It is hard to believe PME 843: Effective Intervention has come to an end already. This course has truly been one of the most enjoyable yet meaningful courses I have taken so far in my PME journey. It has allowed me to gain an understanding of the various exceptionalities in literacy and ways in which we can support these exceptionalities through effective intervention strategies. Throughout this course I have kept a research reflection journal, noting connections made throughout our readings. Please see my reflections on my website: https://chelseyabrahamson.weebly.com
Looking back through the modules, it is amazing the amount of information we covered in such a short time. Module 1 focused largely on the brain and cognitive processing. Sometimes in the classroom, I get so caught up in the teaching that I end up forgetting about the learning. What is going on in students’ brains when I am explaining something new? When we teach a thorough and explicit lesson, it can be frustrating when students still do not understand the concept. Teachers must consider the students’ working memories and realize working memory does have a capacity. Teacher need students to strengthen their working memory, their ability to store information into long-term memory. I will use this information regarding the brain and memory to expand my understanding of learning exceptionalities. Before this course I would not have considered a struggling decoder to have a literacy exceptionality. I would recognize this student as struggling or challenged but I do not believe I would have used the term exceptionality. I now realize that literacy exceptionalities come in many shapes and sizes and all for different reasons. Two students with ADHD or Dyslexia, for example, may exhibit different behaviours and their exceptionality may be caused by different factors. Some behaviours, such as poor phonological awareness or lack of attention, are more common than others. Through intensive instruction, progress monitoring, and assessment the teacher must determine the exceptionality and implement strategies to support these students. It was interesting to me to learn about exceptionalities I have not personally experienced in my classroom. I have not yet had the opportunity to work with a dyslexic student or a English Language Learner (ELL). As a result, it was difficult for me to connect these research articles to my professional practice. However, through readings and reflections I believe I have developed an understanding of these exceptionalities and have a few intervention strategies in mind to support their literacy needs. One thing I will keep in mind as we move forward is that an exceptionality does not define overall intelligence. Students with learning exceptionalities are still capable of achieving success in the classroom. These students require the support of a high-quality classroom teacher and effective intervention strategies. Perhaps my favourite module for this course was Module 4: Response to Intervention. The IRIS Center website and overall RTI Framework outlined what an effective literacy block should look like. Students with literacy exceptionalities should not be taken out during the reading block, but instead during specials or Social Studies/Science. This is one change I have made to my practice since September. At the beginning of the year, my struggling decoders would meet with me in a small-group centre and then leave during the independent station for their Tier 2 Intervention (we call it Reading Club). Since exploring the RTI framework, we have now changed their Reading Club intervention to a time in the afternoon so these students can participate in the full classroom literacy block. I also enjoyed reading about the RTI framework as it puts such a strong emphasis on the classroom teacher. I was reminded that an effective, high-quality classroom teacher is the most important factor for students who struggle with literacy. I want to help students learn to read and the best way I can do that is together in our classroom. Executive skills were focused on in another meaningful module. Executive skills allow us to plan and organize activities and manage the time needed to complete a task or reach our goal. When students have strong executive skills, they can manage multiple assignments with different requirements and due dates. To help students develop their executive skills, teachers can utilize class schedules, organize supplies, explain tasks one step at a time, and provide picture queues along with instructions. These are strategies I am currently using in my Grade 1 classroom to help my students manage their bodies, time, and materials. Students may also need help managing their emotions. Self-regulation is the ability to calm oneself and and stay in a “ready-to-learn” zone. We cannot expect students to learn if they are unsettled and unregulated. To help students develop self-regulation skills, teachers may need to act as the brain. Teachers can model self-regulating activities such as deep breathing or they can explicitly tell students to squeeze a stress ball in a quiet corner for one minute. Students must develop these skills to adjust their mood, energy, and emotions along with the various activities done throughout the school day. Throughout these modules and our final group project, there are a few strategies that stand out to me as necessary for effective intervention. Students need explicit, high-quality classroom instruction, school-wide use of the RTI framework (especially small group instruction within the classroom), and a safe, supportive environment. Teachers should not overlook the setup of their classroom and how they interact with students throughout the day. I truly believe teachers are able to make a difference in the lives and learning experience of all students. I leave this course inspired to help my students gain the literacy skills necessary for future success. Thank you, it has been a pleasure taking this course with you. All the best, Chelsey Abrahamson
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Collaboration to me has always been a scary word. It brings back visions of high school and university group projects where one person does all the work and actual collaboration is minimal. However, since starting my PME journey 18 months ago, I have found collaboration to be completely different.
