Location: Bellingham, WA

Years of Teaching: 22

If you had to describe yourself as an educator, what six words would you use and why?

Responsive and Accepting- I strive to be present, so I can respond immediately to my students’ needs. I do my best to accept where my students are at any given moment. Sometimes they are ready and eager to learn. Other times they are tired or unable to focus. Either way, I accept them.
Caring and Flexible-I went into teaching because I care about people. I enjoy watching people learn and grow in their understanding about an idea or a skill. Flexibility is a must especially post Co-vid. It allows me to pivot in many directions based on student needs–i.e. teach something unexpected on the fly, provide a scaffold for the task at hand or stay with a given lesson plan.
Passionate and Experienced– I love what I do, and most days that enthusiasm shines through. When my students get inspired by what they read, that just feels good. My years in the field speak for my experience, but that doesn’t mean I have stopped learning how to teach. On the contrary, I am a life long learner modeling to my students how to be life long learners too.

What drew you to Reading Apprenticeship?

Reading Apprenticeship makes sense. The instructional framework takes into account the whole person! Students appreciate, finally, understanding what they are reading by having thought and explored HOW to read.

I was introduced to Reading Apprenticeship over 13 years ago, and I took the Reading Apprenticeship 101 course online recommended by my Vice President of Instruction. I really appreciated the “Think aloud” and Talking to the Text” routines. I tried them out in my classroom right away. I loved sharing how I read the text, uncovering all the invisible reader moves I make, and I remember wishing I had had a teacher who did that when I was in school.

After that, I was asked to go to several Reading Apprenticeship workshops in Oakland, CA. to learn more and to eventually bring back this model to my campus. During the first workshop, I felt heard and respected. I appreciated the collaborative nature of the learning and discovery of the new ways to approach reading. To this day, Reading Apprenticeship is the best professional development out there. My Reading Apprenticeship in the classroom and with the community is essential to my practice.

What is your go-to Reading Apprenticeship routine?

Modeling Think-Aloud

Can you share a story about a time when you or a student had an “aha!” moment with Reading Apprenticeship?

One of my students once commented that she felt she had 16 teachers in the classroom instead of just one. She said this right after everyone was sharing reading strategies for the article at hand. She walked away so pleased and part of a small learning community–the classroom.

If you could describe Reading Apprenticeship in a sentence, what would you say?

Reading Apprenticeship opens up a new world of words and problem solving discussions and opportunities.

What are you reading right now?

I am rereading The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff.

Location: Fitchburg State University, Massachusetts

Years of Teaching: 25 years (including K through College)

If you had to describe yourself as an educator, what six words would you use and why?

Caring, accessible, and fair: First and foremost, I care about who my students are as people. I make sure that I am accessible to them both in and out of the classroom so that they have what they need to learn and perform at their best. I am fair and equitable when designing learning opportunities and assessments, and I provide the flexibility that students need to meet their learning targets, even when life throws curveballs their way.

Energetic, enthusiastic, and humorous: Students tell me that my classes are fun and engaging, that they enjoy my use of humor, and they are motivated by the energy that I bring to the learning environment.

What drew you to Reading Apprenticeship?

I first learned about Reading Apprenticeship when I was a reading specialist at a residential school for children with behavioral and mental health disorders. I served students K through12, but we had limited resources for teaching comprehension, particularly for older students. I happened upon the first edition of “Reading for Understanding” and began incorporating Reading Apprenticeship into my practice. Once I transitioned to teaching at the collegiate level, I found that Reading Apprenticeship was still a part of my practice. But Reading Apprenticeship really became a career-defining pedagogy for me when I brought it to the table as a resource for teaching reading in our first-year seminars across campus, where we now have faculty implementing Reading Apprenticeship routines in every department!

What is your go-to Reading Apprenticeship routine?

Think Aloud is my go-to Reading Apprenticeship routine! I use it in every aspect of my teaching, from the classroom to advising. It has become such a part of who I am and how I function on a daily basis that my students have come to understand it as a way of getting the most out of every learning experience by leveraging the skills, strategies, and knowledge of everyone at the table, no matter the task.

Can you share a story about a time when you or a student had an “aha!” moment with Reading Apprenticeship?

