Head Start teacher Taunya Montgomery knows this: Literacy is not just reading. It's students scribbling on a piece of paper. It's a child pretending to read a story to a favorite stuffed animal. It's babies chewing on the corner of a book.

        “Parents come in sometimes and say their child is not writing his name yet, he's just scribbling. But that's OK,” said Mrs. Montgomery, who works with 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds at the Head Start classroom at Harrison Elementary School.

        “When we get the children at this age, some can write their names and some can only do a few letters from their names,” she said. “That's part of their development.”

        Mrs. Montgomery learns these lessons every Wednesday night through a distance-learning course produced and broadcast live from RISE Learning Solutions studios in Woodlawn.

        HeadsUp! Reading is a college-level course de signed to help early childhood teachers get students ready to read. A joint project with the National Head Start Association, the Council for Professional Recognition and RISE, the class reaches more than 7,000 Head Start and early childhood teachers in 35 states.

        Rooted in research about how children learn to read and write, theHeads- Up! Reading course uses on-air faculty, early childhood experts and video clips to illustrate points, along with extra materials on the Internet.

        The classes revolve around specific ways to use the five gateways to literacy: playing, reading, talking, writing and learning reading's code — the alphabet and its sounds.

        Students take the class at “downlink” centers, where they work with a trained facilitator. Call-in times allow students to question the experts.

        Such touches “help keep you interested” Mrs. Montgomery said.

        A recent class focused on assessment, and how teachers can analyze what students know.

        On-air experts Jerlean Daniel, of the University of Pittsburgh, and Deb Leong, of Metropolitan State University in Colorado, discussed the differences between formal and ongoing assessments.

        “We don't remember what it was like to learn to read,” Ms. Leong said. That's why, she said, it's important for adults to understand the skills children need.

        Debra Pinger, RISE president, calls HeadsUp! Reading a “high-tech, high-touch” method of learning.

        The reading classes enable large numbers of teachers to improve their skills, something the federal government will require. By 2003, half of all Head Start teachers must have at least an associate's degree.

        Peggy Rapach, Hamilton County Head Start's family literacy and transition coordinator, said the program's new emphasis on reading is also tied to the Ohio Proficiency Tests.

        “The children have to pass that reading section,” she said. “It's trickling down to us.”

        And so nearly every activity has a literacy bent.

        Children arrive for class at the Harrison center and find their names on cards placed in a circle on the floor. Mrs. Montgomery picks names out of a bag to assign children jobs for the day.

        She asks them to tell her if she picked a boy or girl, and whose name it is.

        China Powell, 4, recognizes 4- year-old Zachary Cruze's name right away. “Zachary, Zachary, Zach!” she shouts out.

        When Caleb Kessler, 4, sees his name pulled from the bag, he expresses disappointment at the job he's been assigned: “Soap helper again?”

        Mrs. Montgomery, who earned an associate's degree last year, said she wanted to learn more about preparing children to read and write.

        “I go to class on Wednesday nights and the next day I come in and do something different, based on what I learned,” Mrs. Montgomery said.

        She's made lots of changes to her classroom. The writing and reading area is now as large as the block and play areas.

        Now students find books about counting near the math area. There are books about colors in the play area. Recipe books and magazines adorn the house play section of the room.

        Mrs. Montgomery put paper and pencils in the block area, to encourage students to write while playing.

        And she bought a writing desk, with cubbyholes for paper and envelopes, through a grant the county Head Start program received from the Department of Education.

        Head Start teachers still offer the more traditional storybook time, only now students are encouraged to participate.

        “I ask them to help me read, especially with a book we've read before,” Mrs. Montgomery said. “It's memory, but they can read it. That's reading.”

RECOMMENDATIONS

               HeadsUp! Reading classes follow widely accepted recommendations from the National Association for the Education of Young Children. The group suggests that students be able to do the following before entering kindergarten:

        • Recognize print in the environment.

        • Distinguish separate words.

        • Recognize rhyming words.

        • Know some letter names and shapes, including letters in the child's name.

        • Begin to demonstrate reading-like behaviors, such as pretending to read and write.

        • Begin to demonstrate understanding of picture books and simple stories.

        • Retell stories, make predictions and connect stories to background experiences in a teacher-guided group format.

        HeadsUp! Reading is funded by the Carnegie Corp. of New York, the Heinz Endowments, the states of Ohio and Nebraska, Cincinnati's KnowledgeWorks Foundation and the California Children and Families Commission.

        For information, contact www.huronline.org.

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