Page 25 - 2023-Mag_90-2

Personal Reflection/Anecdote

The Gift of Literacy: The Road to

Becoming a Reading Teacher

By Alethea E. Sumbry-Cetnarowski

The COVID environment that began in March 2020 had a drastic impact on the way schools functioned in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Daily instruction promptly moved from in-person to online learning. Technology
was the new vehicle to ensure that learning could continue. Schools in my district, Milwaukee Public
Schools, maintained online learning from March 2020 until April 2021. During this time, I continued
my role as the School Support Teacher/Interventionist, delivering 15-minute, online sessions to a second
grader in our virtual learning space. I also began a journey of personal and professional growth.

The Journey Begins
In that spring of 2020, the entire landscape of education was forever changed. So was I. In early June
2020, the end of the school year had finally arrived,
and I found myself sitting on my couch wondering if
I had done enough to help the second grader reach her
potential in reading. The answer was “yes” and “no.”
Yes, I had followed the necessary procedures to work
with her each day for 15 minutes, to check her progress
at the end of each week, and to document appropriate
data. To supplement her online learning, I had created
and mailed work bundles to her home each week. These
bundles included alphabet recognition tasks, decodable
readers, handwriting practice, word-family matching
games, and more. I helped her obtain a much needed
and highly anticipated special education diagnosis
and additional support in reading. But my answer was
also—No. I sensed I hadn’t exhausted all the strategies
and resources to prepare her for third grade work. When her diagnosis was determined, a fellow educator
told me that even though I followed procedures, my student was going to be a person who never could or
would read. I was in utter shock and awe. I logged off the online meeting and cried. After much thought
and a few additional online workshops during the summer of being “safer at home,” I began my quest to
become a licensed reading teacher.
How could I improve a future outcome for students like the one I had just encountered to ensure that
they had the necessary tools to succeed in reading? I researched coursework offerings and the timeline
that was necessary to complete the work. The reading teacher licensure program offered at Mount Mary
University was the perfect fit for me for several reasons. Mount Mary was close to home and school; it
was affordable; and I knew the school and professors from my previous studies as an undergraduate and
graduate student there years earlier. The university has an excellent reputation, and I have found much
success in my career as a result of my own education at Mount Mary. The reading teacher certification
would afford me the ability to better identify, understand, and provide quality instruction to struggling
readers in hopes of helping them close their achievement gaps. With my husband’s blessing and support,
I purchased materials and was again a registered graduate student.

Collegial Exchange · 23