Module 8 Video Response

Reading Recovery is a research based early intervention program for struggling readers. Students work with a trained teacher one-on-one for 30 minutes daily. In approximately 12-20 weeks the struggling readers read on grade level. Reading Recovery teachers have a full year of training before interacting with students. The teachers also have the opportunity to sit in on a lesson behind a one way mirror and see what works. Students that work with the Reading Recovery program have had great success and go from struggling readers to successful readers.

Module 8 PowerPoint Response

Factors Involved in Reading and Writing Difficulties

As teachers we want our students to succeed in reading because it is the foundation for all other content areas. The PowerPoint pointed out that there are many different contributing factors for a struggling reader and writer. Visual processing can play a large part in why some students may struggle with reading. For example, a student may mix up the letters "b" and "d" because of their similar shapes. If a student is presented with the word "dad" and says "bad"they are struggling with letters of mirror images. The physical health factors can definitely play a part with struggling readers. I had the opportunity to witness this first hand during my student teaching experience. Many of the students lived in poverty, or what would be considered poverty. These factors contributed to many of their problems academically and behaviorally. 3 of 19 students in my class were on or above grade level in reading. One parent in my class was very involved in her daughter's academics and constantly put pressure on her to perform well on all assignments and tests. The student felt so much pressure she often acted out negatively in class for attention. Like the PowerPoint says, "It is important for the parent to be involved in their child's studies, but they should also be supportive and not overbearing."I believe all of the factors listed on the PowerPoint are things we should take into consideration when working with students that are struggling with reading and writing and try to determine the steps we can take to fix those problems. By using the proper strategies and working with parents, we can ensure our students become stronger readers.

Module 7 Video Response

Success for All is a professional development program offered for many Title 1 schools or schools that may be struggling to meet AYP. This particular program was considered for the school I student taught at several years ago when they failed to meet AYP two years in a row. A facilitator is placed within the school to provide feedback and improve the quality of implementation with the teachers. Success for All works with many schools here in Atlanta as well as 1,000 schools in 47 states. I really liked that Robert Slavin said that they want people to want to do this and they require a 75% vote to implement this program. The teachers are given the information and allowed to vote by secret ballot. I think it's a great idea that allows teacher to see if this program will work best for them and their students. I like that the facilitators work with the teachers to find out what implementation will work best for the students.

Module 7 PowerPoint Responses

Perspectives of the Learning Process PowerPoint




Determining a student's perspective about reading and writing is very important. It allows the teacher to assess what skills the learner would like to know and already knows. Knowing what a student would like to learn will ultimately help him/her to become a better, strong reader. This can be done informally, without an interview, which put less pressure on the student. The PowerPoint mentioned allowing the student to set goals for themselves. I think this is a great idea. When the reader determines their own goals they have an end target in mind and will worker harder to achieve that goal.




Comprehension Evidence and Strategies PowerPoint




While reading through the PowerPoint I noticed the slide about Best Practices for Comprehension Instruction (Slide #10). I noticed that I used many of those strategies with my tutee during our one-on-one tutoring and saw great results with them. "Jay", my tutee, struggled with comprehension, so we focused a large majority of our time to improve his comprehension skills. Throughout the tutoring process I used questioning a lot in hopes that Jay would learn that good readers ask questions. We used predicting questions similar like the ones on the PowerPoint like, "What do you think might happen next? What are the clues?" and "Is this making sense to me?" We also worked on summarizing, inferring, and visualizing improving his comprehension. The PowerPoint provides excellent examples of what to look for when assessing a student and tips to include while working with students. I found that I used many of these strategies in my tutoring process and saw great growth in Jay's reading abilities.


9 Best Practices PowerPoint




Without realizing it, I have used many of the 9 Best Practices strategies with my students before. One of the most common strategies I used was Identifying Similarities and Differences. Often time I would have my students find similarities and differences and have a discussion with a partner or in a group. Typically I would model finding similarities and differences with a Venn diagram during our whole group time. I used Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition with my tutee Jay quite often. My goal for using it was to have him know he was succeeding and build his confidence since he struggled with self-confidence. Another Best Practices strategy I have used before is Cooperative Learning. My students frequently worked in groups or with partners. They were able to collaborate with one another, work on social skills, and receive feedback from other students. I always stressed that one person should not just give out the answers; it was everyone's job to learn and participate. There was usually a participation grade (given by their peers) from these assignments. My students loved graphic organizers. I always had them available whenever students would work on writing and other subjects. My students worked best when they were able to organize their thoughts easily and quickly and be able to refer back to them when necessary. Jay and I were constantly setting goals for him while we worked on his reading. Initially he was hesitant to be included in the process, but eventually he warmed up to it. He also responded very well to the feedback and gave me feedback as well. Having students provide feedback is a great way for teacher's to assess what is working and what students like and make the appropriate accommodations.

