Personalized Literacy Instruction for Every Student
Every learner deserves instruction that’s tailored to their needs, pace, and goals. Our one-to-one literacy lessons provide just that — expert support in a calm, encouraging environment where students feel seen, supported, and motivated to grow.
Flexible, Focused, and Designed for Progress
We offer 30-, 60-, or 90-minute literacy sessions, depending on your child’s age, attention span, and goals. Each session is thoughtfully planned by your instructor, with activities tailored to the student’s current needs and long-term learning path.
📍 Location: At the Literacy Spark office in Montpelier, or in your student’s home (availability dependent)
🕓 Session Lengths: 30, 60, or 90 minutes
📘 What We Teach: Phonemic awareness, decoding, fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, writing
👩🏫 Personalized Plans: Based on student assessment, student needs, and family goals
📅 Scheduling: Weekly or twice-weekly sessions recommended
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Founder, Director of Instruction
Emily is a highly distinguished educator with more than 20 years experience in public education, 15 as a dedicated early elementary classroom educator in Vermont public schools. Emily is a master educator, trained as an Orton-Gillingham Classroom Educator & Associate (certified dyslexia therapist 2026), and skilled in Structured Linguistic Literacy instruction. Emily is an unwavering advocate of dignity in education and that ALL brains can learn to read. Her instruction is scientifically-based, systematic, explicit, multisensory and emotionally sound for students of all ages.
Emily is founder of The Literacy Spark, LLC and is a full-time public school district-wide literacy specialist. She teaches graduate-level courses, serves as an implementation partner across academic content areas and coaches fellow educators K-12 in learning to effectively teach all literacy skills. Emily often serves as a literacy consultant for alternative schools and home-schooling networks (K-12), she is a certified Educating Children Outdoors (ECO) educator, a published author, trained in RULER (Brackett, PhD) social/emotional intelligence.
Emily was voted by her colleagues University of Vermont’s teacher of the year, 2015.
When she’s not teaching you can find Emily seeking her own adventure. She’s quick to take watercolors out of her pack to paint dawns and dusks or venture off to sift through tidepools at the ocean. She frequently challenges herself with new experiences. Most recently yo-galates, pruning an untamable pear tree and seeking world tastes at coffee shop hot spots while visiting with family afar, and around her kitchen table.
Field Work
The Science of Reading in Practice (Southern New Hampshire University 2024)
Beyond the ABCs: Advancing Reading & Spelling through Morphological Study (Southern New Hampshire University 2025)
The Dyslexia Toolkit for American Public Libraries (ALA 2024)
Neurodiversity & Inclusion Educator Certification (VT-HEC 2026)
Educating Children Outdoors, Lessons in Nature-Based Learning (Cornell University Press, 2024)
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Instructor
Bailey holds a B.A. in English Literature and is completing a practicum for her Vermont educator license, middle and high school ELA (May 2025) and M.Ed degree. She has completed Orton-Gillingham coursework level one through two, she will complete three through five over the next three months and her 100 practicum is scheduled for Summer - Fall 2025 all with oversight from the OG Academy.
Bailey will serve as lead teacher for The Brook Street School, Barre VT (May 2025). Brook Street provides educational instruction in the fundamentals of reading, writing and mathematics specifically for women with children who are seeking to complete their high school education.
As a Literacy Spark Instructor, Bailey continuously links systematic literacy instruction with outcomes from cognitive tests and assessments as well as information she gathers from informal progress monitoring tools and error / success data from every lesson.
Each lesson is individualized to provide direct and explicit multisensory instruction. A predictable structure enables her to work diagnostically with students in the moment and plan sequentially to target the skills each child needs. All instruction teaches to automaticity through cumulative review with continuous instructional feedback and positive reinforcement between student and instructor.
Instructional reflection, evaluation, feedback and routine collection of diagnostic data are key components to the instructional cycle and each are individualized to progressively adjust instruction to meet the needs of each student.
Bailey is warm, inquisitive and responsive. She brings humor and generous positivity to develop her relationships with students and engaging lessons.
Focused Support. Personalized Plans. Meaningful Results.
In a one-to-one setting, instruction is tailored to your child’s unique strengths, challenges, and learning pace. There’s no rushing to keep up or waiting to catch on — just consistent, individualized support that meets your child right where they are.
With a dedicated literacy expert guiding each session, students build skills more efficiently, gain confidence, and experience steady, measurable progress.
“We began working with Emily when we recognized our son’s reading and writing challenges in first grade. Her commitment to his learning and the way she teaches is not only massively effective, it comes from a place of care.”
Let’s Build A Plan Together
Whether you’re looking for consistent year-round support or extra help during a challenging time, we’re here to help. Book a free consultation to talk through your goals and get matched with the right instructor and schedule for your child.