Becoming a Writing Teacher

 

I want the focus of my ICDP this year to be on becoming a Writing teacher.  The school decided that I am no longer teaching first-period Reading, but instead teaching first-period Writing.  Obviously, this is supporting an initiative in the Middle School to improve Reading and Writing scores.  This will take a lot of effort and planning so I would like my ICDP to be centered around that process. 

The school purchased a Reading and Writing curriculum for us to use this year.  The main data that will be used to determine how successful this implementation is going will be FAST and ISASP scores.  

RESEARCH AND FINDINGS - Most of the research was already done for me in a sense.  Our 5th Grade Reading and Writing ISASP scores weren't great last year so we invested in a new curriculum this year for Reading and Writing.  Most of our "research and findings" is becoming more familiar with the new curriculum, what resources are available, how to best use them, and what we want to change and/or supplement with the given lessons.  

We started out the year focusing on letter writing.  We've moved into the grammar portion of the curriculum.  Eventually we will work with the Writing portion of the curriculum, but we aren't ready yet.  Today as a team, we looked at the curriculum for writing and tried to get a better sense of what the writing lessons will be like.  We also did some short term and long term lesson planning.  

• PLAN OF IMPLEMENTATION - My plan of implementation is to teach writing and our new writing curriculum during first-period Writing class.  We started out the year working on some other things so that the Reading curriculum could catch up and align with the Writing curriculum.  So we have started working through and teaching the prepared lessons from the curriculum.  I think everything is going well, though I still lean on my team a lot.  But we plan together so it's very convenient.

  I also find myself connecting our Writing lessons into Social Studies which is good.  The cross-curricular connections benefit both me and the students.

-MS Teacher

Effective Literature Circles

 I am focusing on literature circles in the classroom for my ICDP. I want to focus on this area because we utilize them in the Language Arts classroom and they are not as effective as we would like to see them be. Currently, students are given directions on lit circles and expected to complete their assigned role, but there seems to be no additional learning taking place. Creating plans that will assist in student growth and using methods that have been researched should increase student engagement and understanding.

At the moment, I have one book that discusses mini lessons in lit circles. I plan to use the AEA library and experts in reading for my resources. I will know that I have improved in this area with student growth. The evidence will come from their papers/projects that show an increase in understanding.

Learning after Trauma

 I am going to focus this year on trauma and school.  I am finding more and more that my students are experiencing more trauma and they do not have ways to cope with it. In a day and age of technology, kids often turn to the computer to find the information and that can lead them down some very shady paths if not done correctly.  By learning more about how to help trauma and coping with today's issues, I will not only be able to help my own students but I will also be able to help the population as a whole in the building.  

Learning to handle trauma will help my students be more successful in their daily lives not only in my classroom but long after they are gone from these walls. Unfortunately, trauma is becoming a bigger issue each passing year.  As we know now, no student has had a normal school year in awhile.  The last time my 8th graders had a normal school year was in 5th grade. That was their first year with me.  The rest of the kids in this building have never had a normal school year in this building.  

Alternative Assessments aligned to IEP Goals

Close up of young female teacher sitting at desk with a Down syndrome schoolboy using a tablet computer in a primary school classroom, smiling, close up, side view. Stock Photo. Clipart.com School Edition, Vital Imagery Ltd., 01-04-2019, https://schools.clipart.com/download.php?iid=1595552&tl=photos. Accessed 29-09-2021.

 I am going to be working to align my students IEP goals and our daily curriculum to connect to the alternate assessment's essential elements. The essential elements are the equivalent of the common core standards for our Level 3 students. Kerri, Teresa and I are hoping to create a more streamlined program that flows through the grade levels and supports all of our students.

This would be great for helping to create IEP goals that not only support the student's needs but also gives them more support for their assessments. 

We also feel that this will help point out more specifically and on a broader level, the skills that they have mastered as well as the ones they are struggling with. This allows us to break those skills down into even smaller steps to see how we can better support our students.

Wilson Reading System for 1:1 Instruction

Image from Wilson Language Training

 I am focusing on the Wilson Reading System with one of my students who will be new to it this year. I have decided to focus on this, again this year, because this student is significantly behind in her reading.  I will be working with her 1:1 during our time together.  This is a change because typically I work with students in small groups.  Individual student needs 1:1 instruction. 

I will have to revamp the class time she is with me because I had her grouped with two other students. I can tell that won't work and I will have to adjust things.  This should impact student learning by give her 1:1 attention and time.  It will also allow the other students who were going to be with her the ability to move at a faster pace.  