Module 6: PowerPoint Responses

Reading Strategies PowerPoint

Using think alouds, word walls, anticipation guides, and KWL charts are all things I’ve used with my primary grade level students and have seen great results with. These strategies can be developed further to work with students in upper grade levels as well and the PowerPoint provided some great strategies to do this. WORDO was something I had never heard of before, but it seems like it could be very beneficial to students, especially by making it harder and calling out the definition. It’s a great way to improve a student’s vocabulary! Many of the strategies, like RAFT, in the PowerPoint incorporated writing with reading, which is critical and helps a reader to develop. PIC and 3-2-1 Summarizing would be great to use with a guided reading group. This PowerPoint would have been a big help when I worked with several students that were reading well beyond their grade level during my student teaching. I cannot wait to use some of these strategies with my next class.

Assessment of Cognitive, School, and Home Factors PowerPoint

I’ve never heard of the majority of the tests in this PowerPoint before. Although now I understand how each test works and has it’s own positives and negatives. The Assessment of Capacity intelligence test is the only one I have heard of before reading the PowerPoint. I did like how it said, “low test scores cause students to have low expectations of themselves.” I’ve seen this happen with many of my students. They become discouraged with themselves because of a low test grade. I also didn’t know this test didn’t measure problem solving skills. The Wechsler Scales test seems to measure a large variety of things including: vocabulary, comprehension, reasoning, sequencing, memory, and speed. Of all of the tests I read about it seems to provide the assessor with the most information. I also liked the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. I’ve worked with many students that are shy and this would have been excellent to use with them, as well as ESOL students.

Differentiated Instruction Video PowerPoint

Differentiated instruction can seem difficult at first, but it is so beneficial to our students. It meets their needs on their instructional level while still teaching the required content. It’s not “dumbing down” the content, but rather developing challenging tasks for a wide variety of learners. Ultimately, using differentiated instruction will provide teachers with the opportunity to have a student centered classroom in which the teacher is able to scaffold the material for the students.

Module 6: Response to Videos

"Why I Flipped My Classroom" Video

Flipping a classroom sounds so interesting to me. I was introduced to the topic at the beginning of the summer when another student mentioned studying the effects of flipping a classroom for her Action Research project. Until that point I had never heard anything about it, but it seems much more effective than traditional teaching. I love the idea that it is motivated by the students and allows them to work at their own pace to learn the content and allows for more differentiation. I do have a few concerns about it though, the teacher in the video mentioned she makes videos for the students to watch outside of the classroom. This would have presented a problem with students I worked with in student teaching. The majority of them did not have Internet access at home, or even a computer. While they could use computers at public libraries, some students' parents schedules barely allowed for time at home with their child, let alone take them to the library to work on schoolwork. I think flipping a classroom has many positives for students, but in lower income areas there could be some negatives.

"Using Assessment to Improve Instruction" Video
This video talked about the importance of using assessment to build upon instruction. One thing the video mentioned is that as teachers we may be assessing our students just by simply doing what we consider to be, "good teaching." Using assignments and classroom work to assess students can provide the teacher with accurate understanding of how well a student is understanding and allows them to apply the content they are learning. Feedback is also very important from both the students and the teacher.

Module 6: Response to Reading

In chapter 14 we learn about working with parents. I've had the opportunity to observe and work in both a school with little to no parent involvement and a school with a ton of parent support. From my experiences I have found I enjoy having parents involved in the classroom and keeping the communication between the parents and teacher as open as possible. One classroom I had the opportunity to work in had multiple parent volunteers that took turns in helping with guided reading groups. The teacher developed the plans and when the parent volunteer came in she handed over the plans and had that group work with the parent while she worked with another group. During my student teaching, my CT and I never had a parent volunteer set foot in our classroom the entire semester. In fact, a large part of the parents missed their conference for parent/teacher conferences. In my experience I have come to believe that the support each student has at home is a factor in their achievement at school. One of the examples the text provided was the Family Literacy Project. I've heard great things about it, although I've never tried it, I think it would be beneficial to try in a classroom with little parent involvement. The text also provided another great suggestion for parents to use, captioned television. It's a great way to use television to improve students' reading. Not only are they seeing the words in print, but they are also hearing the fluency and tone from the speaker. If the teachers and parents work together, students can become more successful in all content areas.