If you go South, then East, then North, then South again, then East again, and finally South again, which six-letter word will you come to?

The answer is SENSES. It is just one of the many engaging activities that Mrs. Jennifer Meschi posed to participating teachers during a second grade literacy workshop as the District’s new instructional coach for grades K-5. The question tests logic and common sense, helping to understand how brains process information, thereby understanding how young learners grasp educational information.

After 24 years in the Rocky Point School District elementary classroom, Mrs. Meschi started the school year in this new position, armed with enthusiasm and energy to support teacher understanding and implementation of New York State Next Generation Learning Standards, the Science of Reading, other content-specific learning standards and related strategic planning strategies as well as a multitude of other tasks. In her role, Mrs. Meschi is building and maintaining strong, trusting relationships with her colleagues at both FJC and JAE.

As Mrs. Meschi noted, coaching means different things to different people, so she produced an instructional coaching menu for teachers offering resource suggestions, model lessons, assessment/data support, differentiated support, individualized professional development and more. 

“The idea is always to work together to find the rights tools and solutions, brainstorming together and focusing on progress,” she said.

Mrs. Meschi shared one view of literacy acquisition with the Scarborough’s Reading Rope, a framework which consists of lower and upper strands, that when intertwined, result in skilled and accurate fluent reading with strong comprehension. Another activity was “Writing in their Shoes,” using random letters, site words, drawing a picture of a favorite animal and sharing what the animal is and why it is liked so much. 

Mrs. Meschi has hosted numerous workshops during the year and is planning for more. Her activities, while fun and engaging, are being implemented to consistently improve instruction. 

“The more tools we have for teachers and ideas for young students to bring to the table, the more value they take away, every single day.”

Mrs. Meschi’s dedication to her craft was summed up in one word: rewarding.