Brooklyn College’s new advanced certificates in reading science (one for emergent readers and one for all grades) provide comprehensive knowledge to teachers on best practices of reading. Katie Pace Miles, associate professor of early childhood education/art education The two fully online programs address new requirements for literacy licenses that teachers need in New York State. The training also prepares teachers to improve literacy rates for historically underserved students—a gap that has only widened since the COVID-19 pandemic. The program owes much to the efforts of Katie Pace Miles, who has been instrumental in its launch. Miles is the co-founder and principal investigator of CUNY Reading Corps, which improves preservice teacher training and provides free high-dosage tutoring to historically underserved New York City students. Enter The Literary Specialist One of Miles’ former students, Rea Bowen ’21, ’24 M.S.Ed. took classes in what has now become part of these two new programs. Today, Bowen teaches at P.S. 40 George Washington Carver School in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. We spoke with Bowen about her journey into teaching and why it’s crucial for educators to learn the science of reading. Tell us a bit about your background. I’m from the beautiful island of Grenada, known as the Isle of Spice in the Caribbean. I spent most of my youth there, from preschool to high school. I started teaching in Grenada first, in a program where they trained us to become teachers. Then I migrated to London and attended Uxbridge College for two years. I returned to teach in Grenada again in 2009. I came to live in the United States permanently in 2014. What brought you to the States? Living in the Caribbean, we had little to no knowledge about how to deal with children with special needs. That was my main focus because I wanted to understand how to reach them. They didn’t have the right facilities and experience in Grenada to work with them and meet their needs. When I was teaching, my brain kept ticking, and I wondered what could be done. I told my mother, “I’m not going to college here. I’ve got to go into the wide world. I’ve got to see what is out there for me.” And she said, “I don’t know where you’re going to get the money, but I don’t have it for you.” I said, “It’s okay, God is going to provide. I’m going to work hard and save.” I was so fortunate that my aunt in England sent for me. When I saw how children, especially those with special needs, are dealt with in other countries, that opened up my eyes. But I needed to learn more. When I learned about America’s federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, it made me feel so warm inside. It is up to educators to understand how we can meet students in the classroom. Moving to New York is when I knew I was about to get the ball rolling and really push. What grade levels do you teach? I’ve worked with kindergarteners and first- and second-graders for the past three years. Most of the time, the class will be mixed with all three. I worked for at least two years at the daycare center at Downstate Hospital in Brooklyn. I worked with one- and two-year-olds. It’s wonderful to see them develop through the different milestones. I took reading science courses with Associate Professor Katharine Pace Miles, while earning my master’s degree, and I was teaching at a public school at the same time. As part of the course, we participated in Reading Corps. Learning the system used in Reading Ready and Reading Go! showed me why it was so difficult to read when I was a child in Grenada. To learn to read correctly, you need to be exposed to the printed letters and their sounds. Connecting them and graphing phonemes is critical. I have a big “sound wall” in my classroom and I do a lot of dictation. Seeing a child finally “get it” when it comes to reading and understanding must be very fulfilling. Oh yes. There was one student in particular during my first year of teaching who had been diagnosed with an intellectual disability. She couldn’t read at all. She couldn’t sound out letters. By the second year of tutoring, she had mastered phonics and was able to read at her grade level. She’s in third grade now, and I always check in on her. I’ll go on her lunch break and sit with her, let her pull out pieces of her work because I want to make sure that everything she has mastered is with her and she’s using it. Students have to be able to read and understand what they are being asked to do, no matter the subject—whether it’s a science experiment, math problem, or social studies project. Teaching students to read, write, and comprehend should be a skill every educator has. Read our full interview with Rea Bowen here.
