Tori Harris

ELM-315
March 5, 2023
Carolyn Mann

Clinical Field Experience A: Practitioner Observation and

 Describe the reading needs and abilities of the students you typically teach in your
classroom.
- The youngsters' abilities range from extremely weak to highly adept. The needs are
great, and there are IEPs with ideas for modifications. There are requirements that
demand providing students extra time to complete activities, accommodations that
demand offering students reading assignments and assessments, and accommodations
that demand giving the student just half as much work as other students.
 Describe the relationship between cognitive processes and reading instruction and
discuss how you apply your knowledge of brain-based learning, the Science of
Reading, and Scarborough’s Reading Rope when designing instructional activities
for your students.
- The brain uses organizational, information storage, and comprehension abilities to
make reading simple and effortless. It is the teacher's role to identify any areas where a
student is having difficulty with these processes, to decide the best way to assist each
student to grow, and to create a reading program that will support each student's future
success.
 Explain some of the student engagement and instructional strategies you have used
to successfully meet the needs of students with exceptionalities, including dyslexia,
English language learners, above and below grade level readers, and reluctant,
struggling, and striving readers.
- Some of the children in the class have trouble with the words and sounding them out,
we utilize an iPad with reading assistance software put on it. All of the pupils'
Chromebooks are also pre-loaded with assisted reading software for those who need it.
I always make sure to check in with them during the lesson to see if they comprehend
the reading assignment and if they have any questions. For the dyslexic student in one
of my classes, I do have a class aide. She will support him one-on-one in each class he
enrolls in.
 Discuss the data you typically review and collect related to student literacy skills
and describe how you use this data as part of the instructional planning process.
- I regularly go through a list of sight words and evaluate pupils' fluency and
understanding using the Brigance assessment system. I have a scoring sheet for each
 pupil. After the individual evaluation, I am able to determine if my student is having
difficulty or making progress that is consistent with the standards for his or her age and
grade. I use this data to decide if the student should be transferred to a new reading
level or will benefit from remaining in their present reading group. I adapt my courses
to the different stages that each of my pupils is at. There are 25 kids in my second-hour
class right now, and they are split into three reading levels. One kid also works one-on-
one with a teacher, who supports him in reading at a lower level.
 Explain how you align your teaching to state standards to ensure students are
receiving instruction and support in all grade-level relevant areas of literacy.
- The lesson plans and curriculum we use already include state standards. The school just
got a new curriculum for the following academic year. If you teach each lesson in
accordance with the lesson plans, you will fulfill state requirements. The lesson plans
specify how each subject should be taught.
 Describe how you collaborate with special education and resource teachers as well
as a reading/literacy specialist to meet the needs of the students in your classroom.
- If necessary, I will set up a meeting with the special education teacher and the
reading/literacy expert to talk about possible solutions for a kid. I've been a teacher for
25 years, so I do not frequently need to enlist additional assistance. But if I feel like I'm
running out of options, I'll seek assistance and discuss the kids' skill sets and teaching
strategies to further assist them.
 Describe how you differentiate lessons and use a variety of instructional methods,
student grouping, informal and formal assessments, and a variety of reading
materials in your classroom to meet student needs.
 - When I differentiate courses, I give kids their own Google Classroom reading
comprehension lessons and put them in small groups so that we can work together on
phonemic awareness and fluency. In-depth reading classes function effectively because
there are just a few students in each group, and collaborating in small groups enables us
to make great progress. Also, the paraprofessionals who are called in to help work with
a small group, often work on vocabulary and understanding. We switch groups each
day, and we make carefully record how many times we see each group each week. We
have a plan that enables us to go to each group twice a week. We score them depending
on how much they have improved from the start of the week to the finish, and we have
a test day on Thursday. There are continuing evaluations. The two groups that are with
me and the paras complete verbal assessments, and the groups that are not with us take
traditional examinations, depending on where they are for that week. According to their
reading proficiency, the reading materials are once again prepared to utilize the
program we recently acquired this year. The program's strongest feature is its capacity
for self-grading. The program is excellent.
 Discuss the greatest challenges you face in teaching literacy skills and describe
how you use support resources, including technology, to overcome these
challenges.
- As I mentioned earlier, the self-grading nature of our program enables me to devote
more time to assisting the students. Being present for all of my students at all times
presents my greatest obstacle. Many of my students are simultaneously seeking
assistance. I track down that by placing in little clues into the programs as they come,
assisting understudies with managing their troublesome focus more simpler. When they
 aren't in my group or the paraprofessional’s group, I do have the other students sitting
in their place for small groups. We tell the other students to help their classmates first,
and if they still think they need help, they only need to ask. We can actually see where
they are working and help them through difficult situations when necessary because
everything is in Canvas. We can also pop into their classwork for a few minutes. It is
frequently the most challenging to have students from different levels in the same class.

