evolving classroom environments.
• Guided school leadership on utilizing student literacy data to incorporate small/whole group Orton-Gillingham instruction throughout the school day.
• Coached Pre-Kindergarten and early learning teams on how to use Brainspring's Pre-Kindergarten course as a stepping-stone to Kindergarten.
• Listened to our educators consistently emphasize concerns on the hard reality of the increasing illiteracy rates in our nation, thus fueling my drive to service as many districts as possible in my time as an instructor/consultant.

Marketing Initiatives

• Manager and contributing writer to Brainspring's blog, Orton-Gillingham Weekly
• Co-host to Brainspring's podcast, The Orton-Gillingham Podcast
• Frequent presenter on the Brainspring YouTube channel

Administrative Experience

• Grew two learning centers and instructional teams, serving students in Pre-K through High School (some college), in varying content areas (mostly pre-reading/reading), leading to a significant boost in individual student success and overall center growth (average growth of 50% (students and staff) at each center).
• Designed every students' individualized learning plan, based on assessment data and conversation with parents/caregivers, teachers, doctors, therapists.
• Maintained trusting and supportive relationships with every students' support team, in most cases, serving as their immediate go-to/safe-place when questions/concerns arose surrounding the many complexities involved in coping with/navigating illiteracy, learning disabilities, etc.
• Learned hands-on how devastating illiteracy can be on students and family. Worked daily to demonstrate student growth, backed by data, to families/student teams.

Community Engagement

• Developed service awareness in both cities' educational communities via participation in local board meetings, speaking engagements at local doctor/therapist offices (The Family Center, Grosse Pointe, MI) and fundraisers (Kids on the Go, Saint Claire Shores, MI).

Instructional Experience

• Learned and then excelled in Brainspring’s Phonics First program.
• Built purposeful multisensory lesson plans for students ranging in age (Pre-K through high school (some college)) and need.
• Became experienced in teaching students with a wide variety of learning disabilities. Learned hands-on how common Dyslexia is amongst our student population, and how to explicitly teach children how to read.
• Achieved high, quickly (was promoted to Center Director after two months of tutoring students).