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President's Message Hello! My name is Patty Meek and I am honored to be your new president. My background in education includes positions as an elementary music teacher, counselor, school psychologist, middle school special education teacher, and university instructor. Four years ago, CCLD selected me as “Teacher of the Year”. Shortly after that, I became more closely involved with the ongoing activities of CCLD. Since that time, my enthusiasm for our leadership, professional-development opportunities, and the Board’s commitment to both CCLD members and the students they serve has grown exponentially with each passing year. Providing outstanding professional-development opportunities is one of the most important goals of CCLD. Odyssey continues to be one of the best known and attended professional-development opportunities in the state. This past year, we provided training on Susan Ebber’s work with development of content vocabulary. Teachers from around the state attended three regional trainings followed by a culminating conference in Denver on April 24. We would like to thank CCLD board member, Debby Middel-Katzenmeyer for her continued efforts in working with CDE to coordinate this successful conference. In the past year, we also experienced tremendous success with an expanded Math on the “Planes”. Maintaining our current focus on making higher-level mathematics accessible to struggling learners, we facilitated eight days of training. The content included data analysis, the development of math skills through the use of explicit and systematic instruction, and a week-long offering highlighting the development of numeracy, at both the primary (whole number) and secondary levels (rational numbers). During this new school year, we anticipate continuing to develop the math strand as we strive to provide outstanding professional-development opportunities to educators throughout our state. CCLD also continues to partner with CoMMIT (Colorado Metro Math Intervention Team), CCTM (Colorado Council for Teachers of Mathematics) CDE, and other professional organizations throughout the state. Finally, during this past year, we selected an outstanding teacher of the year and paraprofessional of the year. One of our board members, Kyle Hughes, was also the recipient of the highly esteemed Floyd G. Hudson Outstanding Service Award for her work in advocating for and serving the needs of struggling learners. What does all of this mean to you, our membership? This means that we at CCLD exist for you. We attempt to provide you with support, encouragement, top-notch opportunities for professional development and recognition of your hard work and achievements in the field of Learning Disabilities. In a nutshell, our goal is to help you, through a variety of means, to be the best you can be. That being said, I encourage you to take advantage of the CCLD website and consider participating in the exciting professional-development opportunities that are available to members at a discounted rate. As your new president, it is an honor to serve you. I wish you all the best in the upcoming year and look forward to an ongoing relationship with you. Sincerely, Dr. Patty Meek
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