5352 Instructional Leadership - Web Conference Reflections:

February 13 - Reviewing this particular web conference brought up something really important for me. Someone asked if all internship activities needed to be complete before graduation. I assumed that they did, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to check on this. On the web conference, I didn’t really see a clear cut answer to the question, so I’ll have to confirm the answer later. The conference made me think about getting ready for graduation since that was a big part of it. Something else mentioned that I found interesting was the discussion of flipping being possible in a low income school. I liked what was said about differentiation. I think it’s easy for us to assume something won’t work in a low income school, but I think that’s just our fear talking.

February 16 - In this conference, I mostly became aware some of the things I already knew about. The discussion was about the action research, course embedded and internship logs - where to locate them and when they are due. Also, there was discussion as to how this week’s assignment gets turned in. Something else mentioned was how appreciative individuals are in regards to this class. I too, feel that this course has shown me things that I will continue implementing in my career.

February 10 - By reading this web conference, I learned that many others have the same concerns about graduation that I do. In a way, it is a relief. In addition, I learned that TK20 assignments could not be turned in until the end of week 5. Also, I learned that if I finish in May, I will graduate in August. I am not really sure when I will finish so I have to check on that.

Knowledge Gained in This Course:

This course has opened my eyes in regards to some of the resources that are available to educators. I have found a way to incorporate the Google Doc into my own classroom so that students can too learn about technology but also about collaboration. I recently sent a letter home to encourage all parents to create a gmail account to get everyone started. Half of my students don’t have computers at home but will use them in class. I will have students collaborate in literacy groups by using the Google Docs. This is just one way they will be using them in and out of the classroom. I also plan to use Google Docs to facilitate the sharing of poetry written by students. In addition to Google Docs, I also learned about project based learning which I had heard of but never really read about. I still have much to learn but with every course, I gain more confidence in myself. I really want to become a mentor for the teachers on my campus. In order to do so, it is necessary for me to become exposed to as many methods of teaching out there.

Internship Activities:

I have left some of the easier activities towards the end of my internship. Some of the activities that I have not yet covered are the teacher observations. It is difficult to get out of my classroom, not because of logistics but because I simply have trouble letting go. In addition, I have a student teacher which is beginning to take over. This is not only difficult because I teach a STAAR grade level but also because she needs my mentoring. Something else I need to do is to attend some more school board meetings. This includes other districts in my area, not only the one I work for. Many of the activities that I have already completed happened to pop up out of nowhere because my principal has assigned me some unforeseen projects. This has helped me a lot and allowed me to get ahead of the game.

Action Research Project:

My action research project is going as it should. It will take about two more months until I am completely done because it is based on our new reading inventory which has just recently been adopted by our district. So far, it is proving to be very effective not only for me but for the other teachers on my campus. It has facilitated the paperwork process for RTI and is not subjective like the previous reading inventory we used. Within the next couple months I will be surveying teachers and support staff as well as students. I will also be tracking the progress that a particular group of students made last year in comparison to this year.

Will Istation Further Facilitate the Reading Intervention Process for Teachers and Students at Judson ISD?

Julie Meneses

Lamar University

Action Research Project Draft

Action Research Title

Will Istation further facilitate the reading intervention process for both teachers and students at Judson ISD?

Does Istation responsive instruction further increase students’ reading levels when compared to data from previous year?  Will Istation decrease the number of students placed on RTI? Will the RTI documentation process be facilitated for teachers when using Istation?

These are the questions that Hopkins’ teachers currently do not have the answers to.

Needs Assessment

There were several factors that contributed to my interest in this research study.

I’m a fourth grade bilingual teacher at Hopkins Elementary, a school located in San Antonio, Texas. My class is comprised of 19 students, of which 18 are English Language Learners. Five of them have been on RTI for the past 3 years due to low reading comprehension and fluency.  Four of these students are male and one student is female. All five of them are ELLs.

Fortunately, I was their teacher last year, when they were in 3rd grade. This is due to a looping system in which another teacher and I teach both third and fourth graders. I teach ELA and the other teacher, Math and Science. The five students mentioned above have shown progress in their reading skills but not as much as I would like. Sadly, our district doesn’t currently have an intervention tool that teachers use consistently across the district. The district does however, have a new program. In 2012, Judson ISD adopted a new way to assess our student’s reading levels in terms of comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency. The intervention program is called Istation. It has two components: the mandatory component is the one that teachers use to identify students’ reading level. The component that is not mandatory is the prescribed lessons that it provides for teachers to intervene.

