LEARNING JUMPSTART
EARLY INTERVENTION = SCHOOL SUCCESS
Comments From Colleagues and Supervisors
“I am pleased to recommend Michele Long as a highly effective teacher and staff developer in the 
area of phonemic awareness and language/vocabulary development. Michele began her work in the Osborn School District in 1997 with a research project supported by Arizona State University. Results from this phonemic awareness/language-vocabulary building program were so successful, Encanto Elementary School hired her to continue work with kindergarten and first grade students and teachers. In 2001, when Encanto School’s Title I funding was reduced, I proposed the use of K-3 Literacy funds to expand Michele’s work district wide and establish a permanent lesson bank for all primary teachers to access on our district network. During the six years Michele has worked with our district, she has trained more than half of our kindergarten teaching staff using modeling, co-planning and co-teaching, providing additional professional development in small groups with teaching teams. Her direct contact with students has benefited hundreds of children and provided all of our teachers with high-quality phonemic awareness lessons on-line.
Patty Tate, Exec. Director of Curriculum, Osborn School District, Phoenix, AZ
“Ms. Long is a consummate professional; her knowledge of speech and language acquisition is of the highest caliber. The children that Ms. Long works with are experiencing the highest quality speech and language instruction available. Ms. Long is a talented teacher who is student centered and creative in her lesson planning. She is able to balance the educational needs of each student with the demands of the district curriculum while keeping an ever watchful eye on the wishes of parents. Ms. Long works very well with the other staff members, and she is held in high regard.”
Jack Blanchard, Principal, Mesquite Elementary School, Gilbert, AZ
“Michele has made me realize that children who have acquired phonemic awareness skills understand that speech can be broken down into parts. They realize that words can be broken into syllables and sentences can be broken into words. Phonemic awareness provides the foundation for phonics instruction. Michele has implemented an incredible phonemic awareness and language/vocabulary building program for our kindergarteners. Her program is rich in vocabulary development, hands-on activities, and many very creative songs, poems and chants that the children love. Everything Michele has suggested for us to use in our classrooms has worked and most of her lessons, songs, chants and poems she has created herself. These invaluable lessons have been put on line for the teachers in the Osborn School District to use. My teaching has been very positively impacted since I have been working with Michele. I feel I have become a much stronger and more interactive teacher. I now have such a strong awareness of the great importance and need for a good phonemic and phonological awareness program in the kindergarten classroom. Michele is certainly an asset to the teaching profession and I highly recommend her. Since we have been working together I have seen many more children understand the basic concepts of print, rhyming and letter/sound identification. They have learned decoding skills and have become emergent readers. She has excellent rapport with children, good classroom management skills, is creative, organized and truly dedicated. I feel very honored to know and work with Michele Long.”
Lindy Isacksen, Kindergarten teacher, Solano Elementary School, Phoenix, AZ
“Michele Long is an outstanding person who is dedicated to improving the educational advantages of young children. She is a person of high integrity who is hard working, responsible and dependable. Through sharing her innovative ideas and strategies with other educators and directly teaching young students, she ultimately affects the lives of countless adults and children. Although I have taught young children for 27 years, I have found Michele’s assistance enormously helpful. Michele’s generous spirit shines through as she shares her lesson plans with us each week. She continually evaluates each lesson she designs and makes suggestions for changes when she believes it would be advantageous. She is an excellent communicator who welcomes feedback and encourages interaction within our team. Through our collaborative planning, our Kindergarten team has gained excellent insights into strategies and techniques to help us stay focused and intentional as we work with our students to become confident in their language and pre-reading skills. Michele is kind, caring and very child-centered. The students love the many opportunities she provides for them to actively participate in their learning. She captures their attention with her self-created songs, chants and activities. Under her direction, they become highly motivated to improve their language, phonemic awareness and phonics skills.”
Kathy Tincombe, Kindergarten teacher, Montecito Elementary School, Phoenix, AZ
area of phonemic awareness and language/vocabulary development. Michele began her work in the Osborn School District in 1997 with a research project supported by Arizona State University. Results from this phonemic awareness/language-vocabulary building program were so successful, Encanto Elementary School hired her to continue work with kindergarten and first grade students and teachers. In 2001, when Encanto School’s Title I funding was reduced, I proposed the use of K-3 Literacy funds to expand Michele’s work district wide and establish a permanent lesson bank for all primary teachers to access on our district network. During the six years Michele has worked with our district, she has trained more than half of our kindergarten teaching staff using modeling, co-planning and co-teaching, providing additional professional development in small groups with teaching teams. Her direct contact with students has benefited hundreds of children and provided all of our teachers with high-quality phonemic awareness lessons on-line.Patty Tate, Exec. Director of Curriculum, Osborn School District, Phoenix, AZ
“Ms. Long is a consummate professional; her knowledge of speech and language acquisition is of the highest caliber. The children that Ms. Long works with are experiencing the highest quality speech and language instruction available. Ms. Long is a talented teacher who is student centered and creative in her lesson planning. She is able to balance the educational needs of each student with the demands of the district curriculum while keeping an ever watchful eye on the wishes of parents. Ms. Long works very well with the other staff members, and she is held in high regard.”
Jack Blanchard, Principal, Mesquite Elementary School, Gilbert, AZ
“Michele has made me realize that children who have acquired phonemic awareness skills understand that speech can be broken down into parts. They realize that words can be broken into syllables and sentences can be broken into words. Phonemic awareness provides the foundation for phonics instruction. Michele has implemented an incredible phonemic awareness and language/vocabulary building program for our kindergarteners. Her program is rich in vocabulary development, hands-on activities, and many very creative songs, poems and chants that the children love. Everything Michele has suggested for us to use in our classrooms has worked and most of her lessons, songs, chants and poems she has created herself. These invaluable lessons have been put on line for the teachers in the Osborn School District to use. My teaching has been very positively impacted since I have been working with Michele. I feel I have become a much stronger and more interactive teacher. I now have such a strong awareness of the great importance and need for a good phonemic and phonological awareness program in the kindergarten classroom. Michele is certainly an asset to the teaching profession and I highly recommend her. Since we have been working together I have seen many more children understand the basic concepts of print, rhyming and letter/sound identification. They have learned decoding skills and have become emergent readers. She has excellent rapport with children, good classroom management skills, is creative, organized and truly dedicated. I feel very honored to know and work with Michele Long.”
Lindy Isacksen, Kindergarten teacher, Solano Elementary School, Phoenix, AZ
“Michele Long is an outstanding person who is dedicated to improving the educational advantages of young children. She is a person of high integrity who is hard working, responsible and dependable. Through sharing her innovative ideas and strategies with other educators and directly teaching young students, she ultimately affects the lives of countless adults and children. Although I have taught young children for 27 years, I have found Michele’s assistance enormously helpful. Michele’s generous spirit shines through as she shares her lesson plans with us each week. She continually evaluates each lesson she designs and makes suggestions for changes when she believes it would be advantageous. She is an excellent communicator who welcomes feedback and encourages interaction within our team. Through our collaborative planning, our Kindergarten team has gained excellent insights into strategies and techniques to help us stay focused and intentional as we work with our students to become confident in their language and pre-reading skills. Michele is kind, caring and very child-centered. The students love the many opportunities she provides for them to actively participate in their learning. She captures their attention with her self-created songs, chants and activities. Under her direction, they become highly motivated to improve their language, phonemic awareness and phonics skills.”
Kathy Tincombe, Kindergarten teacher, Montecito Elementary School, Phoenix, AZ