By Matt Kurnick
"ISU has only gotten better over the years I've been here. I am very grateful that ISU has provided me the opportunity to help each teacher help each child to learn to read and write." — Susan Almeida on the progress of the Reading Recovery Center at ISU
(May 27, 2008) Most people don't get to learn their jobs from the best in their field. Even more rarely do those people take advantage of that knowledge and use it to make others better. Susan Almeida, Reading Recovery teacher leader at Illinois State University, has done both.
"Marie M. Clay would come and teach us, she was our instructor," Almeida recalled. "She was like Socrates to us. Now, the school districts send us teachers for training. Once teachers get their Reading Recovery certification the school districts need to treat them very well because they're the best reading teachers in the world. Getting the certification has been the best thing that I've ever done educationally."
Reading Recovery is a program that lasts between 12-20 weeks and is designed to help first graders overcome any difficulties they have encountered while learning to read and write. The Reading Recovery Center at Illinois State helps train teachers that are already in the field to utilize the techniques of Reading Recovery.
Almeida's mentor, Dr. Clay is the founder of Reading Recovery and was widely regarded as the most esteemed reading teacher in the world. Clay started as a child psychologist in New Zealand and eventually copyrighted her program at The Ohio State University where Almeida started her Reading Recovery Teacher Leader certification program.
Since, Almeida has acted as founding member of the Reading Recovery Center at Illinois State. The center, which was originally expected to last a mere five years, is nearing its 20th anniversary. The center has exceeded all original expectations, most importantly the number of children it has helped to learn to read.
"Over the years I've trained hundreds of teachers on how to do this." Almeida said. "The rate of success is tremendous at 80%. Then the children continue success throughout their lives, they don't fall down, that's why it's so amazing. Here it is almost 20 years later and the school districts still want it, they still demand it."
The Reading Recovery Center has spawned the Friends of Reading Recovery, a foundation that is comprised of believers in the program. The main function of the Friends of Reading Recovery is to further Reading Recovery at Illinois State by helping surrounding school districts send their teachers to ISU to get training and to collect donations for the program. The Friends of Reading Recovery gave out 1,000 children's books during ISU's homecoming parade as part of the University's sesquicentennial celebration. The books were a donation just for that purpose.
Almeida can offer a unique perspective on how the Reading Recovery program has helped Illinois State. Almeida earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees at ISU. Her children attended the ISU Lab Schools; she's also been an undergraduate instructor at ISU. "ISU has only gotten better over the years I've been here," Almeida recalled. "At first it was respected as a teacher university. It's grown into something much more now. It's an actual program that shows that what ISU has to offer is much richer than just a teaching university."
Of the 1,000 Reading Recovery leaders nationally, Almeida estimates that she is one of five that are in universities. Her position in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction provides her the opportunity to work in over 30 school districts throughout the Central Illinois area.
"When I first came to college it was a no brainer, I wanted to teach people how to read," Almeida said. "Now I want to help each teacher help each child to learn to read and write. I am very grateful that ISU has provided that opportunity. Reading Recovery is a phenomenal thing. It's amazing that I've been so blessed to be a part of it because ISU got the grant to send me for the training."
After nearly 20 years of success, Almeida admits to still responding to questions with the words of her mentor Dr. Marie M. Clay. The commitment and desire Clay instilled in all of her students is what Almeida expects will keep the Reading Recovery Center at ISU alive.
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