Because it is a computer program that evaluates students, it is supposed to be less subjective than the program we used in the past. This Istation program not only evaluates students’ current level, it also evaluates their progress each month. One component that makes this reading inventory different from the one we used in the past is that it also provided teachers with prescribed lessons specific to the needs of the students. Continuous assessments enable teachers to quickly determine whether students are responding to intervention and whether to intensify instruction when appropriate.

In the past, the reading inventory we used would only help us identify our students’ reading level, but it wouldn’t give teachers a teaching guide or tool, which left it up to teachers to decide how to improve students’ weaknesses. Currently, Istation’s prescribed lessons are not mandatory. One of the biggest issues in education today is inconsistency in delivery of instruction. Our district is not using a specific intervention with these students. If Istation and its prescribed lessons work, then we should all be using it.

Therefore, I started wondering if Istation would help me increase my students’ reading levels at a faster pace than the DRA/ TPRI/Dibels program I used with these same students last year. In order for the program to be effective, students on  RTI should spend 60 minutes on the computer program, in addition to the lesson executed by the teacher twice a week. These lessons should be taught in a small group environment in order to be most effective. If this program and its prescribed interventions do increase my students’ reading levels faster than they increased the year before, all Hopkins teachers should implement the program. It will be suggested to my principal that he enforce the use of the prescribed lessons from Istation.

If indeed, Istation does prove to increase students comprehension and fluency, Hopkins teachers and elementary teachers all throughout the district will not waste time looking for intervention lessons anymore. Teachers will use their time executing the intervention, and in turn our students will be successful in exiting RTI.

Objectives and Vision of the Action Research Project

At Hopkins our vision is to increase students’ reading comprehension and fluency, therefore exiting students from RTI. We expect to be consistent with the type of intervention being used across the district, while easing the process of documentation for teachers.

Review of the Literature and Action Research Strategy

As a bilingual teacher, it is imperative that I take into consideration my students’ background and experience. The five students participating in my research study are sequential bilinguals and at-risk for their ELL status. They are all second-generation Hispanics. With sequential bilinguals,  the stronger or more developed L1 is before learning L2, the better the developmental process will be for both languages (August & Hakuta, 1997; August & Shanahan, 2006). Fortunately, these students have received reading instruction in their dominant language, Spanish, from kinder until second grade. In third grade, students reviewed Language Arts instruction 50% of the time in English and Spanish. Now that these students are in fourth grade, they have transitioned into English 100%. Therefore, they are receiving sheltered instruction in English. Research shows that bilingual students who have made a transition into their L2 and native English speakers can be screened with the same progress monitors and both show documented effectiveness (Klingner, Artiles, & Bareletta, 2006; Vanderwood & Nam, 2008). This indicates that if the prescribed lessons from Istation indeed improve my students’ reading comprehension and fluency, all students in our district can benefit from the intervention. This would make it an easy process for teachers, bilingual or not. What we need is consistency, professional development, and school wide commitment to improving assessment and instruction. I believe it is necessary to help develop teachers’ knowledge and provide the support needed for them to implement these procedures effectively. Teachers must have the time, resources, and support—both in training and collaboration time—to implement RTI effectively to improve student outcomes.

In the past, when we used DRA  as a universal screening at the beginning, middle, and end of year, each teacher was responsible for finding research based interventions. The result was inconsistency across the district. To make matters worse, teachers had a difficult time assessing true progress because other teachers didn’t necessarily use the same progress monitor or intervention tool. So what should teachers use to intervene? Could Istation fluency lessons improve overall comprehension?

Students who can decode text accurately, read at an acceptable rate, and read aloud with appropriate expression are said to be fluent readers (National Reading Panel, 2000). Research indicates that readers become more fluent when they are given lots of opportunities to practice their reading—either independently or with guidance and assistance from a more accomplished reader. Reading-fluency interventions can pay surprising dividends: not only do these strategies help children to read more fluently, but they also improve readers’ accuracy and reading comprehension (National Reading Panel, 2000).

Istation prescribed lessons contain running records which lend themselves for assisted reading, paired reading, and echo reading.

Articulating the Vision

I have informed parents of my action research project by conferencing with them at the beginning of the school year. When placing students on RTI, parents become part of the process. In addition, parents fill out appropriate RTI documentation in which they list their observation, concerns and goals and recommendations for their child. During the conference, I discuss with them my vision and how I plan to execute my research. I explain to parents that once again I will be tutoring their child as I had done before when their child was in third grade. I reiterate that this year, I will be using the prescribed lessons from the Istation intervention program. I show them an example of the running records that Istation prescribed for their child. I also create a newsletter for them to keep at home in which I include tips and strategies for them to use with their child.

