Teacher Prep Programs: Minus the Literacy

I remember at several PD sessions with my pre-service teachers this past year (and even in years prior,) many would share with me that they do not feel adequately prepared to teach early childhood/elementary ELA. This of course piqued my curiosity to the point of a full-on adrenaline rush, so I sat down with many of these students to find out why, and what they felt was missing 

As I listened intently, pen flashing across my notebook as if I just discovered a new idea for a book, or the winning numbers for the lottery, I realized that many of the same areas I felt I was lacking in as I graduated and set out to teach were exactly the same for these students today... Not surprised, yet still paradoxically puzzled, I posed a philosophical question to myself; Why haven't things improved since I was an undergraduate student? It's not like we lack research to back up best practices, or great professors to teach. So, how can there still be gaps in these areas? In the years since I've graduated, the competitive level in the teaching job market has increased dramatically. In order to rise to the challenge of feeling confident the first few years, there are certain reading skills teacher preparation programs should emphasize in their courses for these educators to assist them on their journey to conquering the interview and landing the job. 

Here are a few of my personal recommendations after going through the process, finding similar gaps as pre-service teachers today, and knowing what is needed to be successful to teach reading to young learners. If you're a pre-service teacher and/or early educator and feel you need more assistance in one (or more) of these areas, please reach out to me! 

1. Programs should have a focal course on effective instruction for structured literacy, which should include systematic and explicit instruction of phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, phonics (decoding and encoding,) orthography, morphology, syntax, and semantics. In addition, programs should also give adequate time to studying fluency and how teachers can assist students develop their fluency early on. Specific program like Read Naturally should also be included in analysis, and even modeling so pre-service teachers can leave the class with knowledge of a program they can discuss on interviews, as well as know best practices for developing fluency. 

2. Programs need to present methods for teaching writing to students. One popular method is Writer's Workshop, which (for those that are familiar) models Reader's Workshop in that students are engaged in a mini-lesson, get practice writing, meet with teachers for conferences, and publish their work while celebrating with peers. As an English major for my chosen subject, I had to take writing courses, however I had very little lesson on how to teach writing to students in the primary grades. 

3. Programs often have pre-service teachers read about teaching comprehension to students, nonetheless, emphasis needs to be placed on strategies and skills. Often confused, these enthusiastic educators are frequently left with questions on how to teach a reading strategy, or what are the strategies that need to be taught? Skills such as making predictions, making connections, determining cause and effect are just a few examples of reading skills teachers work on with early readers. Strategies are how they approach the skill to understand it, therefore understanding the text, such as pausing to reflect and use picture clues to make predictions. 

4. Programs should spend time helping pre-service teachers begin to build their classroom library, and have Genius Hour sessions for students to explore in groups ways to organize and build classroom libraries. At the same time, using this instructional strategy, they will experience learning via a Genius Hour format, and create ideas for how to implement that format in their classrooms. Scholastic has a wealth of information for teachers and great suggestions. The Judy Newman at Scholastic website has book talks from teachers so early educators can hear from other teachers books they recommend for their library, as well as lesson ideas. 

Although it remains a mystery to me why time is not devoted to these ares of reading. it is unquestionably imperative for these areas to be emphasized in teacher-preparation programs. I admit that I do not have the power or influence to change the curriculums, but I can be a resource for my pre-service teachers in the COE through KDP. My chapter strives to deliver professional development topics that are relevant, current, and missing from their current methods courses. I am grateful that most of our leadership team consists of current practicing educators of different levels, and they are as enthusiastic as I am about sharing their knowledge with pre-service teachers! 

Final Thought- Keep learning, keep teaching others, keep loving literacy, keep finding your voice to advocate what you need as an early educator... your students deserve it!