Mrs. McConnell

Welcome! 

My name is Brandi McConnell. I am the Reading Specialist  here at Philly Primary.  As of this year, I am also beginning my role as head teacher for Philly.

One half of my day consists of teaching Reading Recovery to 1st grade students. The other half of my day is spent providing Academic Intervention Services (AIS)/or Title 1,  to students in other grade levels. 

This is my 23rd year in the Indian River School District. I have taught at Antwerp Primary, Evans Mills Primary and Philly.

I am a native of the North Country. I grew up in Dexter and went to school in the General Brown School District. After High school,  I received my bachelor's degree in Physical Education from SUNY Cortland.  While in college, I also had a concentration in Adaptive Physical Education and played on the Women's Soccer team for 4 years. GO Red Dragons!! After graduation I decided to switch gears and received a Master's degree in Reading K-12 through SUNY Potsdam. I began my career at Indian River in the 2000-2001 school year as a teacher's assistant then was trained in Reading Recovery in 2001-2002. 

I live in Watertown with my husband who is a K-9 Officer with the Watertown Police Department and my two children. My daughter is a college Junior at UAlbany and my son is a high school Senior so trust me when I say I completely understand the demands that are placed on students!

My goal everyday is to try to instill in my students a love of learning and help them to become life-long readers!

My favorite quote is by Marie Clay who created the Reading Recovery program: " If the student cannot learn, we should assume that we have not yet found the correct way to teach him/her."