My group finalized our effective intervention project today after our fourth Google Hangouts meeting. I found this project to be very exciting yet challenging. My group consisted of myself in Manitoba, Moira in Alberta, and Breanne in Egypt! The different locations and time zones required us to find a time to meet online when it wasn’t 3 in the morning for Breanne or during teaching time for Moira and myself. We found Saturday - 11:30 for me, 10:30 for Moira, and 6:30 PM for Breanne worked the best. We decided to create a Google Doc to share our ideas and build our project. We also video chatted through Google Hangouts and communicated frequently through Gmail. Our meetings were very efficient, usually about an hour and a half long. We were able to delegate tasks, share ideas, and build off of one another’s thoughts. All group members were engaged and 100% committed to the assignment. We shared responsibilities, thoroughly discussed ideas, and worked together to create a well-written finished product. There were still days where I felt nervous that pieces of the assignment wouldn’t get completed. The assignment was worth 35% of our final mark and we are trusting one another to do our best work and meet group deadlines so we can move forward together. For this assignment, my nervousness was not justified. Moira and Breanne were fantastic partners. I am truly grateful for this positive group work experience. This assignment has me thinking about technology’s role in collaboration. I think back to teaching 50 years ago. Teachers would have to rely on their school colleagues, they would have limited means of reaching out to teachers around the world. Technology now allows us to discuss, question, and share ideas with teachers we may never get the chance to meet in person. It’s a pretty amazing thing! Collaboration is much more than group work. It is gaining new information and ideas from those around you. Collaboration requires thoughtful communication and the building of knowledge. I hope I never stop collaborating and continue to learn from others. Collaboration allows our ideas to grow and hopefully develop into something real. We had a Professional Development day this morning dedicated to understanding trauma in our students. Our elementary counsellor, Kerrilyn Behrman, gave an outstanding presentation on the affects of trauma on the brain and behaviour of students. Kerrilyn received her masters recently in counselling focusing on play therapy. I feel as though her timing could not have been any better. This topic fits in perfectly with our readings this week on Self-Regulation. Kerrilyn began her presentation by explaining developmental trauma as any event leaving us feeling overwhelmed and distressed. This feeling of distress greatly affects how the brain grows in children. Kerrilyn focused on the brain stem, limbic brain, and prefrontal cortex. She explained that the brain builds from the bottom up, if you are in danger the bottom part of your brain takes over and you go into survival mode. For students who are feeling distressed and operating in survival mod, they can not do any higher order thinking until their emotions are regulated. Two parts of the limbic brain that we discussed are the amygdala and the hippocampus. Kerrilyn attempted to cover these topics in a way that teachers (and not brain researchers) could understand. She explained that the amygdala is in charge of our fight or flight decisions and our hippocampus stores our memories. When we look at students who have experienced trauma, they may display behavioural issues due to a silent or hidden trigger that affects their brain. For example, every time a student is yelled at at home they encounter physical abuse. The hippocampus holds the memory and connects yelling to hitting. At school, when the teacher yells (even if their yelling is directed at another student) that one student’s hippocampus remembers yelling = hitting and their amygdala decides fight or flight creating a behaviour issue in the classroom. As a grade one teacher, the topic of self-regulation is very interesting to me. Whether the child has been subject to trauma or not, every year I see at least one of my students struggling with ability to control their emotions and calm themselves down. This year is no different. I have one student who started the year with daily emotional outbursts. She has now limited these meltdowns to about once a week. Over the last two months I have tried to determine what her triggers are and how we can prevent the meltdowns from occurring. Through the use of scatter plots, we determined one of the biggest triggers to her outbursts was transition time. She was unable to adjust her mood and energy along with the activities. “Silent reading, group activities outdoor play, and eating lunch with friends all require different levels of arousal and pose different kinds of stress” (Tranter & Kerr, 2016). My student is currently working on responding to these changes in a more positive and emotionally controlled way. Kerrilyn touched on many of the same strategies that are discussed in the article by Tranter & Kerr, 2016. Stress looks different for every student. Some may display characteristics of hyperarousal while others experience hypoarousal. It will be difficult to identify the small stresses for each individual student which leads us into the importance of developing relationships and getting to know our students. “The more you know about the lives of your students, the more you can understand their behaviour” (Tranter & Kerr, 2016). Kerrilyn challenged us today to ask our one emotionally challenged student a question about themselves every day for the rest of the year. The questions are as simple as “how was your night?” or “what is your favourite game to play at home?”