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A future teacher reflects on the power of strong literacy preparation
Kathleen Castillo-Clark
Category: Literacy
At the close of our first year of the Texas Early Literacy (TEL) Network, faculty from Angelo State University, Texas Southern University, Sul Ross State University, and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley came together to share the work they've been doing to strengthen how future teachers are prepared to teach reading. Across the convening, faculty highlighted refinements to coursework, shifts in their own practice and new ways of building practice-based opportunities that give candidates authentic opportunities to analyze student data and make evidenced based instructional decisions. One of the most powerful moments came from a teacher-candidate.
Taylor Sublett, a teacher-candidate at Angelo State University, stood in front of the room and described what this work looks like from the other side of the lectern—from inside the classes faculty have been refining all year.
Reflecting on her experience in Associate Professor Leah Carruth's "Reading Development in Elementary School" course, Sublett described an early field experience working with first-graders at a local charter school, assessing their reading levels, selecting texts, and planning lessons targeting phonemic awareness. She had encountered terms like segmenting, blending, encoding, and decoding before, but something was different this time:
"I could follow along, but I didn't yet have the deep understanding needed to teach those concepts to them myself… Through intentional instruction, modeling, practice, in-classroom experience and feedback, I began to understand how children actually learn to read and why strong early literacy instruction matters so much."
That shift, from exposure to understanding, is exactly what the TEL Network is designed to produce. It's the difference between a new teacher who has heard the right vocabulary and one who can actually teach a child to read.
Sublett was clear-eyed about what that preparation means for her future students:
"I learned that reading is not something that just happens naturally for a lot of students. It requires knowledgeable teachers who understand how to explicitly and effectively teach early literacy skills and know how to respond when students are struggling."
She went on to describe the kinds of questions her future first graders might ask her: "Why does the silent E make the vowel say its name?" "How do I know whether to use a 'c' or a 'ck'?" and noted that because of her preparation, she won't just know the answers. She'll know how to teach them.
Why this matters for the TEL Network
Perhaps the most moving part of Sublett's remarks was her message directly to the faculty in the room:
"The things that faculty members in this room teach future educators ripples outwards into hundreds and even thousands of classrooms and our students' lives…You aren't only teaching college students like myself, you're shaping future teachers who will then go out and shape future readers."
This is the theory of change behind the TEL Network made visible. When educator-preparation programs align their reading coursework to the science of reading, when faculty rework assignments, model evidence-based instruction, and build in meaningful field experiences, the impact doesn't stop with the syllabus. It reaches teacher-candidates like Sublett, and through them, the children they'll teach for the rest of their careers.
Year one of the TEL Network has been about laying that foundation: deepening faculty knowledge, refining coursework, and building a community of educator-preparation programs committed to getting this right. Sublett's reflection is an early signal that the work is landing where it matters most.
To the faculty doing this work: as Sublett put it, "your work does make a difference."
Listen to, and read, the full speech below.
Audio Transcript
About two semesters ago I was enrolled in Reading 335, which here is called Reading Development in Elementary School. It is one of Dr. Carruth’s classes. As part of that class, we had the opportunity to earn field experience hours at Texas Leadership Charter Academy, which is an elementary school here in San Angelo. Each of us there worked with two first graders. We assessed their reading level, we selected books for them to read and we planned lessons that were designed to strengthen their early literacy skills, specifically phonemic awareness.At the time I knew these assignments were important. However, I don't know if I fully understood how meaningful that experience would be for me as a future teacher. Before taking this class, I had had a little bit of exposure to early literacy instruction during my senior year of high school in a kindergarten classroom. I had heard terms like "segmenting," "blending," "encoding," and "decoding," and I had seen the teachers use these practices with the students and I had worked with some of them myself on these. But if I'm being honest, I don't know that I fully comprehended the why behind what we were doing. I could follow along, but I didn't yet have the deep understanding needed to teach those concepts to them myself.
However, that changed because of classes like Dr. Carruth. Through intentional instruction, modeling, practice, in classroom experience and feedback, I began to understand how children actually learn to read and why strong early links of instruction matters so much.
I learned that reading is not something that just happens naturally for a lot of students. It requires knowledgeable teachers who understand how to explicitly and effectively teach early literacy skills and know how to respond when students are struggling. Now, when I think about my future classroom, I feel more prepared in ways that I never would have been before. Someday I may have students ask me questions like, "Why does the silent E make the vow say its name?" Or, "How do I know whether to use a 'c' or a 'ck' in this word?" Or maybe even, "Why do these words sound different if they're spelled exactly the same?" Because of the preparation that I've received, I won't just know the answer to all their little questions, but I'll know how to teach the answers in a way that helps my students become confident and successful readers.
What I've realized is so powerful is that this knowledge doesn't just stop here with me and with the students, these early future teachers. The things that faculty members in this room teach future educators ripples outwards into hundreds and even thousands of classrooms and our students' lives. The assignments you guys create, the feedback you give, the way you model instruction and the expectations that you set do truly matter. You aren't only teaching college students like myself, you're shaping future teachers who will then go out and shape future readers. As a student, I can tell you that your work does make a difference. There are moments when we, myself included, don't even realize how much we're learning until we're standing in front of that first grader trying to help them learn to read a word for the very first time. In those moments, we definitely do lean on what our professors have taught us.
And because of faculty like you, future teachers like me will walk into our classrooms better prepared to help children succeed, not just academically, but in building confidence, opportunity, and a lifelong love of learning. So thank you for the work that you do. Thank you for investing in teacher preparation and early literacy and thank you for helping future educators like myself become the kinds of teachers that our students deserve. Thank you.
The Texas Early Literacy (TEL) Network is a collaborative of four Texas educator-preparation programs Angelo State University, Texas Southern University, Sul Ross State University, and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley facilitated by DFI to strengthen the preparation of new teachers to teach reading using proven, research-based methods. This network is funded by the Moody Foundation.