By Kathleen Brown

Dear Principals who support the Reading Recovery Community,

In honor of National Principals’ Month, the Reading Recovery Community wholeheartedly thanks you for supporting literacy teaching and learning for the most struggling readers and writers. 

Your guidance, leadership, and vision have helped grow and sustain literacy learning at your school sites and within your districts.

Your sense of urgency to intervene early is evident in your commitment to Reading Recovery and good first teaching in the primary grades.

Your fidelity to providing equal access for all students is commendable.

You helped strengthen the comprehensive literacy system at your sites by drawing on the strengths of the Reading Recovery teachers and utilizing them as coaches and staff developers.

Your participation and attendance at ongoing professional development sessions and help transporting students for the behind the glass lessons are appreciated and valued.

Your interest and involvement in understanding Reading Recovery data and utilizing the information to improve and refine instruction helps us better serve our students.

Your regular communication and collaboration with the Reading Recovery teachers and the literacy team make the teachers feel like their input is valued.

You regularly encourage our literacy team to work together to provide the best support systems for our students.

You serve as effective advocates and voices for the most struggling readers, their families, and caregivers. Thank you for being their literacy champions.

Many of your impactful contributions to Reading Recovery are listed above. However, while the little things or behind-the-scenes gestures may go unnoticed, they add up to something meaningful and beautiful. Please accept our deepest gratitude for…

• Having an open-door policy
• Finding humor and making things manageable during stressful times
• Being a good listener and being open-minded
• Believing in teachers and their heroic efforts
• Guiding and supporting us through the uncertainties of the Pandemic
• Taking the time to read with Reading Recovery students
• Providing books in your office and other places around the school for students to read and enjoy
• Acknowledging Reading Recovery students at award ceremonies and assemblies
• Purchasing books and materials for classroom instruction and Reading Recovery
• Securing funds for Reading Recovery teachers and classroom teachers to attend local, state, and national conferences, such as LitCon
• Calling parents to discuss the importance of attendance
• Supplying drinks and snacks at meetings
• Including news about Reading Recovery in weekly bulletins and staff meetings
• Stopping by to observe Reading Recovery lessons
• Protecting our Reading Recovery lesson time whenever possible
• Bringing visitors into the Reading Recovery room to observe the intervention in action
• Promoting the importance of literacy at the school site through various activities and events and including parents and the community

The list above shows countless acts of kindness, dedication, and commitment to effective intervention and good first teaching.

Thank you from the Reading Recovery Community and the Reading Recovery students, parents, and caregivers.

In closing, let us reflect on the imprint, influence, and impact you have on ensuring all students receive the gift of literacy and the love of learning.

“For everyone, everywhere, literacy is, along with education in general, a basic human right.” Kofi Annan

With Kids in Mind,
The Reading Recovery Community

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Kathleen Brown is a Retired Educator from the Long Beach Unified School District. She currently serves as the Secretary for the 2022 – 2023 Reading Recovery Council of North America Board of Trustees.

 

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