	Karen Kettler - Learning Connection 5 years at Holy Family - 10 years teaching experience Room 221 Ext.214 kettlerkar@archmil.org

Philosophy of Education
The educational philosophy of the Learning Connection is to help students “bloom where they are planted.” It is paramount that students discover and value their talents. Each student and I work together as a team to uncover and understand the student’s strengths and how these strengths can assist the student in areas of difficulty. For example if a student’s strengths are in the gross motor area and basketball is a passion, but spelling is very difficult then a coping mechanism for that student may be to practice spelling words while dribbling. Or for a student who has a love of music but difficulty remembering the meanings of vocabulary words, the student may explore lyrics from a favorite Broadway show for unknown words. Next the student and I research the meanings and write them on sentence strips. To reinforce these words and definitions, the student posts these sentence strips at home; when the student plays the music the strips provided visual reinforcement of the words and their meanings at the same time the student is hearing the unfamiliar words. Learning is a series of connections. My challenge is to help find the best alternative pathways for making these connections for tasks that are difficult for students. I use a multi-sensory approach and attempt to discover each child’s strongest learning modality. The goal is to input information using that modality while strengthening the one that may be problematic. Nurturing students’ self concepts through positive reinforcement is of the highest priority. A student’s self concept is a very important part of the formula for success. Last, but not least, I seek to help students discover the beauty and strength we receive when we add a third member to the team—Christ. Through prayer, students will grow to understand that He is always there for them. My greatest hope is to instill a love for learning that will carry on for a lifetime.

Curriculum Summary
The Learning Connection has a vast array of games and hands-on materials that reinforce concepts in reading, math, language arts, social studies and science. These materials are catalogued for ease of use. The Learning Connection offers support for students in kindergarten through eighth grade as follows: -To provide reinforcement and support to students in the classroom setting as lessons are presented. -To offer re-teaching of difficult concepts using alternative learning methods. -To tutor students in small groups or individually. In this ever-changing world it is becoming increasingly important to know how to use reference resources. Lessons often integrate resources such as phone books, maps, encyclopedias, etc. to provide students with practice locating answers to any questions they may have. Humor and fun are valuable ingredients in the learning process. For example: counting can be laborious but when you lay out 12” sheets of paper to discover the wingspan of a pterodactyl counting takes on a whole new light. Lessons are often personalized around a student’s interest with the hope that the student will get hooked on the joy of learning.