. She also suggested driving by their home, keeping professional boundaries in check, to gain a glimpse into their home life. Knowing our students and building relationships can help students overcome stress. They need to know there is one person who believes in them and they can trust. Another strategy discussed in the article and in Kerrilyn’s presentation is modelling self-regulation skills and actively teaching them in the classroom. After recess, we will often do five minutes of yoga or take ten deep breaths to cool off our imaginary cup of hot chocolate. I do these calming activities with them and talk about our brain and bodies needing to calm down to be ready to work. Students may not recognize their need to calm down and re-focus so it is up to the teacher to direct them when necessary. I will also try to use feeling words when my student is upset such as “I can see you are feeling very sad right now. Can you tell me what happened? What can we do to make you feel happy or less anxious?” We can’t always tell students to “use your words” when they are upset. Students may not have the words or ability to express how they are feeling. Kerrilyn has done so much for our school. She has started a Self-Regulation room (SRR) for students to go when they need to adjust their arousal levels or take a break from the classroom activity. Teachers may need to act as the external brain and send students there when they see unregulated behaviour developing. The goal is for students to identify when they need some regulation time instead of the teacher. I have attached a few pictures of our Self-Regulation Room. Kerrilyn has also taken the time to do four sessions with my students (and the other 1-4 classrooms) focusing on a growth mindset, the brain, and self-regulation. The final session was used to introduce a calm down kit that we have utilized in our classroom already. Parts of the kit include: - stress ball - yoga poses - colouring pages - playdough I truly believe that we have to take care of issues like emotion, stress, and even hunger before we can do any higher order thinking. Children will not be able to learn if their brain is focused on regulating and safety. Teachers must take the time to teach self-regulation strategies in their classroom before teaching academic concepts. References:
Winne, P. H. (2011). Cognitive and metacognitive analysis of self-regulated learning. In D. H. Schunk & B. Zimmerman (Eds.), Handbook of Self-Regulation of Learning and Performance (pp. 15–32). New York, NY: Routledge. Tranter, D. & Kerr, D. (2016). Understanding Self-Regulation: Why Stressed Students Struggle to Learn. What Works? Research into Practice Research monograph # 63 Literacy and Numeracy, Secretariat, Ontario. ELL stands for English Language Learner. These are students who do not speak English as their primary language. ELLs may be Canadian born or immigrants from another country. There are two types of language proficiencies displayed by ELLs as outlined in Capacity Building Series: Canadian-born English Language Learners (2013).
1. Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS): ELLs with BICS are able to interact socially and carry on conversation in a familiar setting. It may take ELLs around two years to develop these conversation skills. 2. Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP): ELLs with CALP utilize specialized vocabulary and functions of language common to the education system. They are able to understand academic and abstract content and can use low-frequency vocabulary in more complex sentences. This language proficiency takes between five and seven years to develop. Teachers should not mistaken a student’s BICS for CALP. Just because an ELL student appears to communicate well and participate socially does not mean they have the skills necessary for language skills in the classroom. It is important ELLs receive interventions and adaptations or modifications in the classroom to be successful. Some strategies teachers can utilize in the classroom to help support ELLs are: 1. Create a safe and welcoming classroom environment. Students should feel safe to use their first language without fear of being made fun of. ELLs should also feel comfortable participating in all classroom activities. A safe environment allows for the inclusion of student identity and use of first language whenever the opportunity presents itself. Teachers can provide instruction in english first and have opportunities for instruction in the student’s original language too. Teachers should display more pictures and visuals around they classroom. They may also utilize technology such as text-to-speech when necessary. 2. Work collaboratively with colleagues, past teachers, parents, and community resources. Together, teachers can make meaningful instructional decisions and set specific goals for specific students. By building off past knowledge, teachers can set goals to ensure their students are seeing progress in their language development. 3. Reading and Language Intervention. ELLs will likely require Tier 2 or 3 support for reading and language intervention. They should receive high quality classroom instruction that supports their individual needs. Classroom teachers may need to monitor their speech more regularly to avoid speaking too quickly, using slang, or sayings unfamiliar to ELL students. One area I found interesting is on ELLs’ ability to read. When entered into a Canadian school at a young age, “ELL learners often attain equivalent levels of reading and spelling achievement” (Lovett et al., 2008). I believe strongly in the importance of early education, the earlier we can introduce ELLs to english language the better. As I mentioned in my previous post, there is one ELL in the other grade one classroom this year. She moved to our community four years ago. She was enrolled in the Pre-K program for two years, completed kindergarten last year, and is excelling in first grade so far this fall. Her teacher explained to me that