Manage the Organization

Twice a week, I work with students in small groups while other students are reading independently. The only materials I use are those prescribed by the individual lessons from Istation. Usually, all I need is an easel, dry erase markers, a journal for each student, highlighters, pencils, and chart paper. When tutoring my students after school, I provide them with snacks and a drink. The same materials are needed during after school tutoring which takes place on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:45 to 3:45. During this time, I work on fluency with them so that I can work on comprehension during class time. Istation prescribes a different intervention lesson for fluency than it does for comprehension.

Manage Operations

Because this research project only requires of my students participation, managing the operation is a simple task. It is however, imperative that I work with students for the same amount of time each week which can pose a challenge if a student is absent. In that case, I work with that student at a different time, to make up for the missed instruction. The time missed on the computer also has to be made-up when the child is absent.  Communication is important. I communicate progress with students on a weekly basis verbally and in their notebooks, as well as through telephone when necessary to speak with their parents. In addition to the Istation assessment, I also provide parents with other assessments used in the classroom. These are assessments that the entire class is tested with. They give me and the parent an idea of the student’s progress when tested on a basic fourth grade level reading passage. I like to see how a student scores in comparison to students who are not on an RTI tier. This gives me the opportunity to identify true progress.

Respond to Community Interest and Needs

In order to fulfill our school mission, which is to produce excellence and enable all students to become successful in a global society, we must take into consideration that all students are different. While many of our students are successful and reading on grade level, many of them are not. This is hindering them in all content areas. By increasing students’ reading levels, we increase their potential across the board. This action research will not only serve students on RTI, but also students in Special Education. This action research allows and fascilitates teachers to differentiate instruction in the classroom. To differentiate instruction is to recognize students' varying background knowledge, readiness, language, preferences in learning and interests; and to react responsively. Differentiated instruction is a process to teaching and learning for students of differing abilities in the same classroom. The purpose of differentiating instruction is to maximize each student's growth and individual success by meeting each student where he or she is and assisting in the learning process. One form of differentiation is language. Istation is available in both English and Spanish, which is rare to find. If it is proven to work, Istation would not only increase student comprehension, fluency, and vocabulary, but also lessen the workload of every elementary teacher in the district. In addition, students on RTI who move from one school in the district to another would make a smooth transition in terms of RTI paperwork and delivery of instruction. Consistency among the district would exist while student benefit in their learning. If Istation doesn’t prove to be effective, our campus can keep searching for a program that does.

References

August, D. & Hakuta, K. (1997). Improving schooling for language- minority children.         Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

Klingner, J. K., Artiles, A. J., & Bareletta, L. M. (2006). English language learners who struggle with reading: Language acquisition or LD? Journal of Learning Disabilities, 39, 108–128.

National Reading Panel. (2000). Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. (NIH Publication No. 00-4754). Washington, DC: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Rasinski, T.V. (1990). Effects of repeated reading and listening-while-reading on reading  fluency. Journal of Educational Research, 83(3), 147-150.

Revised Action Research Study

Due to several contributing factors, my site supervisor and I have decided to go a different direction in terms of my action research study. I have decided to implement a different research study that focuses on one class’ reading level progress. It is actually quite interesting because I have had the same group of students for two years in a row. This is because beginning last school year, I started teaching both 3^rd and 4^th grade Language Arts. This means that last year I taught a group of 18 bilingual students as 3^rd graders and currently, I’m teaching the same group of students, only now they are 4^th graders.

What sparked my interest in this new research study is that we adopted a new way to assess our student’s reading levels in terms of comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency. Because it is a computer program that evaluates students, it is less subjective than the program we used in the past. This Istation program not only evaluates students’ current level, it also evaluates their progress each month. One component that makes this reading inventory different from the one we used in the past is that it also provided teachers with lessons specific to the needs of the students. Continuous assessments enable teachers to quickly determine whether students are responding to intervention and whether to intensify instruction when appropriate. In the past, the reading inventory we used would only help us identify our students’ reading level, but it wouldn’t give teachers a teaching guide or tool, which left it up to teachers to decide how to improve students’ weaknesses. The problem was that every teacher ended up using whatever resources she/ he had available. Although we have just started using this new program thast promises success for our students, we are not being forced  by our principal to use the prescribed lessons that it provides for teachers. This is when I started wondering if Istation would help me increase my students’ reading levels at a faster pace than the DRA/ TPRI/Dibels program I used with these same students last year. In order for the program to be effective, students should spend at least one 45 minute session on the computer in addition to the lesson executed by the teacher twice a week. These lessons should be taught in a small group environment in order to be most effective. If I find that this program does increase my students’ reading levels faster than they increased the year before, I will suggest to my principal that her enforce the use of the prescribed lessons from Istation.

