Judy Lalli

State:

Pennsylvania

Testimonial from a participant

Instructor was energetic, caring, and motivating. If I utilize the techniques and strategies I've learned over the past several weeks, my classrooms will surely become places of learning and encouragement for all of my students.

— GK, Lansdale, PA

PLS courses I teach:

• Building Communication and Teamwork in the Classroom™
• Classroom Management: Orchestrating a Community of Learners Online®
• Coaching Skills for Successful Teaching®
• Designing Motivation for All Learners®
• Differentiated Instruction for Today's Classroom™
• Meaningful Activities to Generate Interesting Classrooms®
• Purposeful Learning through Multiple Intelligences®
• Purposeful Learning through Multiple Intelligences® Online
• Successful Teaching for Acceptance of Responsibility®
• Teaching through Learning Channels®

Years with PLS:

Since 1986

Why I love teaching PLS courses:

My having taken PLS courses dramatically changed the way I teach. I have said many times that at least once a day in the classroom I am aware of an "Aha!" moment, as I notice that I have just used a skill from a PLS course. I loved taking the courses, I love using the skills, and I love sharing the philosophy and practical techniques of the courses with other teachers.

Education:

University of Pennsylvania BS and MS in Education; over 100 graduate level credits beyond my Masters degree, from various institutions including DeSales University, Wilkes University, Drexel University, and Lehigh University

Teaching experience:

I have taught first and second grade for over 30 years

Related experience, recognition, awards, etc.:

I am a member of the PLS 200, 500, 1000, and 1500 participants clubs. I am the author of several books for children and teachers, including those published by Free Spirit Publishing:

• Make Someone Smile and 40 More Ways to be a Peaceful Person
• I Like Being Me: Poems for Children about Feeling Special, Appreciating Others and Getting Along
• A Leader’s Guide for I Like Being Me, coauthored by Mary Martha Whitworth.
• All Kinds of Ways to Be Smart! My newest book, published by Kagan Publishing, is a book of poems teaching children about Multiple Intelligences.

I am honored that some of the poems from I Like Being Me are included in the Successful Teaching for Acceptance of Responsibility® course manual.

I have been a presenter at many regional and national conferences, including Community of Caring, Association for the Education of Young Children and ASCD (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development)

I also teach poetry workshops at "AUTHOR IN RESIDENCE" days at local schools.

What I love most about teaching:

I love teaching because I love to learn. The more I teach, the more I learn. I refine my skills every day, and I learn something new every day. It is so much fun to share that excitement with my students, that I feel extremely lucky to have such a wonderful job. I can't imagine doing anything else.

My favorite moment in teaching:

I was teaching a first grade class of low achievers, nonreaders. We called the class "junior first" at the time. I was using a variety of methods to teach reading, including phonics, language experience and sight words (the same combination I use to this day.) Suddenly one day in February, a girl named Sheila who knew the word "sun" as a sight word, sounded out s-u-n and realized it spelled "sun," the word she already knew. She made the connection, and she shouted, "Now I know why s-u-n spells sun!" It was a wonderful moment as it all fell together for her. It reminded me of the scene in "The Miracle Worker" when Annie Sullivan gets Helen Keller to make the connection that the letters w-a-t-e-r that she had been spelling into her hand symbolized the water that she was feeling on her face from the water pump. At that moment, speech and language opened a new world for her. That's how I felt when Sheila unlocked the key to reading.

Personal information:

I have been active in community theater as an actor and director for many years. I am a member of AAUW (American Association of University Women) where I participate in a monthly book club and where I am co-chairperson of EXCELLENCE IN WRITING, a committee that honors high school student writers of prose and poetry.

Additional Courses

Click link below to to view courses that Judy is team-teaching with Marcia Benner.

Team Benner/Lalli