Tsinakis, Sophia, Literacy Coordinator
Ms. Sophia Ponce Tsinakis was born in Houston, Texas, and raised in Nashville, Tennessee. She has earned a Master's in Elementary Education and a K-12 English Language Learners endorsement at Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology - with a minor in Art Therapy - from Lesley University in Cambridge Massachusetts.
After teaching for four years at an innovative elementary public school in Nashville, Ms. Tsinakis joined the ACS Athens faculty in 2018, originally teaching first grade during the 2018-2019 academic year and fifth grade during the 2019-2020 academic year. In September 2020, she transitioned into the position of JK-6 Literacy Coordinator to further the aims of ACS Athens literacy program. The ultimate objective of the elementary ACS literacy program is the development of readers and writers across all the grade levels. To this end, she facilitates an ongoing collaborative literacy learning culture that aligns the school’s reading and writing curriculums (including Phonics and Grammar). Moreover, she champions teachers to support students in writing with fluency for an audience, about topics they care about. Lastly, she fortifies best instructional literacy practices through literacy coaching to bolster resilience, grit, and empathy in students to promote ethical decision-makers, strong relationships, and positive action.
During the 2022-2023 academic year she was interviewed for the ACS Athens Owlcast (episode 16). She discussed her views about the worldwide ongoing evolution of literacy instruction, the building of the ES ACS literacy program, and coaching teachers in elevating their literacy instructional practices. In addition, she joined the Middle School in 2022 as a faculty member for two academic years. She relished the instructional focus on English, writing, composition, literature, and critical analysis. Alongside the expertise and collegiatelyof her grade 6 colleagues and the division chair, she contributed to the redesign and implementation of an enhanced grade 6 Language Arts syllabus.
Ms. Tsinakis has a great passion for teaching and her priority as an educator of young minds is to assist children of diverse backgrounds to find meaning, passion, and direction in their educational experience, and ultimately in their lives. Ms. Tsinakis is committed to fostering, inspiring, and sustaining high levels of authentic learning in all students as a path through which they become active, compassionate, independent, and global learners. Her continuous study of international literacy experts are a guiding influence in her inspired pursuit of refining and growing her literacy instruction.
email: tsinakiss@acs.gr