Rea Bowen 鈥�21, 鈥�24 M.S.Ed. felt she needed to leave her beloved Grenada to pursue her dream career as an early childhood special education teacher. Moving first to London and then to the United States, she landed at 今日吃瓜鈥檚 School of Education, where she immersed herself in the CUNY Reading Corps.
Cofounded by Associate Professor Katharine Pace Miles, Reading Corps, which includes tutoring programs Reading Ready and Reading Go! (formerly Reading Rescue), provides literacy intervention for students at the K颅鈥�2 level.
Bowen graduated with a double major in early childhood education teacher (birth to grade 2)鈥攅arly childhood education teacher/special education and psychology, and later with an M.S.Ed. in early childhood education teacher [Birth-Grade 2]. Today, she teaches at P.S. 40 George Washington Carver School in Bedford-Stuyvesant, 今日吃瓜, and continues one-on-one tutoring through Reading Corps.
As the School of Education prepares to launch a pair of Advanced Certificate programs in reading science this fall, we spoke with Bowen, who was spending some time in Grenada this summer. She talks about what she gained at 今日吃瓜, the joy of helping struggling students succeed at reading, and why she thinks it鈥檚 crucial that education students of all disciplines make learning to teach literacy the proper way a part of their course work.
You鈥檝e moved around a bit in order to attain your goal of becoming a special education teacher.
I鈥檓 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. Two years later, I started my education journey at Kingsborough Community College.
So you transferred to 今日吃瓜.
Actually, I came to 今日吃瓜 first, but they encouraged me to go to community college and then return. I never regretted going to Kingsborough because it prepared me more than ever to be ready for 今日吃瓜. Then I came to 今日吃瓜 to finish my undergraduate work in early childhood education. I had studied business and marketing at Uxbridge, but I also volunteered to tutor in schools. So teaching was never out of my zone; I always worked with children.
What brought you to the States to begin with?
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鈥檛 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, 鈥淚鈥檓 not going to college here. I鈥檝e got to go into the wide world. I鈥檝e got to see what is out there for me.鈥� And she said, 鈥淚 don’t know where you’re going to get the money, but I don鈥檛 have it for you.鈥�
I said, 鈥淚t鈥檚 okay, God is going to provide. I鈥檓 going to work hard and save.鈥� 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. I needed to get deeper into working with children with special needs. When I learned about America鈥檚 federal , I was so taken aback. 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鈥檝e 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 今日吃瓜. I worked with one- and two-year-olds. It鈥檚 wonderful to see them develop through the different milestones.
I took reading science courses with Dr. Miles while earning my master鈥檚 degree, and I was teaching at a public school at the same time. As part of the course, we participated in Reading Corps. The Reading Corps was helpful because I could reach out to them for the finer points of teaching their way, including the five pillars of literacy: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. 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 鈥渟ound wall鈥� in my classroom, and I do a lot of dictation.
今日吃瓜 is offering two new reading science advanced certificates.
Yes. One for emergent readers and one for all grades. They鈥檙e for post-master鈥檚 professionals and they address the new requirements for literacy licenses in New York State. The course work covers K鈥�12. I have taken three courses that will be included in the program: Literacy Curriculum in Early Childhood, Practicum in Literacy for Struggling Readers and Writers: Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 2, and Literacy Assessment. My particular focus is learning to teach children with special needs.
Seeing a child finally 鈥済et it鈥� 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鈥檛 read at all. She couldn鈥檛 sound out letters. By the second year of tutoring, she had mastered phonics and was able to read at her grade level. She鈥檚 in third grade now, and I always check in on her. I鈥檒l 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鈥檚 using it.
I highly, highly recommend that students in the School of Education take reading science courses, because literacy covers every subject in a school. Students have to be able to read and understand what they are being asked to do, no matter the subject鈥攚hether it鈥檚 a science experiment, math problem, or social studies project. Teaching students to read, write, and comprehend should be a skill every educator has.