while she makes some grammatical errors, such as runned instead of ran, her phonological skills are equivalent to her English First Langauge (EFL) peers. I believe her early start in our school is a huge factor in her success. I am skeptical to believe her results would be the same if she entered our school in Grade 5, for example. My experience will ELLs is slim to none. As a first grade teacher I can envision life with an ELL student in my classroom. While being extremely challenging, and likely intimidating for the student, I believe these early years are the best time for ELLs. In grade one, all students are learning and reviewing letters, sounds, and language concepts. We are developing our phonological awareness and just beginning to learn how to read. There is a wide range of skills already in this first year of schooling even for EFLs. I worry about ELLs entering in the later years where students have already learned to read and are now reading to learn. For Canadian born ELLs this is likely less of an issue as they will enter school at the right age. However, for our immigrant ELLs there is no deciding when they will move and enter our school system. Teachers of all grade levels should be educated on ways to assist ELLs in their classroom. References: Lipka, O., Siegel, L. S., & Vukovic, R. (2005). The literacy skills of English language learners in Canada. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 20(1), 39-49. DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-5826.2005.00119.x Lovett, M. W., De Palma, M., Frijters, J., Steinbach, K., Temple, M., Benson, N., & Lacerenza, L. (2008). Interventions for reading difficulties: A comparison of response to intervention by ELL and EFL struggling readers. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 41(4), 333-352. DOI: 10.1177/0022219408317859 Applied: Ministry of Education (2013). Capacity Building Series: Canadian-born English Language Learners. Secretariat Special Edition #31. Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/CBS_CBELL.pdf I found the article created by the Ontario Ministry of Education to be interesting and concise in its information on Canadian-born English Language Learners (ELLs). I have not had the opportunity to work with an ELL in my classroom. There is one student in the other Grade 1 classroom who moved to our community from Asia four years ago. After reading this document, I am more intrigued to find out about her progress in the classroom next door.
Despite my limited involvement with English Language Learners, reading through the document I feel that the strategies outlined, while are specially meant to support ELLs, can be beneficial for all learners in the classroom. Explicit instruction, teaching word parts, focusing on phonological awareness, and more text exposure are strategies to support ELLs that will not hurt the average student. Incorporating these strategies will ensure students are receiving the high-quality classroom instruction they need. Separate intervention is not enough for ELLs, they must be exposed to a variety of effective practices in all of their classes. “Intervention effects quickly fade if regular classroom instruction does not extend and support language learning” (Capacity Building Series, 2013). Another area that this article got me thinking about is the need for more Indigenous materials in our Canadian schools. While none of my students speak Cree as their first language, it is an additional language that many families in the community are trying to engage in more frequently. The article discusses the need for inclusiveness and for students to “see themselves in the actual content of the classroom learning” (Capacity Building Series, 2013). I have tried to include Indigenous levelled readers in my classroom. While these books are still written in English, they are written about Indigenous characters and make references to Cree words such as regalia. I believe we have a duty to teach all students in our school in a safe, inclusive, and effective way. References: Ministry of Education (2013). Capacity Building Series: Canadian-born English Language Learners. Secretariat Special Edition #31. Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/CBS_CBELL.pdf I came across this quote on the Fountas & Pinnell Facebook page the other day. It really got me thinking about the RTI framework and the importance of Tier 1: high-quality classroom instruction. High-quality instruction refers to the methods, techniques, and lessons general, classroom teachers utilize when teaching the components of the school’s core reading program. High-quality instruction is important for all learners in the classroom. When high-quality instruction is implemented, teachers can rule out inadequate instruction as the reason for students’ poor reading performance. It allows for the exploration of other reasons/areas why students may be struggling. High-quality instruction should meet the needs of the majority of students in the classroom. When there is an over abundance of students needing Tier 2 support, we need to re-evaluate and examine what students and teachers could be missing during classroom instruction. Perhaps not enough time is spent on phonemic awareness skills or phonics activities. Maybe the teacher could incorporate more comprehension lessons and activities. Perhaps the small groups need to be changed. There are a number of reasons why students may require Tier 2 intervention but we first must ensure that Tier 1 is of the highest quality. As I read through the two Dawson and Guare (2010) chapters, I began reflecting on strategies to promote executive skills that I am currently using in my classroom. These chapters provided an overview of what executive skills are, how they are developed, and why they are important. They also provided teachers with a number of strategies and interventions to promote executive skills.