I’m excited to be working on this research study because I will find out if Istation is more successful than the program we used in the past.

Revised Action Research

Does Istation responsive instruction further increase students’ reading levels when compared to data from previous year? 

Will Istation decrease the number of students placed on RTI level, Tier II?

Will the RTI documentation process be facilitated for teachers when using Istation?

Goals/Objective

Increase students’ reading comprehension

Elevate students’ fluency

Exit students from RTI Tier II to Tier I

Revised Action Plan

Action Plan Study: If 2nd and 3rd grade teachers are provided with a writing mentor program and participate in ongoing book studies, will their students’ sentence length, syntax grade level, use of transitions and ability to write in paragraphs increase by a measurable amount?
Goals: ·         To improve 2nd and 3rd grade students’ ability to: write in paragraph form using effective transitions, increase sentence length, and syntax grade level. ·         To further develop teachers’ confidence and knowledge in writing instruction.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Collect student journal and writing samples to find strengths and weaknesses before and after study for the purpose of comparison.	Four classroom teachers in grades 2-3. Mrs. Meneses	May 2012	Student journals and writing samples	Flesch-Kincaid Readability Score on MS Word
Conduct writing curriculum based assessments every six weeks	Four classroom teachers in grades 2-3. Mrs. Meneses	Throughout the 2012-2013 school year	Curriculum based assessments for grades 2-5	Writing committee will record and analyze data by charting progress on given TEKS across grade levels. Teachers will use this data to guide instruction.
Coordinating book-studies that focus on writing instruction. An effective author is Ralph Fletcher, who has several wonderful books on the topic.	Four classroom teachers in grades 2-3. Mrs. Meneses	9/2012-12/2013	Ralph Fletcher literature (quantity to be determined at a later date)	Teacher and student questionnaires will be used to determine effectiveness of book study. Lesson plans and classroom observations will be used to evaluate progress.
Using effective teachers to share knowledge through co-teaching, modeling instruction, and mentoring.	Four classroom teachers in grades 2-3. Mrs. Meneses	Throughout the 2012-2013 school year	Lesson plans, anchor charts, etc.  created by mentor teacher	Questionnaires will be used to determine effectiveness of book study. Lesson plans and classroom observations will be used to evaluate progress in both teachers and students.

Revising My Action Research Plan

The conference with my site supervisor was extremely insightful and interesting. Mr. Silverman and I sat down for about 45 minutes to discuss my action research plan, therefore I had the opportunity to share my ideas and get some great feedback.

After discussing the questions and the activities on my action research plan, we came to the conclusion that it would be best to eliminate student motivation and focus on teacher development. This was due to the fact that whatever data being collected must be measurable. Mr. Silverman and I agreed that it would be far too challenging at this point to measure student motivation. Never the less, we concluded that focusing on specific writing goals would be measurable. Another revision made was to minimize the grade levels participating in the action research. We agreed that the grade levels with the greatest weakness are 2^nd and 3^rd grade. So we determined that I would collect writing samples at the end of this school year from those grades only. These writing samples will be analyzed for syntax grade level, sentence length, average of transitions per sentence, and students’ capability to write using paragraphs. I will be entering these writing samples into the Flesch-Kincaid Readability Score on MS Word. By doing so, I will I will find the level of readability of each writing sample. Readability statistics are good predictors of the level of difficulty of documents, especially technical ones.

Mr. Silverman and I feel that these skills are the most challenging for teachers and students. If students are able to improve in these areas, they are most likely using stronger conventions and applying literacy skills to their writing. What we have planned is that I will collect these samples from 4 particular teachers in May of this school year. The following school year, the same teachers will provide writing samples in May again, but from their current students. This allows the teacher to apply knowledge acquired through the mentor program and book studies. If the teacher has grown professionally, it should be evident when data is collected and compared to the previous year. The groups of students must meet similar criteria though. We concluded that the activities that would be most appropriate for this study are the following: Implementing a mentor program among 2 bilingual teachers and 2 monolingual teachers, and organizing on going book studies that provide teachers with opportunities to develop professional competence. Both the mentor program and book studies will show teachers how to use mentor texts to teach writing.  That being said, I have revised my action plan question.

