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RRCNA Membership Spotlight: Amy Bates

Published On: September 2nd, 2022 | Categories: Latest News |

We are excited to announce the RRCNA Membership Spotlight, a new feature of the RRCNA Blog! Get to know your colleagues from across the country who do whatever it takes as part of the Reading Recovery Community.

For the first RRCNA Membership Spotlight, meet Amy Bates. Thank you for all you do, Amy!

How long have you been involved in Reading Recovery?

I have been teaching in Florida for 18 years and this is my 6th year as a Reading Recovery teacher. However, unbeknownst to me, Reading Recovery has been in my family for far longer. My husband grew up in New Zealand and was a Reading Recovery student when he was a young boy. His mum discovered his hand-written progress reports a few years ago and it was an absolute joy to read about the progress his teachers saw in him that year and beyond!

Of course I love watching my students grow and accelerate every day, but selfishly my favorite part is how much deeper my understanding of the literacy process is. I am more confident in observing student behaviors and growth. I am also so incredibly lucky to have a wonderful community of Teacher Leaders and teachers both in my school and across our district who are willing (and excited!) to analyze our teaching and our students’ learning. I learn something new every single day and am thankful to share these moments with my Reading Recovery team!

Call your Teacher Leader for help right away! They are a wealth of knowledge and are only there to help. Also, stay on top of your paperwork. If you do it all correctly from Day 1, you won’t have to unlearn any bad habits.

People see Reading Recovery as being on one side of the Reading Wars, but I don’t think it’s opposite to Structured Literacy at all. Reading Recovery is full of research-based, systematic, scientific, multisensory best practices. Our goal is to increase achievement of all students and we are flexible in our instruction in order for each individual child to make sense of the complex challenges of learning to read and write. I wish everyone understood Reading Recovery as an approach to teaching which can benefit all students by meeting them where they are and utilizing their strengths to accelerate learning.

Last year I was in the cafeteria when a new student asked who I was. At that point, one of the Reading Recovery students I had when schools shut down at the beginning of the pandemic informed him that I’m “the one who makes reading fun.” My student didn’t pick up reading easily and our lessons felt like a struggle to me many days, but two years on, all he can remember is the fun we had while reading. Even in the hardest of times, what we do makes a difference!

As a child I was a voracious reader, finishing every Nate the Great, Boxcar Children, and Babysitter’s Club book. The two books that stuck with me from my childhood are Alex: The Life of a Child by Frank DeFord and The Giver. I’ve returned to both many, many times as an adult. Some of my favorite Reading Recovery books are in the Gus series. The students get hooked by Gus and the kitten and want to keep coming back for more. I was also fortunate to take my own children to see Joy Cowley as the guest author during a story time at a library in Wellington, New Zealand several years ago. Hearing her read her own books was an absolute joy so she holds a special place in my heart!

I love spending time with my family, whether adventuring across town or to the other side of the world. I run every day, either sharing stories with running buddies or listening to podcasts. I also think my job is incredibly fun thanks to the children and adults I share my home-away-from-home with. :)

Do you have a coworker you can always count on or a mentor who inspires you? Nominate them to be featured as a Membership Spotlight today. RRNCA is also currently accepting blog ideas. From tips for starting the school year to sharing what Reading Recovery means to you, you can earn $100 by writing a blog!