One intervention I use daily in grade one, for all of my students, is a class schedule. We move an arrow down the schedule as we complete tasks and transition to the next class. There is no more asking “when is home time” as they can see the jobs they need to work through before they get to go home. For individual students with poor executive functioning skills, I have created a person schedule on their desk with velcro. Instead of saying “math” their schedule will say “math journal”, “math talk”, “pattern work”. The steps of the overall math class are broken down into steps to help these students stay focused and motivated to complete assignments. I have also taken into consideration things such as where student supplies are placed, where they hand in work, and how we line up to leave the classroom. I don’t remember for sure but I assume these thoughts and routines were not well developed during my first teaching year. I have come a long way in learning about elementary children, their skills, and how I can assist them through their environment. One thing we started doing this year is called the “unicorn horn”. When we are working on a multi-step pencil task, I will get students to put their pencil to their forehead like a unicorn horn so I can see who is done and who is still working on that step. This prevents students from working ahead and allows me to see who may need some assistance. I am grateful for the strategies provided in the article and am proud of the interventions I am already using. It is important to consider how much control and guidance teachers use when acting as the frontal lobe. These executive skills and intervention strategies can work for a whole class and for individual students. Dawson, P., & Guare, R. (2010). Overview of executive skills. Executive skills in children and adolescents (2nd ed., pp. 1–11). New York, NY: Guilford Press. Dawson, P., & Guare, R. (2010). Interventions to promote executive skills. Executive skills in children and adolescents (2nd ed., pp. 49–74). New York, NY: Guilford Press. Over the last few weeks I have found myself constantly checking in on where I’m at on my assignments. We have three assignments due this month two of which are due only three days apart. The assignments and due dates are overlapping and I find myself starting a new one before the old one is complete. I am constantly checking in and evaluating my progress on each of the assignments. I have also been taking into account the grade percentage of each assignment. As I complete another reading on executive skills I think I’m on to Dee…
Executive skills allow us to plan and organize activities and manage the time needed to complete a task or reach our goal. When we have strong executive skills (like most of us at Queens!) we can manage multiple assignments with different requirements and due dates. I believe these three assignments are Dee’s secret way of getting us to utilize these high-level cognitive functions. Metacognition would be one of the executive skills I’ve been using during the last three modules. I am constantly stepping back and checking in on my progress. I have been editing papers and making necessary changes. I have also experienced feelings of pride for my ability to stay on task and organize my time and learning activities. Professionally, the executive skill I see students struggling with the most is emotional control or self-regulation. I have experienced many students in the last few years who have a difficult time managing their emotions which in turn impact their learning. My school has created a Self-Regulation Room (SRR) where teachers can send students who are needing some emotional support. Ideally, the SRR is used as a preventative measure, before the student has a melt-down but sometimes it is used after the fact to try to bring the student’s emotions under control. The article reminded me that while these skills begin to develop in early infancy, they do not fully form until late adolescence or early adulthood. It is not abnormal for my grade one students to struggle with self-regulation from time to time. It is important, however, for us to use strategies that will help form and strengthen the executive skill of emotional control. Reference: Dawson, P., & Guare, R. (2010). Overview of executive skills. Executive skills in children and adolescents (2nd ed., pp. 1–11). New York, NY: Guilford Press. Expert Classroom Instruction for Students with Reading Disabilities by Ruth Wharton-McDonald (2011) could very well be my favourite article assigned to read throughout my PME journey. I found the article concise, informative, and extremely motivating. I would like to dedicate this post to reflecting on my favourite quotes from the article.
