Suzanne Graybush Blog #5 LTED 667
- It takes a strong, dedicated, and enthusiastic leader to guide a community of educators. After acquiring knowledge from this class and others, I feel I have learned specific knowledge to become a leader in the Administration and Supervision of my school's reading programs. I have learned how to use data collected from my classes' IREADY diagnostic reading scores, state tests, and other assessments to create a plan in order to build interest and motivation for my own students to challenge themselves to achieve more. This could essentially close the gap in their personal reading skills and push many of my students up one or two reading levels to be on grade level. I want my classes, as well as all students to create individual plans to take ownership of their scores, track successes, and build goals for motivation too.
- As a Reading Specialist I would want to build a vision statement to include student involvement in RTI plans and running records, as well as outlining their goals to become stronger readers and sophisticated writers.
- My perceptions have changed a bit to realize that Reading Specialists are inundated with a multitude of tasks. First, to target areas for improvement by analyzing scores over multiple grade levels. Next to create or adopt school wide intervention programs. Yet another aspect is to "coach" teachers with new techniques or interventions for struggling readers and create professional development opportunities on topics to enhance and optimize classroom instruction, as well as inform teachers of indicators for reading disabilities. This is a job within itself as the text, Reading Specialists and Literacy Coaches in the Real World reiterates, "In order to be fully literate there are things teachers need to know and be able to do with regard to technology...Teachers need to know how to adapt evidence-based strategies used with print text and enact them in an electronic world...Teachers need support to select quality technology materials that are consistent with their beliefs about principled instruction...Teachers need to understand the ways their students are using technology outside of school and the purposes that drive such use," (p. 267-268). The needs are infinite, and as a future Reading Specialist, I recognize this and will try to meet the needs of teachers in today's technologically advanced classrooms.
- As if that is not enough, another role the Reading Specialist has it to connect the community to literacy with needs assessments and school wide reading goals. It's a tremendous task, but I feel with my personality, knowledge, and energy I can instill great strategies as a leader.
- Currently, I have already initiated programs within my classroom to engage and motivate students' reading success. Also, I offer time in class to read along with a read aloud to use as a mentor text and build fluency. Weekly, students spend 45 minutes of class time engaged on an intervention computer program, IREADY. Through this program I have assessed students and placed them in strategy groups based on their grade levels strengths and weaknesses. For instance, I created a group of students who are on a 5th grade level for vocabulary knowledge according to IREADY. During strategy groups with these students, I have worked on various 8th grade vocabulary activities to find higher level synonyms for overused words.
- To effectively utilize time, these strategy groups are executed while my students are completing IREADY or reading independently in class. In this way, I am able to cater mini lessons to their needs and work on various intervention strategies in writing too. For example after review of incomplete and complete sentences, those 8th graders that were still having trouble I pulled in a strategy group of three students in order to review once again. Subsequently, I am preparing for my future as a Reading Specialist, first by creating needs assessments, or reviewing data, from that information creating groupings, and implementing small group instruction.
- The hardest part of being a Reading Specialist for me will be integrating community partnerships. But in saying that, I do have a few ideas. In order to get businesses in the community on board, I would like to create a program for reading. According to the text this is an important aspect of building literacy, "Many of the initiatives for family and adult literacy are supported and sponsored by business," (p. 330). If students fill out a reading log to show books they've read to local businesses, they could offer incentives for the students. One such place is I Play America, which is an indoor amusement park/board walk in our area. As a motivator for reading, I would like to offer the students a free I Ride pass for completion of five books over a few months. Of course, I would like to build this same model with places like Starbucks, Sundaes, and Chipolte too. Middle school is a critical time period to capture students' interests in reading, so if these "bribes" help, then I want to create these opportunities for my students. To tie this back into school, this business involvement could be kicked off at a community literacy night with various stations of read-alouds, an author visit, a poetry slam, author's workshop, book "give aways", and more.
- Through the use of the media center, I will offer technology stations during lunch, culturally relevant resources in a special shelving section of the library to ensure the needs of diverse populations are being met too. I would also like to create book clubs in order to bring like-minded middle schoolers together to build a community of readers.
- In my future life as a reading specialist, I feel it is important to create a culture that embraces literacy as a lifelong skill, and therefore I would love to create a period of reading throughout the day where everyone reads. We could even explore the one book, one school, method where everyone in the entire school reads the same book. And I mean everyone from secretaries, to principals, to teachers, custodians, guidance counselors, and even the nurse. We could all be role models and crate blogs, or interactive bulletin boards to build a strong community of readers.
- All in all, I have high expectations for myself as a Reading Specialist and I cannot wait to turn all of these ideas into reality. It actually energizes me just thinking of all the possibilities.
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