I do not need additional resources for this goal.  I will continue to talk with colleagues who are also trained in Wilson and continue to use their site for resources.  I will have to research for specific progression of skills.  

She currently reads 49 words per minute, has no work attack skills, and does not use or understand context clues.  She will reread a sentence again and again (due to her low speed) hoping to comprehend.  She verbalizes her frustrations.  

I will use weekly Wilson data, IEP data,  and FAST testing throughout the year to gage her progress.  

All Hands On Deck for Reading

 

Image from Unsplash (gaellemarcel)

Last year we were told, "It's all hands on deck to improve reading performance at NMS."  This year we were told the same thing.  Since my ICDP last year was centered around creating a canvas course, I've decided to focus on improving student fluency and comprehension.  

Starting in October and continuing to the ISASP tests, I will do one reading lesson a month with all my classes using fluency routines, predicting, clarifying, questioning, and summarizing.  Last year I got a lot of push back from students when doing this (But it's PE!!!!!!!!).  A secondary goal besides improving student performance in the area of reading comprehension would be for lessons like this to be more accepted as common practice in areas besides reading/language arts.

8th Grade Math Interventions

Image from Unsplash (NeONBRAND)

 My focus this year for my ICDP is going to be centered around implementing math interventions to 8th grade students using Dreambox and evaluating the effectiveness of the program. The reason that I have made this my focus for my ICDP is because our Middle School building has the goal of using interventions for MTSS and this goal will help allow me to continue to pursue our building goals while helping students at risk with their math skills. As I reflect on last year and the interventions that I implemented, I want to be more effective at analyzing the data and the types of strategies used to identify students' progress towards improvement or needing either tier 2 or 3 instruction. By reviewing this data, I will be able to help identify if the effectiveness of the program on the students growth in the classroom, FAST, and on ISASP. At the end of the year, I would love to see that at least 50% of our students who were at some risk or high risk using the FAST aMath data are proficient following our Spring FAST assessments.

Differentiating in Canvas for Independent Work

Image by ClipartMax (Canvas Logo)

I want to give more structure and have more check points in my classroom. I want to still incorporate self-paced math but having the classroom foundation of student accountability in order to progress through the standards appropriately. This summer I rearranged the scope and sequence of my math content with specific dates of when different standards were to be taught.  For example 5.NBT.5 multiplying whole numbers is a three week unit. All essential standards has a corresponding unit packet and students will continue to work through these packets (usually) in a self-paced manner. 

What happens when students finish the packet will look different this year.  Instead of continuing to the next essential standard, I am working an "Independent work" section on canvas that students will have different enrichment and extension opportunities. I am going to use my ICDP as time to research the best methods of designing the Independent work unit packets as well as the extension activities that students will be doing. 

Math Interventions

 

This year I am focusing on improving the math interventions we are doing with our students that fall below proficiency.  The data shows that we have a significant number of students that have not made benchmark the last 2-3 times that we have taken the FAST aMath test and the ISASP test.  These students will be receiving an intervention through the program DreamBox for tier 2 interventions and Project Numeracy for tier 3 interventions.

Image by dreambox

My research will be about what the expected growth is for students that spend 15-20 minutes a day or 75-100 minutes a week and how the program works to determine the skill gaps for each student.  I will analyze the data provided through DreamBox to see if our students are making the expected gains.    

I will analyze data on a weekly basis to make sure the program in being used with fidelity.  Ultimately the goal is to fill gaps that will help the students to make benchmark on the FAST aMath test and lessen the number of kids needing a tier 2 intervention.  

Writing Stronger, Yet Weaker

 

Image by Unsplash (thoughtcatalog)

Have you ever had a moment of reflection that made you wonder why something has changed so drastically?  Well, I have been reflecting on how student writing has become stronger yet so much weaker.  Students are becoming better with the meat of the story, but they are struggling with the language standards.  This seems disheartening to me.  I pondered the possible reasons why this might be so.

After reflecting, I keep coming back to my lack of teaching language in isolation.  I wondered if student's writing would be better putting back my daily oral language routine. That leads me to "NoRedInk". It is a program that teaches skills in isolation.  So, I have decided to put it to the test this year. 

NoRedInk is connected with the Iowa Standards.  Is the premium version worth the money?  Will it improve student performance?  I will be looking at some different webinars within the "NoRedInk" platform and follow up with some research that will either support or debunk teaching grammar in  isolation.