 Describe the action steps you take when you determine that a student is struggling
with literacy skills and meeting the expected grade level milestones. Discuss
intervention strategies you employ before seeking additional help from a reading
specialist.
- We conduct assessments three times annually, once in the fall (also known as the
beginning of the school year), once in the spring (sometime between February and
March), and finally in May before we let out for summer break. These tests assist
teachers in determining where each student stands in a number of subjects, but most
importantly, in their ELA skills. The tests show us which subjects the students excel in
and which ones if any, they struggle in. It will also give educators a beginning and
finishing point for the following academic year. I contact our specialists when their test
results are noticeably poor. If her advice does not help them develop the necessary
abilities, she will draw those pupils aside and work with them one-on-one or in pairs.

 Describe how you engage the families of students in literacy activities that can help
students reach the grade level milestones and move toward reading proficiency.
- - The student's parents are among my staunchest allies. I exchange messages with their
parents at least once per week to go through who are missing assignments, Who needs
extra help, and any tips they could use to bring their grades up as high as possible. My
students are aware that each parent is connected to ClassDojo, and I encourage them to
invite their parents to log in, investigate the topic at hand, and bring their work to the
dinner table. Parents are welcome to inquire about the topics we're working on, assist
their children with vocabulary and spelling, and discuss any other topics we're working
on at the moment.

My Observation of Mrs. Avril’s Classroom

Because they were about to begin their reading lesson, Mrs. Avril instructed the students to tidy
up their desks. She told them that they only needed what she gave them for the time being. The
teacher would stand in front of the class so she could see every student and determine whether
they were reading or doing something else. As she traveled around the class, she would talk to
the pupils who seemed to be preoccupied in some manner. After that, Mrs. Avril went around
and gave each student the materials they needed. These ruler-like objects were given to some of
the students, and they used them to follow along with their reading passage. To help keep the
other words from getting in the way, some students received a red block that separated the work
they were looking at. Some students received the usual printouts, allowing them to read with the
larger group. The students were then instructed by Mrs. Avril to join their reading groups to
begin the lesson. Five students were taken to the back of the room by the other paraprofessional,
where they followed Mrs. Avril’s lesson with the aide's careful guidance. The children who left
the room with the other assistant saw a slower-paced reading session as a consequence of the
para's division of the teachings into digestible pieces, which prevented the kids from feeling
overwhelmed or irritated. I understood that they were the children who had the tiny red bricks.
The 15 remaining students remained in their seats and followed Mrs. Avril’s lesson without
using any assistive devices. They were in the back of the room with the assistant and had a ruler
with a hole in the center for drawing lines one at a time. The kids that were split apart got a tale
that was similar to one another's, but it was considerably shorter and needed much less reading.
All of the tales concerned honey badgers and their surroundings. Given that the bulk of Mrs.
Avril's pupils were animal lovers, it seemed like everyone who was called on stated something
along the lines of loving the narrative and finding it intriguing. Mrs. Avril and the
paraprofessional questioned each student about whether they enjoyed the story and what they
thought of it at the conclusion of the class. Before beginning to read the narrative, the students
were invited to look at the pages and the illustrations and describe, at the start of the session,
what they believed the story would be about. Whether they thought the narrative would be
instructive or centered on a single honey badger. The instructor, paraprofessional, and
paraprofessional all asked the same questions, so I feel that everyone had planned what they
would talk to the children about and the questions they would be asking before the lesson and
before I entered the classroom. The questions posed prior to and during the reading session were
only informal evaluations designed to ascertain what the pupils were witnessing and what they
had learned. As part of the official evaluation, students were given a list of questions to respond
to. The questions were all the same, despite the fact that they were structured differently for each
group. This was the outcome of the official evaluation. There are 23 students in Mrs. Avril’s
fourth-grade first-block reading group. There are 10 girls and 13 boys. During their reading
lesson, the remaining students do not have any restrictions or accommodations; eight of the
students have IEPs. Those with IEPs included all of the girls.
The room that Mrs. Avril had was big and neat. The room had soft lighting and a pleasant scent
from a diffuser that was operating there. I was informed by Mrs. Avril that it was known as
mental focus. Mrs. Avril told me that the reason she asked a student to shut the door when
everyone entered the classroom for the lesson was to keep outside distractions at bay. The
atmosphere was welcoming and warm. Despite being a fairly seasoned teacher, the teacher and
her assistants were kind to the students. Mrs. Avril had a few issues with the student’s conduct.
After a brief introduction, the students settled in, and the lesson began without a hitch. Everyone
was curious about who I was.
 Part 2: Reading/Literacy Specialist, Reading/Literacy
Coach, Reading Interventionist, Special Education
Teacher, or Principal Interview
 Explain the role and responsibilities of the reading/literacy specialist.
 Therefore, my duty is to oversee the interventions. Um, to ensure that we are matching
students with their needs and providing high-quality instruction that is tailored to their
requirements. In addition, to help the extra paraprofessionals giving a portion of the
intervention understand what to do, what to look for, and how to teach.