1. An Effective Teacher “when struggling readers are matched with highly effective classroom teachers, their developmental trajectory can be altered” (Pg 265) “the most powerful intervention tool that schools have to offer students who struggle to read is the classroom teacher” (Pg 265) “the lowest-achieving students in classrooms with exemplary teachers achieved at the same level as the average students in classrooms with more typical teachers” (Pg 265) “apply their knowledge in providing learning experiences for their students is what makes them so effective” (Pg 268) “What differentiates the expert teacher from a less effective colleague is the ability to match the intervention to the individual student” (Pg 268) Now that Wharton-McDonald has clearly indicated the importance of exemplary teachers, I NEED to make sure I am being a highly effective classroom teacher. After celebrating our literacy success last year, I thanked our reading specialist and congratulated her on her hard work paying off. She quickly replied that the classroom teacher is the one who makes the biggest difference for our students. I thought she was just being modest and not wanting to take all of the credit. This reading has opened my eyes to see what an important role I truly play in the literacy success of our students. I believe I work incredibly hard at making our literacy block meaningful, engaging, and differentiated to all of my students. Through this article, I am reminded of the reason behind all of this hard work - our readers! It is also not enough to just know what to do, or recite what research says or identify literacy programs that are available. Effective teachers take this knowledge and apply it to the needs of their current students. My pet-peeve this year has been when a few of my colleagues are so focused on a specific reading program. They follow the steps of that particular program and refuse to integrate pieces or concepts from anything but that program. I have tried to explain that a program is simply a program. There are so many other pieces to literacy intervention that our students need that may not be contained within any program! 2. Differentiation “struggling readers, even those with identified disabilities, need dramatically different reading instruction from students who learn to read more easily.” (Pg 266) “use ongoing formative assessments to determine the specific needs of individual students and to ensure that students are neither overwhelmed by instruction that is too difficult or bored by instruction that is no longer needed” (Pg 268) “Expert teachers provide instruction that targets the particular skills needed by individual learners” (Pg 268) “any classroom in which all students are expected to read the same book will fail to successfully develop reading proficiencies in all students” (Pg 269) “individual students will enter with different understandings and backgrounds, learn in different ways, at different rates, and in the context of different social environments” (Pg 269) Differentiation ensures that each student is receiving the instruction, lessons, and supports that they need. When we use differentiation and small groups, teachers need to make sure the groups are flexible and dynamic, always changing based on the needs of the students. Effective teachers will provide unique and engaging instruction for their students based on their reading needs and what they are ready to learn next. 3. Explicit Instruction “Explicit instruction means that teachers teach skills and strategies clearly and directly.” (Pg 266) 2 Types of Scaffolding: 1) “a careful sequencing of sills so that concepts and skills build gradually upon a strong, coherent foundation” 2) “an on-going teacher-student dialogue that demonstrates directly to the child the kind of processing or thinking that must be done” I have definitely been guilty of assuming a student understood a concept more than they really did. Sometimes I feel as though I am repeating myself over-and-over, so many times that they must know what I mean. However, I now understand that students need explicit literacy instruction. It will not hurt strong readers to receive overly direct instruction and it is exactly what our struggling readers need. 4. Intense Instruction 1) Increase instructional time “more instruction, more time on task, and more opportunities to read” (Pg 267) “effective classroom teachers spend more time teaching - and their students spend more time engaged in instruction - in on-task behaviour” (Pg 267) 2) Decrease group size “provide instruction in small groups created to provide targeted instruction to particular groups of learners” (Pg 267) “students with reading disabilities benefit more from individualized time with an effective teacher” During this section I made many connections to the RTI framework studied in Module 4. RTI calls for extra support for struggling readers through the Tier 2 or 3 model. RTI does not indicate that students who struggle be removed from the class during literacy instruction or guided reading groups. These students need to be a part of the high-quality classroom literacy instruction AND receive additional instruction either in a small group or one-on-one. 5. Success & Motivation “when students experience success with a text, they are more likely to be motivated to sustain their effort and engagement” (Pg 269) “they need motivating learning environments that support ongoing engagement in learning” (Pg 270) Students want to work on things they are good at. They do not want to spend time and effort on things they believe they are bad at. If we can provide our students with differentiated material that is at their appropriate level, we can help build their confidence and overall motivation in reading. My goal is to build life-long readers, I want students to feel excited about reading and proud of the words they can recognize. If I can inspire my class to develop a love of reading, I will consider myself an effective teacher. Reference: Wharton-McDonald, R. (2011). Expert classroom instruction for students with reading disabilities: Explicit, intense, targeted … and flexible. In A. McGill-Franzen and R. L. Allington (Eds.). Handbook of reading disability research (pp. 265-272). New York, NY: Routledge. |
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November 2018
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