Naomi Nocera

Bio & Expertise: Naomi has 26 years of experience identifying, supporting and advancing the educational needs of students and their families. As a committed educator, she specializes in remediation and enrichment in reading, writing, mathematics, executive functioning, organizational skills and test prep.

During her career, Ms. Nocera taught in Chicago Public Schools before becoming a Literacy Coordinator in Bronx, NY, where she developed educational curricula for infants & toddlers, pre-school, primary and secondary programs. She then worked as the Education Director at Bank Street Head Start in New York City where she worked with teachers, parents and students developing curricula and creating supportive classroom models for successful learning environments. She also taught several graduate courses at Bank Street College in New York City, in curriculum development and creating supportive classroom environments. After serving as an administrator, Ms. Nocera returned to the classroom and taught at Village Community School in the West Village of Manhattan. She continued working in the early childhood educational community in collaboration with the New York City Early Childhood Professional Development Institute and the City University of New York. As an Early Learning Specialist, she provided professional development training for teachers and leaders from NYC's Pre-K For All classrooms to help them work effectively to support children and families using Developmentally Appropriate Practice. 

Ms. Nocera also has sixteen years of experience as a private tutor. She works with students ranging in age and ability from kindergarten through college. She blends her training in both traditional and progressive education models with her knowledge of specific remediation techniques and strategies to create individualized lessons for each student. Her customized approach to education ensures that each student’s unique needs are met and the probability for producing high quality results are maximized. The customization of weekly tutoring sessions helps students gain confidence, focus and a deeper understanding of the skills being taught. 

Ms. Nocera currently serves as the Director of Learning Support at the Brooklyn Waldorf School (BWS) in the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood in Brooklyn. She heads the department creating learning support systems that support families, students, and teachers.  In her role, she functions as a valuable resource offering educational workshops to the school community interested in implementing child development, learning and support strategies. As a member of the Care Team, she collaborates with the Pedagogical Administrator, Social Worker, and Social Emotional Support teacher in determining appropriate accommodations and/or support services. She provides expertise in reading and summarizing educational evaluations and communicates with teachers, families, and students about effective support strategies. She also serves as a liaison between families, teachers, outside supports, the Department of Education, and students to ensure consistent and continuous support of students’ development. She also provides individual and small group instruction to students in reading, writing, math, executive function, and study skills development. 

At the graduate school level, Naomi served as a Fieldwork Supervisor at Hunter College in the Graduate School of Special Education. She supported graduate students in their special education teacher certification program by guiding them to set realistic goals and expectations of themselves and their students, helping them connect theoretical learning to practical classroom teaching strategies and showing them refined progressive approaches to teaching practices that foster effective practices and techniques.
Ms. Nocera loves to learn and is passionate about education both professionally and personally. She attends several professional workshops each year to ensure she is current and intellectually proficient in the latest approaches to supporting and challenging students. She is trained in Sounds in Motion, a program that supports early literacy, phonemic awareness, articulation stimulation, and auditory perception through movement. She is also trained to support students through Orton-Gillingham, a multi-sensory based approach. In addition she has received advanced training in courses on Dyslexia and Executive Function support through Landmark School Outreach Professional Development for Educators and Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD), a supportive approach to the writing process. Ms. Nocera also successfully completed the required continuing education credits, training hours, study group participation, and workshops to become an Educational Therapist: a course of study and related credentials that qualify her to work with students with learning disabilities. 

Currently Naomi is enrolled in a three year Extra Lesson program through the Association of Healing Education. This work creates a broader understanding of the relationship between a child’s early development and learning so they can fully engage in their educational experience. It is an additional component of assessment and intervention programs for learning and behavioral difficulties in Waldorf Schools. It derives its name from work begun in the 1970's in England, by Audrey McAllen. Taking up Rudolf Steiner’s many lectures about the developing child, she was inspired to develop a first lesson of assessment techniques and then a curriculum of movement, speech, drawing and painting exercises to enhance the child’s/student’s learning outcomes. This work allows Naomi to continue supporting children through a holistic approach combining movement, concentration exercises, rhythm and painting.

She possesses a bachelor’s degree in German and Business Translation from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois, a master’s degree in General Education from DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois, and a master’s degree in Special Education from Bank Street College in New York City. 

Fun Fact: Naomi is an avid runner and is so dedicated that she starts her runs before 5 AM.

Location:  Manhattan and Brooklyn In-Person + Virtual

Contact: naominocera@gmail.com or 917.209.3153