Elizabeth Hannigan

Position/Title: ENL Teacher

Name of School: PS 111 – Adolph S. Ochs

DBN: 02111M Superintendent: Edna Laboy

Personal Statement: Over the past 10 years I have had the opportunity to teach English to a variety of students ranging in age from 5 years old through adult. I have also worked in a variety of different settings from public school to Catholic school and from independent school to community college. Although I learned from each of my different experiences, the two years I spent at the Windward School, an independent school for children with language learning processing problems, was particularly valuable in shaping how I teach writing to my students. All teachers at the Windward School were trained in and used daily The Writing Revolution methods (originally known as Teaching Basic Writing Skills) founded by Judith C. Hochman. Even though my time at the Windward School was short, I strongly believe in these writing methods and strategies. During many sessions of the ENL PLO this year, which focused on improving writing instruction, the leaders demonstrated how to use some of these methods and encouraged us to use them with our ENL students. Inspired by these professional learning sessions, I began to create scaffolds to help my students expand and write more complex sentences using The Writing Revolution strategies. I really enjoy trying to help my ENL students improve their writing by using these strategies. It is exciting to see their progress.

Ages/Grades of students: 5-8 years old, Grades K-2

Number of years in school: 2½

Years in education: 10