About
Cheryl Urbanczyk
Credentials
Orton-Gillingham Academy, Fellow-in-Training
Cheryl has studied under various Academy Fellows for her Associate and Certified designations, which allow her to be an independent OG practitioner at all levels of instruction. She is listed as an 'OG Practitioner' with the Academy. Currently, Cheryl is a "Fellow-in-Training" (FIT); a Fellow is the highest designation offered by the OGA. As a member of the 'OGA Diversity Committee', she is working to ensure that issues of equity, diversity and inclusion are part of Academy processes.
A list of tutors is available only through email.
CERI - Center for Effective Reading Instruction
CERI is a subsidiary of the International Dyslexia Association (IDA) and certifies teachers who meet their 'Standards of Knowledge and Practice'. Cheryl has the highest designation offered by CERI:
'Structured Literacy Dyslexia Specialist'.
OCT - Reading Specialist
Cheryl knows and understands the literacy instruction in the province of Ontario and the teaching strategies used in schools. This allows her to have perspective in what students are learning in school and how to match that with OG and Structured Literacy strategies to achieve the best results.
Ontario Principal's Council Special Education for Administrators
Understanding special education along the continuum from student to class to school/system is critical. Cheryl knows and understands these various aspects and has perspective on special education issues at the administrative level. This is critical for supporting students with dyslexia within a school.
Experiences
Career Educator
With over 20 years in the profession, Cheryl has a wide set of experiences across ages / grades (high school science teacher, elementary homeroom teacher, teacher-leader, consultant, administrator) in a variety of settings (public / private schools, entrepreneurial) in a variety of locations in the US and Canada. This gives her a unique expertise to understand literacy, dyslexia and language-based learning disabilities in the wider education context as well as understand the impact of literacy on student success.
Dyslexic Child
This is personal. Living with a dyslexic child provides the insight and compassion to understand the emotional and academic struggles these students have. In fact, Cheryl started this journey to be able to help her own child learn to read. This experience of trusting in the abilities of her own child fuels her belief that all children can 'Learn Literacy'. Cheryl knows that all children need an adult advocate who believes in them. She is that person!
Life-Long Learner
Cheryl regularly attends webinars, workshops, and conferences to network, to increase her knowledge & understanding of dyslexia and teaching, and to ensure she is current with best practices. Recent conferences attended: IDA, OGA, ONBIDA, The Reading League.