“I like seeing them become more confident in themselves,” said Bergman, a graduate of Kean University who’s been at Menlo Park for three years.

Bergman said the Institute for Multi-Sensory Education’s Orton-Gillingham training has been the key to her success with the 30-some students with whom she works in small groups. She was trained by IMSE in March 2016 with several teachers district wide.

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“I love seeing how much my students have truly grown as readers through OG instruction,” Bergman said. “Seeing my students’ confidence grow as readers is such a wonderful achievement to see as a teacher. My students benefit from the structure and sequence of OG, but I also enjoy weaving in my own ideas to the program.”

Bergman said the multi-sensory aspect of IMSE’s OG has been especially beneficial. She said her students, whose fluency scores have jumped between 30-50 words on average since the start of the year, love writing letters in shaving cream, sand, play dough and other things.

“As an educator, I am always working on finding fun and innovate ways for my students to learn,” Bergman said. “It has been amazing to watch how well sounds stick for them through the use of multi-sensory learning.”

Bergman regularly shares her students’ progress with Twitter photos and videos. She said her principal, Margaret Truppa, encourages all the teachers to showcase the students’ growth on social media.

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Bergman said her students benefit from the structure and fun of IMSE’s OG.

This really makes a difference in their excitement to learn, as well as their education,” she said. “I am really excited to continue using OG to help my students, as well as future students.”

Know a great teacher, principal or school official who should be a subject for a Journal story? Email us at justin@riverstrategies.com or tag us in a Tweet @IMSEOG

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