My new research question is:

If 2^nd and 3^rd grade teachers are provided with a writing mentor program and participate in ongoing book studies, will their students’ sentence length, syntax grade level, use of transitions and ability to write in paragraphs increase by a measurable amount?

Assessments and accountability was another topic discussed during our meeting. Mr. Silverman is allowing me to create six-week assessments for teachers who are participating in the mentor program to use during the upcoming school year. The purpose of these assessments is to monitor both teacher and student progress and to keep teachers accountable throughout the year. Too often, we hear that teachers “don’t have time” for writing because they are busy preparing kid for state exams. Other times, teachers say they integrate writing throughout content areas, yet they don’t do it effectively.

In addition, my principal and I talked about how we will select teachers being asked to participate. We want to make sure that teachers asked to participate are not only in agreement, but feel the necessity for the mentorship program. It is also imperative that these teachers are not currently using teaching strategies such as the ones discussed by the author, Ralph Fletcher. We feel that the study would be most effective if participating teachers were enthusiastic and eager to grow professionally.  One of my fears in conducting this research study was that my principal would not allow me to monitor other teachers, but he permitted me to observe teachers by conducting walkthroughs before and after the mentoring program is initiated.

After having this conference with my supervisor, I feel much more confident and ready to begin my action research. The meeting not only provided me with guidance, but also made me foresee this action research study much more clearly. 

Action Research Plan

Action Planning Template Goals: 1.         To improve students’ ability to write cohesively and at grade level across all content areas in grades 2nd - 5th 2.       To further motivate students to become effective writers and develop a passion for it. 3.       To further develop teachers’ knowledge and passion in teaching writing for grades 2nd-5th Action Steps(s): Person(s) Responsible: Timeline: Start/End Needed Resources Evaluation Collect student journal and writing samples to find strengths and weaknesses and for further comparison the following school year. Teachers should choose a low, medium, and high sample in each classroom. Bilingual teachers should provide samples in both English and Spanish. Classroom teachers in grades 2-5. Mrs. Meneses May 2012 Student journals and writing samples Use grade level TEKS to identify patterns of strengths and weaknesses amongst grade levels. Create a campus blog where students and teachers share great writing samples and lessons Mrs. Meneses and any teachers on campus who would like to join the blog 4/2012 - 5/2013 Parental release form for students’ information to be published such as pictures and biographies. The blog is ongoing and will be evaluating whether or not students and teachers are further motivated by publishing great pieces of writing and sharing them with other teachers and students across the district and/or nation. Provide professional development for teachers that demonstrates how to use mentor texts to teach writing. Curriculum Specialist Throughout the 2012-2013 school year To be updated at a later time. This is dependent upon teacher surveys and other data analysis. Principal and curriculum specialists’ observations. Conduct writing curriculum based assessments three times a year, in grades 2-5. All classroom teachers Mr. Silverman September 2012 January 2013 May 2013 Curriculum based assessments for grades 2-5 Writing committee will record and analyze data by charting progress on given TEKS across grade levels. Teachers will use this data to guide instruction. Coordinating book-studies that focus on writing instruction. An effective author is Ralph Fletcher, who has several wonderful books on the topic. All classroom teachers who teach writing in grade level 2-5. 9/2012-12/2013 Ralph Fletcher literature (quantity to be determined at a later date) Teacher and student questionnaires will be used to determine effectiveness of book study. Lesson plans and classroom observations will be used to evaluate progress in both teachers and students. Using effective teachers to share knowledge through co-teaching, modeling instruction, and mentoring. Committee members Participating teachers Throughout the 2012-2013 school year Lesson plans, anchor charts, etc.  created by mentor teacher Teacher and student questionnaires will be used to determine effectiveness of book study. Lesson plans and classroom observations will be used to evaluate progress in both teachers and students. Using a video camera to record teachers executing effective writing lessons. These lessons will be used to share with and motivate other teachers. Writing committee members Participating classroom teachers Throughout the 2012-2013 school year Video camera Teacher and student questionnaires will be used to determine effectiveness of book-studies. Lesson plans and classroom observations will be used to evaluate progress in both teachers and students. Honor students with a WRITING AWARD every six weeks. One student per grade level is chosen. Writing committee chooses the winner each six weeks. Students are celebrated on our Hopkins blog and given a certificate. Classroom teachers Throughout the 2012-2013 school year (every six weeks when students are awarded Certificates and spirit sticks used during award ceremonies Both teachers and students will be surveyed to identify increase in academic progress and motivation.