Presenters
Cara Jordan is the Middle School Language Arts & Writing Coordinator and was a founding lead teacher at the Shefa School. Cara graduated with her B.A. in English from the University of Michigan and completed her Masters in Childhood Regular and Special Education and Literacy from Manhattanville College. Prior to joining Shefa, she was a Language Arts and Writing teacher at the Windward School in White Plains. With over 12 years of teaching experience, Cara collaborates with and mentors the Language Arts and Writing teachers as well as creates curriculum with a focus on integrating the Language Arts and Writing program throughout content areas. She presents professional development workshops in reading, vocabulary and strategies for writing and study skills. Cara has extensive experience with The Hochman Method and Preventing Academic Failure (PAF) and provides training and coaching to teachers in their implementation of the programs.
Deirdre “Dee” McKechnie is a Lower School Reading Coordinator at the Shefa School and faculty of the Shefa Center. She was formerly Coordinator of Educational Outreach for The Windward Institute and for the past three years has provided PAF professional development to individual schools and teachers. Additionally, she was a Language Arts and Writing teacher in Windward’s Lower School for six years, where she taught 2nd and 3rd grade. Dee earned her Bachelor of Science in communication studies from Northwestern University and completed her postgraduate degree in education at the Institute of Education, University of London. During her twenty-plus years of experience, she has served as a reading support teacher in a general education school and has used multisensory reading instruction in a range of educational settings. She is also a certified IMSLEC (The International Multisensory Structured Language Education Council) Instructor. Dee was the recipient of the Sandi Galst Scholar award, which recognizes an outstanding Windward reading teacher.
