Nefira Masic

Education:

Master of Education, Early Childhood Education, Lesley University, 2010. 

Bachelor of Arts, Liberal Studies, Lesley University, 2006.

Associate of Science, Early Childhood Education, Bunker Hill Community College, 2000. 

Tutor Subjects:

K-12 Academic Subject Tutoring
 K-12 Academic Tutoring
 Kindergarten Reading Help
 First Grade Reading Help

Certifications:

Professional Educator License, Early Childhood (PreK-2).

Nefira has been teaching for 18 years and tutors students in English Language Arts (grades PreK-6) and math (grades PreK-4). She is experienced in early literacy skill instruction and a wide range of teaching curricula. She tutors students for whom English is not their first language and has served as an ESL tutor for children and adults (and is certified in TESOL). She is experienced in working with students with special needs, including physical and vision impairments, medical needs, and a wide range of learning disabilities.

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.”