While I’ve had many students experience “aha!” moments with Reading Apprenticeship, I think the most powerful moments have been with my campus colleagues. As the coordinator of our first-year seminar program, I am responsible for designing and delivering the faculty professional learning program, which ensures that all first-year seminars across campus target the same three learning outcomes (habits of mind, metacognitive reading, and information literacy). Reading Apprenticeship is the central pedagogical approach that we use to help students meet all three learning outcomes. What has been most impactful for me in this work is seeing my colleagues struggle through some initial discomfort to now implementing Reading Apprenticeship routines in ALL of their classes (not just their first-year seminars)! Some of my most skeptical colleagues have become the greatest champions of and advocates for Reading Apprenticeship on campus, and that has been a true privilege to witness.

If you could describe Reading Apprenticeship in a sentence, what would you say?

Reading Apprenticeship is really thinking apprenticeship – no matter the situation, you can use the routines to read, think, and learn with greater stamina and depth.

What are you reading right now?

“Metabolical: The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine” by Robert H. Lustig, MD, MSL

Interested in learning more about Reading Apprenticeship facilitation? Read on to learn about Laurie and her “why”!

Location: Saline, MI

Years of Teaching: 22 – teaching was a second career for me

If you had to describe yourself as an educator, what six words would you use and why?

Patient, Kind and Caring – because these traits are the gateway to understanding children. Students used to say I was “easy going”, which is how these things translated to them. I know they didn’t always see that it was a conscious choice and sometimes took a bit of work. :). They always need to know they are safe with you and that you care about them. Their families need to know this as well. When they realize this, they become yours – and, of course they emulate what they see and experience!

Innovative and Resourceful – because teaching should never be stagnant. We need to be continuously aware of the ever-changing world we ALL live in and how that affects us and our students. This should influence what and how we teach and learn.

Hardworking and Collaborative – because teaching is truly hard work and we need to work together with our colleagues to bring our best to our students and each other. They and we deserve no less. To be collaborative, I find it really helps to be kind, caring, innovative and resourceful with our colleagues as well. We need to share and listen, and work to improve what we do as a team without expecting that each of us will do things in the same way, but rather in ways that fit who we are, who are students are, and are focused on continuously improving both.

What drew you to Reading Apprenticeship?

Seeing it work! Seeing a way to reach those students that I hadn’t felt able to really help in my early years of teaching. I still see the faces of those that I was not able to help in the ways that I can now. I wish I’d had this knowledge and experience from the start.

What is your go-to Reading Apprenticeship routine?

Modeling Think-Alouds. I find that with everything we do I am always modeling my thinking for my students. It is not always part of a formal lesson plan, but can simply include my sharing aloud what I am thinking and why at any point in time. I want them to take in the various ways we make sense of our world, and I want to hear theirs as well.

Can you share a story about a time when you or a student had an “aha!” moment with Reading Apprenticeship?

My “aha!” moment came in my first year with RA when I was really in the mode of trying things out and trusting that it would pay off. Things were awkward for me as I had never charted responses on posters before, nor had I used my overhead projector for much more than a place to store some of my “stuff” that I didn’t have time to deal with. And, of course, sharing my thinking out loud was a real challenge for me.

My teaching partner and I were supporting and encouraging one another, and along with the support we got from our county partners, we were moving along yet I hadn’t seen much in the way of results. I remained skeptical.

Sometime in January I was grading a set of social studies tests when I came upon the test of a student who had self-identified as a struggling reader in the beginning of the year. Her mom and prior teacher had said the same thing. Her mom had said “We’ve tried everything, but she continues to struggle with reading.” Well, she aced the test and I have to admit that I wondered if she had cheated. When I told my teaching partner, she exclaimed “No! She has jumped 7 points on her reading assessment!”

This was when I realized that all that we’d been doing really did work – even if only for this one student. And if it worked for her, it would work for other students – many others. After that, there was no going back – I am here because of that moment, because of that student.

Five years ago she was hired as a Special Ed Teacher Consultant in my building. This works!

If you could describe Reading Apprenticeship in a sentence, what would you say?

Apprenticing our students in reading changes everything!

What are you reading right now?

Getting to Fluency by William Maiert. It is a book about learning a foreign language. Right now it is pointing out to me all the reasons I am not “yet” fluent in Spanish. Basically I need to make it a much higher priority and practice than I have, but for now Google translate might have to do.