You already know that REAP trains teachers in Structured Literacy. Why do we do it? Because most teachers are never taught how to teach the hundreds of thousands of children who struggle with reading. Without the right kind of reading instruction, many of these students will continue to struggle with school, and will struggle to find a good job because they never become proficient readers.
It’s great to train experience teachers, but it would be even better for teachers to have this crucial training before they take on a classroom of their own. REAP is attacking this problem at the source by teaming with Georgia College & State University in a ground-breaking program to train students in Structured Literacy before they leave college.
This winter REAP’s Literacy Leaders taught the very first cohort of 100 pre-service teachers—juniors and seniors—at Georgia College. The students enjoyed learning about sound production, sounds, deck drills, closed and open syllables, the Alphabet King, and more. One student reported that she has already shared her knowledge with her host teacher, who implemented the new content into her classroom teaching. The student also had a job interview where they asked her about skills that their current teachers might benefit from. She was very excited to talk about her REAP training. The students received a second round of training this spring, including REAP’s first-ever online training session thanks to the COVID-19 shutdown.
REAP plans to expand the Georgia College training in 2020 and 2021 to include rising juniors. We also plan to develop a Faculty Workshop on the science of reading. REAP would administer the workshop and provide faculty all the resources, including the presentation, and would encourage faculty to use it in their curriculum.
REAP needs your help to continue this training
REAP is very excited about working with pre-service teachers. Imagine if every teacher was equipped from Day 1 with the skills to effectively teach reading! REAP provided part of the funding for this innovative program. As a nonprofit organization, we need your help providing funding for more Structured Literacy training programs for current and future teachers. We look forward to a day when all teachers arrive at their first classroom confident that they can transform struggling readers into successful learners!
