Reading into UCI program

Michael Miller

Most teachers discourage drawing comics in class. Elizabeth Whitney

encourages it -- so long as it involves similes and metaphors.

Whitney, a sixth-grade teacher at Hutchinson Middle School in La

Mirada, uses a special technique when teaching figurative language to

her English students: She has them illustrate phrases in comic book

form.

Now, as a charter member of UC Irvine Extension’s new Reading

Certificate Program, Whitney plans to spread her strategy to public

school teachers around Orange County.

“I think teachers need to experience themselves what they’re going

to teach to students,” Whitney said. “Who dares to teach must never

cease to learn.”

Whitney is among the instructors, all with kindergarten through

12th-grade and university experience, slated to teach in the Reading

Certificate Program when it begins this summer. UCI recently got

state approval for the 180-hour training program, in which teachers

from local districts will fulfill the first half of the courses

required to be a state-certified Reading and Language Arts

Specialist. UCI Extension does not currently offer the second half of

the required courses, but officials expect to add it in the future.

The Reading Certificate Program, which will be offered on-site at

individual districts, consists of five courses covering different

reading and teaching methods. Participants in the courses will learn

how to develop fluent readers and place reading assignments in a

sociocultural context -- a unit targeted particularly at schools with

a high number of English-learner students. At the end of the program,

participating teachers will use the material in a classroom setting

with students.

“We want to be able to tailor our program to the specific needs of

the school district,” said Morgan Appel, the director of education

programs for UCI Extension. “Orange County is a very diverse place

and we want to accommodate geographical issues and language issues

for each school.”

The probable start date of the program, Appel said, is in July.

UCI Extension plans to offer the courses all year. Any district in

Orange County is eligible for the program, although so far, only the

Anaheim City School District has expressed interest.

Diane Shimoda, the president of the Orange County Reading Assn.

and an Anaheim City School District official, is among the

instructors for the extension program. She said the literacy

volunteers at her district are distributing Reading Certificate

Program fliers to all 23 schools to determine interest among faculty.

“Their objective in going into this is that they would get their

reading certificate,” Shimoda said. “If they’re teachers who need to

move up in the pay scale, it would give them extra hours to do it.”

* MICHAEL MILLER covers education and may be reached at (714)

966-4617 or by e-mail at [email protected].