: About Me

I am a retired teacher with seventeen years of experience in teaching grades K-8 and reading. Currently I live in Westchester, NY and have two grown daughters. I am also currently working as an insurance broker for Mutual of Omaha.

I have Permanent New York State certification in Reading K-12 and Permanent New York State certification in Common Branches K-6. I also have a certificate in Insurance for Health, Accident and Life in New York State.

I have been writing seriously for ten years and I have several stories published online. One of them is a children's story "The Trouble with Follow the Leader" on Story Station: http://viatouch.com/learn/storystation/stories/troublefollowleader.jsp.
I have an adult story on Moondance ezine called "Out on a Ledge" http://www.moondance.org/2002/fall02/fiction/out.html and a memoir "Summer Memories" on the muse-apprentice-guild: http://www.muse-apprentice-guild.com/october_2002/barbaraehrentreu/home.html

In addition I have a young adult novel I am working to publish and a second young adult novel for which I have written twenty-four chapters. I also write Book Reviews and have several published on The Muse Book Reviews:
http://reviewarchives.tripod.com/id49.html, http://themusebookreviews.tripod.com/id94.html

I am a member of KidsMuse which is affiliated with museitupclub on yahoogroups. Also I have been a member of YA-authors another critique group on yahoo for years. I am a co-moderator of RealWritingTeachers, a message board for teachers of writing and writers as well as librarians and anyone who is involved in teaching literacy.

My passion is ...

writing

I know too much about ...

rejection

My parents always told me ...

Eat everything on your plate and don't trust anyone who is too good to you right away.

My childhood ambition ...

to be a teacher

My favorite memory ...

seeing my first child in my arms

Why I write ...

I have to write

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

I am currently reading The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown/MadMen,How I Met Your Mother,Community, Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock, Modern Family, Brothers and Sisters, House, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report/Air America radio and Sirius/XM

My first job ...

babysitting

My best moment ...

My wedding

My inspiration ...

every woman who came before me in power and Hillary Clinton!

Education > Learning Styles & Skills Assess whole language vs. phonics in teaching reading

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Assess whole language vs phonics in teaching reading How does someone learn to read? Why do some children come to school knowing the basics of reading while others are totally unprepared to learn how to read? Will using a program such as "Hooked on Phonics" prepare your child for learning to read? Will that be enough? Every year teachers must work with children who come to school without the basics of reading readiness. These children not only don't know how to hold a book, but they don't know that the shapes and lines they see on the page match the sounds of words they already know. Most ...

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