Hi, I'm Natalie!

I am a newcomer to Berlin from California, USA. I hold a Masters degree in English Education from New York University, as well as professional teaching licenses in Secondary English Language Arts and Multi-Subject (Elementary) teaching from the State of California. I bring strategies from my training in Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS), developed by Dr. Louisa Moats and leaders in the field of literacy, into my work with students to strengthen their phonemic awareness, phoneme-grapheme association, and familiarity with some of the many spelling patterns and conventions of the English language that can be disorienting and confusing for so many of us.

I have had the privilege of working with students across various grade levels, school structures, and cities in the United States, including Los Angeles, California; New York City, New York; Baltimore, Maryland; and Oakland, California. Since 2021, I’ve also worked as a Professional Learning & Literacy Specialist, providing teacher development for edtech companies like Amplify and Lexia Learning. I employ a two-prong approach to my work with students that pairs explicit, data-informed instruction with inquiry-based, joyous learning experiences. As a reading specialist, I rely on multimodal engagement strategies and integrate research about how the brain learns to read to foster confidence in students while also teaching them to embrace neurodiversity.

When I’m not working with students or teachers, I like to practice yoga, take a ballet class, see local theatre, or hike with my husband Ben, who is in Berlin for a DAAD research fellowship in early modern Northern European art history.

I am from the USA and I speak English, Spanish, and Hebrew and I am currently learning German.

Areas of Focus: K-8 Education, Structured Literacy, Reading Decoding, Dyslexia, LETRS Intervention, Reading Comprehension, Written Expression, Language Arts, Elementary Math, Executive Function, Organizational & Study Skills, Assessments, Social Emotional Learning, Advocacy, Professional Development for Parents and Educators