Recently Mrs. Riepl was a presenter at the 2024 MSTA Convention. (Missouri State Teacher’s Association) The convention was held in Columbia, MO. The session was designed to teach educators about the process of assessing instructional needs of students with universal screeners, diagnostic assessments, and progress monitoring tools. She helped the attendees learn how to better understand these instruments and how to use the data from assessments to group students for effective interventions. Then she showed them how to align each group with the correct Missouri Learning Standards. The knowledge gained from this session was designed to aid attendees in the process of developing Reading Success Plans and Individual Education Plans.
Mrs. Riepl has been at Shell Knob for 30 years. She used her experience and knowledge in submitting a proposal to MSTA to be a speaker. When asked if she was nervous, she replied, "I was not nervous because I was prepared. I practiced several times in the weeks leading up to the convention. Also the topic is something I am very familiar with. I had step by step notes written out but at the conclusion of my presentation I realized I did not ever turn the page, so I did it from memory."
Sharing her hope for the future of reading, Mrs. Riepl had this to say, "Children grow and develop at very different rates. I would like to see teachers who are familiar with the continuum of foundational skills and move children along this continuum. There is too much emphasis on skills that should not be a priority until children learn the process of decoding text. Then all those other skills can be taught. I feel the expectation has been pushed down to children who are not developmentally ready for what is expected. If we allow the brain to develop until the hemispheres meld together first, I believe teaching reading would be much more successful. I also feel very strongly that teaching foundational reading skills should be the primary academic focus until children can read. Literacy is the doorway to ALL other academic learning."
SKS is very proud of Mrs. Riepls representation and her opportunity to share her knowledge with other educators.