Meet the teacher: Bonny Keheley

What’s the most innovative idea you’ve tried in your classroom? As Academic Coach, I implemented an in-house volunteer tutoring program affectionately known as Camp Learnalotta, which matches volunteers with K-5 students for remediation, maintenance, and/or acceleration of skills. Teachers refer students based on recommendation, test scores, benchmarks/progress monitoring or parent request for one to four 30-minute sessions per week using computer programs, games, books and activities to complement instruction.

Tell us about the best teacher you ever had and what made him/her special?  Mrs. Laura West, my junior and senior year high school English instructor, was instrumental in demonstrating best practices by her enthusiastic delivery, non-negotiable expectations and ability to prepare students for the rigors of college.

What can parents do to prepare their children for learning? If parents prepare their children by providing a rich and varied background of language development and literacy interactions, then the more likely it is the child will be able to take these skills and apply them to learning how to read. This involves families willing to actively support children by immersing them in activities that afford the opportunity to explore, listen, respond and experiment with the world around them.

What are the obstacles to getting all kids to achieve? Regardless of whatever set of circumstances that a child faces, a lack of motivation is the foremost obstacle to achievement. With active engagement (motivation) by all stakeholders involved -- student, parents, teachers, and administrators, the probability of academic achievement by the student increases exponentially.