Kary Johnson, M.Ed.

Kary is a native of Fort Worth, Texas. Prior to attending TCU and Texas Wesleyan, Kary attended and graduated from Trinity Valley School as a thirteen year student.

Kary began her career in education in 1999 as a bilingual teacher of elementary school students. She quickly decided to attend graduate school because of the great need she saw in assisting students who had learning differences, specifically with reading. During her graduate school years at Texas Wesleyan, Kary helped to open two different bilingual programs grades K-6 in two public school districts. She was also selected to attend a summer institute in Madrid, Spain, for bilingual reading teachers.

Kary graduated from Texas Wesleyan in December of 2003 and began working shortly thereafter with her first reading client, a brilliant and delightful young Kindergarten student that was struggling with reading and writing. At the same time, Kary’s day job was that of a reading specialist in the public system and later as coordinator of language arts and dyslexia, K-12 for a large public school district. Also, Kary began speaking at various conferences and in school districts about the needs of students. Kary’s speaking topics ranged from understanding dyslexia to ADHD to quality reading and writing instruction.

In 2005, Kary decided that the answer to the conundrum that teachers and students were facing was to provide one on one, tailored, specific reading intervention for struggling students in a clinical setting as an additive to what students received in school. With a handful of reading clients, she decided to make The Reading Connection her full time endeavour.

In 2009, the Reading Connection became a full service learning center, offering not only reading intervention, but subject specific tutorials in all academic areas, a computer lab with various programs for academic intervention, homework hour programming, and summer enrichment camps.

Today, Kary’s dream has become the dream of so many students and teachers: We can meet the needs of whomever walks through our door and we can change lives, one student at a time.

Education

Master’s: Reading, Bilingual Education, Administration, Texas Wesleyan University
Bachelor’s: TCU

Certifications

Reading Specialist (PK-adult), Master Reading Teacher (PK-12), Principal (PK-12), Bilingual (PK-6), ESL (PK-6), Elementary Spanish, General Education, Gifted and Talented

Professional Memberships

International Reading Association (IRA), Texas State Reading Association (TSTA), Texas Staff Development Council (TSDC), Association for Curriculum Development (ASCD), Texas Association for the Improvement in Reading (TAIR), Science Teachers Association of Texas (STAT), Teachers of Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)

National and Local Speaking and Training Credentials

Adjunct instructor at Texas Wesleyan University (2008-current), International Reading Association (2006, 2008), National Association of Bilingual Educators (2006-2007), Teachers of Speakers of other Languages 2007, Cook’s Children’s Hospital Fort Worth, Trinity Valley School, Mansfield ISD, Coppell ISD, Irving ISD, Denton ISD, Birdville ISD, National Bilingual Association 2009