NAME:
Mrs. Link
SCHOOL:
St. Margaret School
CLASS:
Middle School Resource
SCHOOL PHONE:
410-877-9660 extension 47
My name is Kelly Link and I have taught high school English and literature
as well as middle school language arts for a total of 13 years. I did my
undergraduate work at Wayne State University and graduate work at the
University of South Florida. Currently I hold a Master's degree in school
guidance and mental health counseling and have an interest in special
education. My husband and I are the parents of two SMS students. Our
daughter Delaney is in the seventh grade, and our son Christopher is in the
fourth grade. We also have a dog named Cosmo :)
It is my goal to assist students in enhancing the gifts and talents that God
has given to them as well as to improve upon areas of struggle. I will
accomplish this by reinforcing study skills, especially reading skills and
test-taking skills.
A note about study skills class: Because in middle school teachers expect
students to know how to read, read faster than in elementary school, read
large amounts of text in short amounts of time, gain knowledge and insight
from reading, and read and understand increasingly difficult material; I am
devoting nearly half of my study skills classes to reinforcing comprehension
strategies to improve understanding when reading. The more children can
construct meaning from reading independently, the better their note-taking
skills and writing skills will become. Comprehension strategies that will be
covered in class are: making connections between text and prior experiences
with life, knowledge, or other texts; monitoring when you understand and when
you do not; listening to the voice inside your head as you read; visualizing
what is described or happening; stopping and clarifying by thinking or
rereading or reading on to locate help for understanding; drawing
conclusions; making generalizations; predicting based on previous reading;
questioning the text (author); recognizing author's purpose; and
summarizing. In short, I hope the children will discover (if they haven't
already) that reading is consructing meaning, and it is hard work...even if
the work is not seen. Independent readers work hard all the time; it is just
that no one can see it.