Personalized Tutoring for Reading, Writing and Studying
Testimonials
Kelly Rasmussen (GotSmartz) is a very caring and dedicated educator with a wealth of knowledge and experience in the area of assistive technology. She is an incredibly valuable resource and is wonderful to work with. Kelly has the ability to work closely with a wide range of children and staff, and she has really ‘opened the door’ to a new and important set of educational tools. She is at the cutting edge of a critical area in education and has a gentle and reassuring way of sharing her skills with Turnbull parents, students and teachers.
Gareth Reid, Director, Turnbull School
I feel very fortunate that we found Kelly. My youngest daughter has some big learning differences and has struggled with traditional teaching methods and paper-based schoolwork assignments. Not only is it hard to organize and know what needs to be done, but doing things on paper makes all the work effort mute as the result can be illegible. Then Kelly came into our lives. Kelly has worked with my daughter to get her comfortable in a world full of computer tools. Google Read and Write and all its amazing extensions have given my daughter new hope. Not only can she find her assignments, organize them in a manner that is retrievable from anywhere (no more “forgot it at school”), and also encourages her to problem solve and think in a manner consistent with her strengths. I was so thrilled I had my own lesson with Kelly to keep up and there are a few extensions I now use daily to help my own thinking. And my older daughter also leverages Kelly’s know-how and has learnt tips and tricks that save time in school assignments. Thank you Kelly for all the kids and parents that think differently and can be encouraged to work through school by putting their strengths forward ( and thank you for helping transition some teachers to the digital world). G. Armstrong - Parent, Turnbull School
"My confidence has gone up. I feel like I can keep up with my classmates. School work does not seem as difficult since I worked with Kelly. She understands me! For the first time, I feel comfortable being me."
-Sara, Highschool Student
... "I learned a lot! I learned different types of writing... Read and write changed my life: I now know how to read and write. I love it....there's nothing more I can ask for. I know more after working with Ms. Raz, I am a better learner. Since working on my computer I love school would rather be in school than summer vacation. I would LOVE to learn more from Ms. Raz I can teach students what she taught me. I want to learn more in the future. I want to learn more in the future and go to university."
-Jayden, grade 5
Having Kelly Rasmussen supporting our special needs children was invaluable. It takes a special person to work with children with needs and Kelly met the criteria with huge success. She was patient, informative, interested, and engaging with all the children she worked with at Chapel Hill. The students gained valuable strategies to help them with technology and as a result, built their self-confidence: a direct result of Kelly's guidance. So grateful for your time here at Chapel Hill!
- Robert Laurin (OCT), Resource Teacher Chapel Hill
"Kelly enhanced students' confidence. They feel they are capable and developed motivation and a love for learning. Kelly taught students from grade 3-6 how to read and write through the use of technology. In addition, Kelly taught other educators how to use technology in the classroom. As a resource teacher, I have a better understanding of how to access the Ontario Curriculum via technology.
As a special education teacher, Kelly's technology support has been invaluable. Kelly worked with a student with learning disabilities, language disorders, Autism and anxiety disorders. She worked one on one with students, in small groups and whole class lessons.
-Janine Couch, Resource Teacher (OCT), St. Michaels School
Kelly Rasmussen has been a welcomed guest in my grade 5 class many times this year. With each visit, she brought with her useful tech tools and tricks to enhance my students' capabilities and further their learning in leveraging digital both in and out of the classroom learning environment. My students always awaited her sessions with great anticipation since they knew she would support the development of learning in a fun and engaging manner. We were very fortunate to work with Kelly this year and I look forward to learning from her in years to come."
-Ms. S. McClaren, Classroom Teacher, OCT
I had the pleasure of having Kelly in my classroom. She supported students individually with assistive technology. Kelly took her time with each student. She has a very gentle manner about her which makes children and/or youth feel very comfortable with her and not afraid to ask questions. That is an asset in her role. I highly recommend her.
-Ms. Kate Fournier Teacher (OCT)
Mrs. Raz taught me how to do split screens which came in handy-so I could go on websites so I could have work translated. I learned about Hapara and some of my information goes.it's faster. I feel more confident technology changed me. I learned how to read and spell. I feel great I feel more confident and I love to learn. I'm excited to learn new things about technology and to share it with other people too.
Callum, Grade 6
The new iSisters Assistive Technology Program (iAT) will support young women through educational initiatives and improve their lives and those of their children. Kelly from Gotzsmartz has done a tremendous job with the development of the program, which will offer a continuous stream of assistive technology delivery to young mothers and contribute to the attainment of their high school diplomas. We are thrilled to be working with Kelly to bring new and innovative technology to young women to ensure their education experience is as successful as possible.
-Linda Milton-Perreault, iSisters Technology Mentoring Executive Director
Kelly is a great resource for all things technology. She is up to date and extremely knowledgeable in how to help our children make to best use of tech in the classroom and organizing homework.
-Alison Weber, Parent
GotSmartz Assistive Technology Coaching fills a niche that students aren’t getting elsewhere. Kelly is both knowledgeable and patient, which helps build a student’s confidence to become the best they can be and carry these skills forward in their lives.
-Beth Nightingale, Program Coordinator, iSisters Technology Mentoring
I highly recommend Kelly. She is knowledgeable and very easy to work with.
"I have worked alongside Kelly a number of times during my work as an educator. Through her work, I have seen students who were unengaged, struggling and lacking confidence, begin to develop pride in their accomplishments, and produce much more than they had ever done so before. Kelly's individualized approach for each student allowed them to become more independent, and through the use of different assistive technologies, granted them a degree of accessibility they did not have before. I am extremely pleased with the results of her work, and would absolutely recommend use of her services to anyone looking to better understand and make use of assistive technologies both for personal and/or academic uses."
- Ian McLean, OCT