West Elementary teacher learns to bridge the gap between languages
by Sara Sedlacek · October 15, 2008

Though she is one of four Reading Recovery teachers at West Elementary, Marciana Tharp has always had a different teaching style than her counterparts. That’s because Marciana is the only Reading Recovery teacher who teaches in Spanish.

“In 2001, the [West Liberty Community School District] hired me as a Spanish special reading teacher,” Marciana explained. “I took classes for Reading Recovery but didn’t actually become a Reading Recovery teacher because I was teaching in Spanish. I took Reading Recovery and put it into Spanish.”

And she did this all on her own, until now. For 20 years, teachers in Arizona, Texas and Illinois have used Descubriendo La Lectura (DLL). DLL is Reading Recovery, which is early intervention with the lowest level first grade readers, in Spanish. Last year, Marciana and the WLCSD found out about DLL. So did State Representative Jeff Kaufmann (R-Wilton).

“When I heard about the program, I immediately thought of West Liberty,” said Kaufmann. “I contacted the school and they already knew about the program. They already had Marciana in mind for it.”

After a few conversations about DLL, Kaufmann said the rest was a no-brainer. He, along with State Representative Vickie Lensing (D-Iowa City), introduced an amendment to a bill to teach kids Reading Recovery. The amendment was for five grant programs around the state to train teachers to teach DLL. Marciana was the only teacher in Iowa to apply for the grant.

“West Liberty has always been leading the way,” said Kaufmann. “They may as well continue leading the way.”

The grant, which was funded through the Iowa Department of Education, provided the district with up to $15,000 to send Marciana to Texas.

“Anytime anyone is gone, my daughter says, ‘Texas?’” said Marciana.

Marciana left her two-year old and infant with her husband, Bill, for two weeks while she attended a two-week long workshop at Texas Women’s University in Denton, Texas.

“It was a sacrifice but it was for the good of our students,” she said.

According to Marciana, the course, called the Bridging Institute, gave her more than just extra training.

“There was always something missing. There are differences in teaching Spanish, like language structure. There is code switching and the phonetics are different,” Marciana, who grew up in a bilingual household, explained. “When I went to Texas I got confirmation that what I was doing was right.”

She also became part of a small family.

“Thank God this has come up. Sometimes I feel a little alone because I belong to the Reading Recovery teachers and the Dual Language teachers. Nobody else does both,” she said. “It’s great to be part of this network. I can send an e-mail out and get an answer right away.”

She continued, praising the man who helped her.

“I owe a big thanks to Jeff Kaufmann,” she said. “This is the first time it’s been brought to Iowa.”

Kaufmann said with DLL, everybody wins.

“This keeps West Liberty on the cutting edge, this will produce a better student and it’ll save the taxpayers money. The more early intervention, the better students, better readers we’ll have and the more productive members of society we’ll have,” he said. Kaufmann added, “West Liberty takes second place to no one. I wonder if the citizens know how out in front West Liberty is. It’s known at the state level.”

Kaufmann also said he’s confident that, if Iowa is to only have one DLL teacher, there could be no better choice than Marciana.

“She’s like so many other teachers at West Liberty. Not only does West Liberty have good teachers, it has proactive teachers. They’re always looking for better ways to serve their students. I have no doubt she’ll be one of the better lead teachers,” Kaufmann said. He added, “Every dime the state puts in to ESL and ELL is that much less that comes from property taxes. Not only is supporting these programs just the right thing to do, it’s fiscally the right thing to do. Supporting this was a no-brainer on every level.”

Marciana will continue to do professional development with DLL instructors. This includes workshops and training sessions in Illinois and a visit from Dr. Yvonne Rodriguez from Texas Women’s University. Marciana will undergo a year of training before the program may be implemented in the school. Once it is Marciana and West Elementary will be the only teacher and school in Iowa to teach DLL.

“This school district really has invested in Reading Recovery,” Marciana said. “Sally Forbes, a Reading Recovery leader, said you need to be trained to really service our children the best we can. This is just a really great opportunity.”