Beverlee,
Last year my official title was Kindergarten Support Teacher. This
meant that I worked in support of the regular kindergarten teacher for
half day. My job was to run a center at centers time, and to provide
intervention and other support for the rest of the time. I worked with
students individually who needed extra help, attention, or support for
literacy and/or math skills. The teachers I worked with, although their
teaching styles and choices were different from mine, were wonderful at
letting me do what I thought was best, rather than tell me what to do.
They might, for example, give me a short list of students who needed
help with a particular concept or skill (concepts of print, letter
sounds, one to one correspondence, patterning, writing their names,
etc.) and I decided how to help the children.
I did not use ANY kind of program. I had an assortment of materials in
my little corner of the classroom, that fluctuated. I had lots of blank
paper, and lots of objects, and a variety of writing instruments,
crayons, and books. If a child was working on learning how to write his
name, we used a blank piece of paper. If a child needed to work on
patterning, I used linker cubes or other blocks, and a blank piece of
paper and crayons for recording. If a child needed to learn to
recognize some letters, I started with the letters in their names,
chopped up the name and had them tell me what letter came next. Or I
sent them on a classroom scavenger hunt for the letter "e" (or
whatever). I used white boards and markers a lot.
I was very fortunate to get my teaching credential during a time when
literature-based instruction was at the forefront, when teachers went
to workshops and helped each other to develop interesting teaching
ideas and strategies. I maintain that all I really need to teach is
paper, pencils, crayons, base ten blocks, geoblocks, and an assortment
of books to read to and with kids. But that's just me. :-)
The idea that we need a program to provide instruction, to me, is a
blatant slap in the face to teachers, the reflection of an attitude
that teachers are not smart enough to do their jobs without a so-called
expert telling them what to do. But, again, that's just me. :-)
Renee
On Jan 16, 2009, at 8:02 PM, Beverlee Paul wrote:
So...I'm rapidly forming a picture that I'm hoping is premature and
incorrect: Do almost all of you do purchased programs for
interventions?
I'd love to hear from some of you who provide increased instruction
within
your existing literacy program, or smaller groups, or individual
help...something that increases the engaged time but isn't really a
"program"?
On Fri, Jan 16, 2009 at 7:23 PM, <[email protected]> wrote:
Thanks, Jen, for your reply.? I'll look into SIPPS.? We've been
talking
about Fundations for gr. 1 students who are struggling with fluency
and
cracking that code.? Wilson is painful, but for the 2 second grade
students
I have in it who are getting great instruction in comprehension and
leveled
text in class, it's working.? And they're so proud of themselves!
Martha
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Sent: Thu, 15 Jan 2009 8:39 pm
Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Interventions
Martha
I do mainly the in class support and I supervise and train the staff
working
in the intervention programs. I do an occasional pull out group to
learn
the
programs I must supervise. I am Wilson trained, but only two special
educators are using it with a few tough cases. I cannot take teaching
it.
I
like
SIPPS the best of all of them... (SIPPS stands for Systematic
Instruction
in
Phonics Phonemic Awareness and Sight words.) They do not pretend to
teach
comprehension and I don't agree with all of the philosophy behind
it. I
think
that
some of the research they quote in the rationale was misinterpreted.
With
some tweaking though, it has some good aspects when combined with
balanced
literacy instruction in the classroom. The aides can do SIPPS with
some
supervision. We are seeing some results in first grade...less in
second
and
third but
that makes sense since research tells us that phonics instruction is
really
only effective in grade K and 1.
Fundations, (Wilson for primary) is working well in Kindergarten (I am
coteaching this one) for 20 minutes a day...but again, the teachers
in K
are
very
strong in teaching comprehension at other times during the day. It
seems to
have escaped the deadly slow pace of Wilson for intermediate aged
kids.
The jury is out on Fluency Formula but Soar to Success seems to be
keeping
our kids with comprehension problems reading and interested. With a
very
few
tweaks, it requires kids to actually think!
Jennifer
The effectiveness of the intervention is depending upon In a message
dated
1/13/2009 10:03:51 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, [email protected] writes:
That said...
Would you share with us which of your interventions programs you
find work
best at which grade levels??
How did you determine which program to use with particular students??
Would you also clarify....do the IA's do Wilson, etc. and you do the
in
class support or do you do both??
-Martha
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To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to
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_______________________________________________
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[email protected]
To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to
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"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire."
~William Butler Yeats
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