JustAsk Profile of Sylvia HS

Level

521 Points

I am: Child Professional, Teacher

A few words about me: Sylvia Hannah Sinclaire has been working in the field of education for thirty-nine years, as a classroom teacher, resource room teacher, reading/language arts consultant, reading specialist, clinical director, coach, mentor, lecturer, and speaker.

Her passion for helping struggling read more... Sylvia Hannah Sinclaire has been working in the field of education for thirty-nine years, as a classroom teacher, resource room teacher, reading/language arts consultant, reading specialist, clinical director, coach, mentor, lecturer, and speaker.

Her passion for helping struggling students began in her first month of teaching. She asked herself: I wonder what's hard about reading? Why do some students find spelling difficult? How come some students can tell you their ideas but can't write them down very easily?

This life-long search for answers to these quesions has led her to investigate the underlying learning processes that can hinder students of all ages with effective reading, spelling, and writing development, e.g. phonological awareness, concept imagery. As well, she has analyzed factors within the curriculum content that can affect seamless academic progress, e.g. multi-syllabic words, abstract concepts, complex questions.

Sylvia studied English, Reading, and Language at the University of Alberta and received her B.A. and M.Ed. there.

As she worked in classrooms and assessed students at all grade levels, she realized that many of them needed their learning difficulties dealt with directly, and so she established a private educational clinic in 1991, The Centre for Literacy, that works intensively with struggling readers, from kindergarten through to adults.

As she consulted with teachers and parents over the years, she realized that many adults do not have enough knowledge to help their students. Specifically, they are not able to analyze their student's difficulties clearly enough to know how to go about really changing their learning dramatically. Knowledge about linguistics, in-part the study of the sounds of the language, is essential. Sylvia has spent the past twenty years teaching practical linguistics to adults, so that they can truly help their stuggling readers and writers.

She has written a manual, "Why Your Child Can't Read And Spell And What YOU Can Do About It", that can be used developmentally and remedially to help students understand the alphabetic system, so that they can use it to read, spell, and write accurately.

As well, Sylvia has written a series of enjoyable short stories, "Phonemic Awareness (PAS) Stories", which show students the consistencies in the English sound-symbol system. Sylvia is currently writing a third book to help prevent the fourth grade slump, focusing particularly on how to teach complex, abstract concepts and vocabulary.

She loves teaching and is continually working on ways to make reading, spelling, and writing easier for students. She also spends much of her time coaching adults who work with students, e.g. parents, teachers, administrators, to help them identify and use effective teaching tools and strategies. Sylvia has assessed and worked with thousands of students, plans to continue helping change student's academic lives. You can learn more about Sylvia and her work by visiting www.dynamicreadingandwriting.com. << less

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