That's part of their development. Mrs. Montgomery learns these lessons every Wednesday night through a distance-learning course produced and broadcast live from RISE Learning Solutions studios in Woodlawn. Reading is a college-level course de signed to help early childhood teachers get students ready to read. A joint project with the National Head Start Association, the Council for Professional Recognition and RISE, the class reaches more than 7,000 Head Start and early childhood teachers in 35 states. Reading course uses on-air faculty, early childhood experts and video clips to illustrate points, along with extra materials on the Internet.
Students take the class at downlink centers, where they work with a trained facilitator.
Call-in times allow students to question the experts. Such touches help keep you interested Mrs. Montgomery said. A recent class focused on assessment, and how teachers can analyze what students know. On-air experts Jerlean Daniel, of the University of Pittsburgh, and Deb Leong, of Metropolitan State University in Colorado, discussed the differences between formal and ongoing assessments. We don't remember what it was like to learn to read, Ms. Leong said.