Meet the Tutor

MELISSA HERRERA

Hello, I'm Melissa

I have over 30 years of experience as an educator, working with learners from Pre-K through 12 th grade. I’ve been able to hone the best strategies that help students become successful in their language and literacy endeavors! Here are my “official” endorsements…

B.S. Elementary Education & Spanish
FL Dept. Of Ed. Dual Certification in Elem.Ed., Pre- K – 3 rd & World Languages Spanish, K-12
Orton Gillingham Certified Practitioner

My expertise is in language and literacy.  I love helping children with all different abilities, especially those who have reading and spelling challenges.  To do this, I received training in the Orton Gillingham approach.  this particular approach is the “gold standard” in helping children with reading difficulties and disabilities (including dyslexia) experience reading and spelling success.  It is a time-tested, phonetically based multi-sensory approach that uses visual auditory, and kinesthetic/tactile methods to help students overcome reading and spelling struggles and become confident and successful readers and writers.  

My true gifts are MUCH more!  I love connecting with students and nurturing their confidence and a true desire to grow as a learner.   I love to take complicated concepts and “break them down” for students, helping them master their goals in manageable steps. 

DIANA CHANDA

diana chanda

Hello, I'm Diana

Teaching is something I have been doing most of my life. I have taught cultural anthropology and social organization, English as a second language at the University level, homeschooled my own children. Now my latest adventure is helping students grasp the complexities of English so they can become good readers and spellers. I realized that as a child, I struggled with undiagnosed dyslexia. This personal struggle gives me empathy and understanding for a student to which reading and spelling does not
come naturally. 

I love the Orton Gillingham program, in which I became a practitioner, because of the way it takes the complicated structures of
English and breaks them down into very manageable parts. The program is like no other, and it works brilliantly! I love to have fun and try
to help students smile while learning! I wish I had had this type of tutoring when I was young, as it would have made my journey quite a bit easier.

B.A. Intercultural Studies
M.A. Cultural Anthropology
Orton Gillingham Trained Practitioner

TAMMY DAVIS

Tammy davis

Hello, I'm Tammy

Throughout the years I’ve had many varied situations to instruct students of all ages, in both group and private situations. I have been teaching piano for over 30 years. I also received my Musikgarten certification and have many years of experience in teaching early childhood music classes. My next teaching experience came from homeschooling my own child the past 10 years and teaching in co-ops.  While teaching my own son to read and spell, I realized how challenging the English language is to understand and grasp. After seeing a need for more reading and spelling instructors and how there is such a literacy crisis, I decided to attend an Orton-Gillingham training session, where I completed 30 hours of Orton-Gillingham Classroom Educator Level Training. I look forward to helping equip students with the ability and confidence to become more efficient at reading and spelling.