Autumn Vavoso

Experience

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  Norfolk Public Schools

  May 1988 - Jun 1989

  First Grade Teacher

  First Grade Teacher -- Taught in a challenging, diverse community, focusing on multi-cultural education. Coordinated a quarterly multi-cultural day with six district elementary schools, exposing students to the arts and customs of America’s many ethnic groups.Outstanding First Year Teacher district nominee. Recognized for strong initiative and innovative teaching skills.

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  Virginia Beach City Public Schools

  Aug 1989 - Jun 1993

  Teacher

  First and Third Grade Teacher -- All discipline instructor, teaching a varied curriculum of basal, whole language, hands-on math and science, and developmental education. Created and piloted a retention alternative program in a whole language, developmental setting. Received the Innovative Teacher of the Year award and nominated for Teacher of the Year as a result of this program. As math lead teacher provided staff development and necessary materials to manage the hands-on math curriculum. Certified Family Math teacher. Nominated as a “Champion of an Exceptional Child” for contributions made in mainstreaming students into the regular classroom.Direct liaison with the PTA board as the faculty representative. Skilled negotiator in addressing key issues between faculty and the governing board. Show less

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  Wake County Public School System

  Aug 1993 - Jun 1995

  Teacher

  Third Grade Teacher -- Language Arts and Social Studies team teacher for sixty diverse students, instructing a whole language integrative curriculum. Devised a comprehensive “Traveling Teddy” adventure used for gaining information about communities across the United States. Developed a literature-based whole language framework ensuring the high interest of all students. Created a participatory atmosphere where the students performed at their individual abilities. Member of the Student Support Team whose role is to assist other teachers in identifying strategies to effectively work out student learning issues. Show less

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  Catholic Diocese of Kansas City- St. Joseph

  Aug 1995 - Jun 1996

  Fourth Grade Teacher

  Introduced Thematic teaching and Whole Language to a group of students with a wide range of ability levels. Taught in a cross-grade level team with third grade. Incorporated centers to individualize instruction. Member of the Assessment Team. Participated in the development of a diocesan-wide report card. Developed an interim progress report for Holy Cross.

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  Olathe School District

  Aug 1996 - Jun 1997

  Third Grade Teacher

  Incorporated innovative reading strategies, resulting in an 18% increase in state reading scores. Aggressively worked with other teachers to obtain National Blue Ribbon status in the Developing School category.

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  School District of Hillsborough County

  Aug 1997 - Jun 1998

  Second Grade Teacher

  Taught full curriculum to a wide range of ability levels including SLD, Gifted, and LEP students.Successfully implemented strategies to ensure students would meet the benchmarks established by the school system. Managed Accelerated Reader program for the second grade; increased overall reading performance. Founding Fellow of the National Writing Project - Tampa Bay Area Chapter.

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  School District of Hillsborough County

  Aug 1998 - May 2000

  Providing all literacy training for 2,500 elementary teachers on groundbreaking approaches such as balanced literacy and guided reading. Responsible for designing and delivering instructional strategies workshops and demonstration lessons to over 2,500 teacher in grades 2-5. Wrote and delivered eLearning courses on the implementation of all components of Balanced Literacy.

  • Instructional Lead Teacher

    Aug 1998 - May 2000

  • Administrative Teacher Leader

    Aug 1998 - Jul 1999
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  Scholastic

  Jan 1999 - Jun 2000

  Literacy Consultant

  Support the implementation of Guided Reading authored by Gay Su Pinnell. I was responsible for training the Scholastic sales team as well as working directly with districts across the country.

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  Growing Strong Teachers

  Jan 1999 - now

  Instructional Designer and Learning Coach

  Translating professional knowledge into classroom practice by designing customized professional development. Our team works with individual clients to implement the Workshop, Model, Coach or PDSA (Plan-Do-Study-Act) continuous improvement process. Our focus is on improving student achievement. We measure results through nationally normed and state normed standardized tests. All of the professional development courses we offer are designed to meet a specific client and their needs.

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  St. Isidore School

  Oct 2009 - Jun 2018

  Learning Coach
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  Hillbrook School

  Jan 2016 - May 2020

  Learning Coach

  During my contract with Hillbrook School, I enjoyed coaching and co-teaching with an extraordinary group of early childhood and elementary educators. It was rewarding to be able to drive the development and implementation of the Math Learning Outcomes for all grades. In the role of Learning Coach I supported teachers with designing and delivering engaging learning tasks in all subjects.