Instructor Spotlight: Christina Henriquez
Christina Henriquez leading small-group Reading Rescue instruction at P.S. 24 in Brooklyn.
Our first Instructor Spotlight of the 2021-2022 school year is Christina Henriquez, an instructor and Program Coordinator at P.S. 24 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.
Christina worked in daycare for a few years before becoming a paraprofessional at P.S. 24, where she has worked for 10 years. With the support of the NYC Department of Education, she obtained a degree in Disability Studies and hopes to obtain her Master’s degree one day to become a teacher here in NYC. In her current role, she serves as a 1:1 crisis paraprofessional, working directly with one student each day who is in need of additional services. This year she works with a 2nd grade student while also serving as a Program Coordinator for the Reading Rescue team at P.S. 24. In this role, she acts as the liaison between Literacy Trust’s program team and her school, overseeing data reporting, materials, and communication.
Christina has been involved with Reading Rescue for four years, and for the past three she has served as her team’s Program Coordinator. Over the course of these four years, she has felt fortunate to have directly worked with and impacted about 10 students, all of whom benefited from Reading Rescue intervention and were able to move onto the next grade as more fluent readers.
Christina says that doing Reading Rescue instruction is not always easy in school if there is limited space. She recalls that on the first day of her Reading Rescue journey, she conducted instruction with a student on the floor in the hallway, and that first year it would be five instructors with their students in one room. With regard to these challenges, she says that “you figure it out and you get it done... for the benefit of the kids.” She believes persistence, dedication, consistency, confidence, and resourcefulness contribute to a successful reading intervention and a successful instructor. Even in a school, it can be difficult to find a quiet, peaceful place to read.
This year, Christina conducts Reading Rescue with a small group of three 2nd grade students. She says that it has been great to do instruction these past few years with one student because you see a direct impact on the student’s reading skills, and with a small group you get to expand that impact to a small group of several students. “It’s nice because you get several personalities of kids who each bring something different to the group and we learn together,” says Christina.
It has been rewarding to see the progress of students who completed the Reading Rescue program, Christina notes. She loves keeping track of her former students and checking in on their reading. Of one, she recalls: “She waves to me in the hallway and tells me she is doing well and reading... It is so rewarding to know that I helped someone read and be confident,” says Christina.
Christina Henriquez with her Reading Rescue tools and binder.
“The students always love the new book part of the RR session. We normally leave half of the book for the next session, because it’s a lot to read for one session. But the students always want to keep reading because they are excited about it and want to find out what happens next in the book.”
In a school that has a large cohort of English-learners (41%), Christina is excited to continue Reading Rescue this school year. There is a large Latinx community around P.S. 24 in Sunset Park, and Christina notes that many of her students over the years haved faced a familiar challenge: they have to master reading and writing in a language that they are newer to, and then they go home and teach their parents English as well.* Reading Rescue benefits students directly, but we know that entire families benefit from students who are the only fluent English speakers and readers in their families.
Last year Christina was awarded the Educator of the Year award by the local Lions Club, so we are excited to join the celebration around her passion for educating students!
*See here for Grapeseed’s blog post: Eight Ways to Engage English Language Learner Families in their Child’s Education