Claudine Townley's passion for reading and literacy stems from
her experience as a classroom teacher. An avid reader with an
English degree, she loved to teach kids about literature. She hit a
roadblock, however, when she discovered that some of her high
school students didn't even know how to read. She could teach kids
to interpret Romeo and Juliet, but she didn't know how to teach
reading from scratch.
"Kids need to read to be a success," Townley explains. "My job is to
teach them how."
When she decided to return to school after nine years of teaching,
she was nervous about being a student again. A wife, mother of
two, and a self-described over-achieving oldest child, she wanted a
program where she could work independently while maintaining her
routine.
A postcard and a couple of Internet searches connected her to
Capella University. The online learning environment was intriguing,
but the master's degree with a specialization in Reading and Literacy
was even more compelling.
Capella's program offered the kind of instruction she was looking for,
including daily contact with other learners and faculty. After her first
class, she remembers thinking, "Wow, I actually have more feedback
in an online setting than I ever did in a traditional classroom." The
combination of discussion postings, faculty feedback, and real-life
application made for a highly interactive experience.
"I feel like I learned more in the virtual environment because you
can't just sit in the back and hope to soak it up," she recalls. "You
have to participate."
Participation meant sharing her teaching experiences and applying
them to her course work. In return, she gained insight from her
classmates' experiences. "It was reassuring to know that educators
all across the country have similar issues and struggles," she said.
Not only did Townley gain advanced expertise in reading and
literacy at Capella, but her appreciation for the virtual classroom
helped her expand her career into online instruction. She now is a
curriculum specialist focusing on literature at Florida Virtual School,
an Internet-based public middle and high school.