Nefira Masic

Nefira says:

“My name is Nefira Masic and I am originally from Bosnia and Herzegovina. I earned a degree in Literature and Slavic Languages in former Yugoslavia.  During the pandemic time, I was able to quickly switch to remote teaching  20 PreK students,  developed and implemented a variety of different lesson plans and interactive activities, and maintained close home-school connection with the families to inform about online learning and progress of my students.  During that time,  I also organized and facilitated an online Bosnian language program for both native speakers and EL learners; prior, I was teaching weekend format Slavic language classes to native speakers and EL students in Cambridge, for the past four years.

In my current position,  as a lead teacher of Universal PreK grade, I have ability to continue to  collaborate with leaders and team members from different educational organizations, participate in leadership groups trainings, mentor college students from different educational and medical institutions, supervise and train my own team co-workers, and communicate closely with directors, administrators, and other professionals about current innovations, policies, and practices in the field of education. 

I earned the Terry Lynne Lokoff National Teacher Award in 2019 and was chosen among the first ten teachers in the nation. I am an active board director of Maplewood Condominium Trust Association in Malden, an active member of New Teacher Community Group at Lesley University, and an active member/ volunteer of the non-profit organization New England Friend of Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

Teaching has been my passion since middle school time as I got inspired by my language teacher with whom I’ve developed a strong relationship over the love for written word and stories. I believe that relationships are a means by which individuals engage with content and materials; it’s important to understand each child’s interests in order to help them become successful in their educational experiences. I began tutoring  because, through many years of teaching, I learned that sometimes it takes some extra one-on-one quality time with the student  in order for them to succeed. It’s important to recognize each student’s learning style in order to support them to become more successful. So while I’m working with them as a tutor,  I always keep that in mind.  I truly enjoy seeing progress in children and that is my personal reward in the long run. 

I am a  proud  mother of a rising senior student at Northeastern University who is majoring in science and minoring in Speech Pathology.  I am also a huge animal lover,  an active  advocate for neglected and abused animals, and am known for always feeding stray animals. I enjoy nature and love traveling with my daughter. I love volleyball and lacrosse and love dancing every chance I have.   My daughter and I  live with two cats, Brnjo and Nemo.“

“Nefira is a remarkable teacher. Our family is so very appreciative of the incredibly considerate attention to detail, and personalized approach Nefira took week in and week out with our daughter. Nefira went above and beyond to help our daughter, and spent time throughout the entire year giving direct feedback to me and my wife, as well as very detailed follow up email and recommended ideas to better help and support our daughter.

As a parent, you can see when someone cares while interacting with your child. Nefira was the ultimate consummate professional in her preparation, and thoughtful tutoring sessions week in and week out. Our daughter very much gravitated to working with Nefira, because she could sense Nefira had sincere and genuine attentions to help her with a skill she struggles with, and this made for more impactful progress throughout the year.

Nefira’s skill set was so comprehensive, and this really helped our daughter in both reading and writing development. Finally, Nefira is just a remarkable human being. Our family so enjoyed getting to see her week in and week out, and we definitely plan to stay in touch. I wanted to pass forward this high praise for Nefira and Boston Tutor Services, it was incredible and thank you for helping our daughter.” – John T., Charlestown