 Describe how you collaborate with classroom teachers to support the needs of all
students, including those with exceptionalities, dyslexia, English language learners,
above and below grade level readers, and reluctant, struggling, and striving
readers.
-I collaborate with classroom teachers by doing the following:
1. Encourage and maintain a positive attitude; focus on the positive.
2. Highlight minor victories by giving others chances.
3. Break up assignments and tasks into manageable units.
4. Recognize the students' emotions and actual experiences.
5. Lessons should incorporate student interests and experiences.
6. For equitable access to the content, make use of images, sentence stems, and other
scaffolding.

 Describe the relationship between cognitive process and reading instruction and
discuss how you apply your knowledge of brain-based learning, the Science of
Reading, and Scarborough’s Reading Rope when collaborating with teachers to
meet the diverse needs of students.
-In order to work with teachers to accommodate the different requirements of kids, I
would illustrate the link between cognitive process and reading instruction and explore
how you use your understanding of brain-based learning, the Science of Reading, and
Scarborough's Reading Rope.
1. Decoding symbols to determine their meaning is a cognitive activity involved in
reading.
2. Word meanings must be actively constructed during reading.
3. Reading with a purpose directs the reader's attention and aids in helping them
concentrate on a certain goal.
4. Recognize the following crucial elements of a curriculum that effectively teaches
reading: Phonemic awareness, vocabulary, fluency, understanding, and phonics
make brain-based learning available to students in the classroom by:
1. Beginning with a positive attitude.
2. establishing a time for "turn and talk."
3. making use of visual elements.
4. dividing up the material being learned.
 5. Move around the classroom or use TPR.

 Discuss the greatest challenges you face in supporting students who are struggling
with literacy skills and describe how you use support resources, including
technology, to overcome these challenges.
 How technology can improve learning collaboration:
1. Tools for communication
2. Learning and working through projects.
3. Tools for Immersive Learning
4. Science and engineering based on questions.
5. Game-Based Instruction.
6. Learning platforms that support teamwork.
7. Social and emotional education.

 Describe the types of data that must be collected by classroom teachers and the
strategies they should employ before seeking the support of a reading/literacy
specialist to assist in meeting the needs of students in their classroom.
- There are a variety of ways teachers can collect data. Formal assessments, such as tests,
essays, or final projects, are one of the more conventional methods for gathering data.
Individual progress and classroom trends can both be seen through assessments.
Recording student behavior with disciplinary records, report cards, and behavioral
assessments can also be helpful.

 Discuss the role you play in providing professional development opportunities and
individual coaching for teachers.
- To facilitate education, instructors in grades 3-5 should role-play the following lesson:
1. By implementing optimal teaching methods, provide ELLs with explicit academic language
development and vocabulary training.
2. Use sheltered teaching strategies for ELLs.
3. Increasing instructors' cultural sensitivity and comprehension by implementing efficient
teaching techniques to improve the learning of English language learners.
5. advising instructors on how to engage pupils by using the most effective teaching
techniques, abilities, and attitudes.
6. creating a standard-based learning environment for ELLs to raise academic performance
across the board.

 Describe how you engage the families of students in literacy activities that can help
students reach the grade level milestones and move toward reading proficiency.
- Activities that support family literacy include:
1. Parent literacy programs are provided by local libraries, community centers, schools,
and other places.
2. Urge parents to read to and out loud to their kids.
3. Provide resources and priceless opportunities through neighborhood events.
 Reflection

The cognitive process refers to a student's capacity to understand the material and draw
connections. They ought to be able to remember earlier knowledge and relate it to what they
are reading. This relates to teaching reading because in order to keep students interested and
make sure they comprehend the information, teachers must ask them questions before, during,
and after reading. making sure that the exercises help pupils finish Scarborough's Reading
Rope. Students need to gain more proficiency in phonological awareness, sight words,
decoding, background knowledge, verbal reasoning, vocabulary, language structure, and
literacy. For children with dyslexia or other reading impairments, for instance, audio
recordings of books may guarantee that every student is learning. I could have problems if
there aren't any paraprofessionals, reading experts, or other people there to help with small
group management. As every student faces different difficulties, it might be difficult for a
teacher to concentrate on each student's individual requirements if they try to lead a group
while the others are working independently. It may be really beneficial for difficult kids to
have an additional set of hands to lead groups or pull them one at a time. While learning new
information, dyslexic and ELA students may need more time and help. I learned a lot about
how to aid children who struggle or are behind after witnessing an ELA teacher and a reading
coach. I also gained knowledge on how to keep middle school pupils interested in the material
being covered in class.