We reported already in April about the District highlighting Dyslexia Specialist Patti Kiefer, Greenville Elementary School, for being selected as the Greenville Teacher of the Year. Here is the detailed information, by Sue Dankworth, K-2 Principal, Greenville Elementary School.
It is with great pride that Greenville City Schools announces Mrs. Patti Kiefer as Teacher of the Year, 2024!
Mrs. Kiefer has been with Greenville City Schools for 8 years, serving her first 6 years as an intervention specialist in grade 2. Prior to coming to Greenville, Mrs. Kiefer taught for 21 years with Sidney, Troy, Toledo, Piqua Catholic, and Miami Co. ESC in the areas of special education and English Language Arts. In the fall of 2021, Mrs. Kiefer began her specialized reading instruction journey by applying for the IMSE (Institute for Multi-Sensory Education) practicum, a 1-year program that would greatly enhance her knowledge of phonics instruction and serve as the foundation for her future role as a teacher and trainer of phonics and phonemic awareness. In addition to this work, she also serves on the K-2 Response to Intervention Team and the K-4 Building Leadership Team.
Last spring, Mrs. Kiefer earned the title of Dyslexia Specialist for Greenville City Schools and became a district instructor for IMSE. In these roles, Mrs. Kiefer is responsible for carrying out collaborative plans for the new dyslexia laws and the science of reading initiatives that are now required for Ohio schools. Mrs. Kiefer has been working for the past three years to gain the training necessary to lead the charge for internal professional development opportunities for our teachers in the elementary grades in the area of phonics and phonemic awareness as we continue to enhance our understanding of how students learn to read. She hopes to continue this training in the area of morphology in the coming year.
Throughout the 2023-2024 school year, Mrs. Kiefer has been providing internal professional development opportunities to enhance our quality of instruction in the Orton-Gillingham multi-sensory phonics platform and create a consistent approach to the teaching of phonics and phonemic awareness across the K-2 grade-level band. In addition, she offers individualized, real-time training and modeling sessions with teachers during the school day, providing interactive instruction and specialized resources to help support teachers as they synthesize what they have learned in their trainings and apply it in the classroom.
Outside of her work as a teacher of teachers, Mrs. Kiefer is a long-time member of the K-2 RTI team, a collaborative group that works with teachers to gather academic data and develop intervention and progress monitoring plans for tier 2 and 3 students in the area of reading. As part of this academic plan, she also meets daily with specially-designed groups of students from grades K-2 to target specific reading goals, further supporting individualized student learning objectives. With her help, we are changing how we teach reading in the primary grades and we are raising the bar to ensure our students make significant progress in their fundamental reading skills.
This past fall, Mrs. Kiefer (and the K-2 RTI team) were trained in Acadience, an assessment platform that is now being used to help screen students in grades K-3, as the district carries out phase one of the new dyslexia laws. This training, in addition to all of her work in becoming an expert in the area of phonics and phonemic awareness, has resulted in over 400 hours of specialized training in the area of reading instruction that has been achieved by Mrs. Kiefer. Her dedication to this particular field of study makes her so unique and so valuable – not only to Greenville Elementary, but to the district as a whole.
In addition to this very long list of specialized accomplishments, Mrs. Kiefer has achieved an Accomplished rating through the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System year after year. She is dedicated and meticulous in her work and is of the highest integrity. She is the epitome of professionalism in the way she presents herself and in the work she does, always focused and moving forward.
Congratulations to Mrs. Patti Kiefer.
Pictured left to right: Patti Kiefer and Greenville Elementary Principal Susan Dankworth (photo courtesy of Greenville City Schools)