Terry, I leave in your full comments on EAs. Great suggestions especially with the amount of back and forth interaction you have detailed. Interesting comment re Allington -- also a longtime favorite of mine -- that he disagrees with EAs for assisting weaker students. I know one of his major points is expert help for those kids.
However, I feel a "live, warm body" is better than a computer (that responds with whatever ding or boink when you're right or wrong ;/ ). I speak of using volunteers. I recruited volunteers very selectively -- not from the general parent population per se, but often from my educated friends (including retirees). (My husband will regularly find me at a gathering chatting up a friend -- turns out we're discussing whether I can rope them in to help one half hour a week.) No they are not trained specifically at length -- but I did train them and give them ongoing feedback. I have had this argument with other university personnel, and I think those kids need *both* (obviously, I'd say). They need my expertise, but they also need a lot of oral reading practice at a suitable level (in self-chosen material, another Allington 'pillar' of reading instruction) -- practise reading with a friendly adult who has a bit of training. You can train as to 'pause-prompt-praise' (just one simple approach people can remember, not my invention). For example, it is common for adults to think they must instantly say, "no", and interrupt "that second". Reading Recovery taught us to use -- *after* the paragraph or whatever -- "Let's look at that, there's a tricky bit here," and "You said <whatever miscue> -- what would we expect it to look like [or sound like] if it was <miscue>?" In more substantial material (or with very struggling students) I would also encourage the adult to "take a turn" -- read for a page or two, just to improve comprehension, establish some of the vocabulary, share enjoyment, etc. And so on. Great stuff, thanks, Terry. Linda Rightmire SD #73 Kamloops, BC On Thu, Jun 14, 2012 at 9:51 AM, Terry Decker <deckerteac...@yahoo.com>wrote: > Hi Cathy, I'm sorry I'm so slow getting a response to you. Life's been > very hectic, as you know from the teaching at the end of the year > perspective. > As for supervising EAs, I've found it to be one of the most rewarding > parts of my job as our school's Title 1 teacher/Literacy Specialist & > supervisor. There are a few things that I think have helped our team to be > successful, and I hope this is what you're wanting. If not, maybe this > will trigger specific questions I can answer. 1) Hire the right EA. If > you have input on personnel, I'd opt for experience as much as possible. I > have 3 retired teachers on my team, and they're wonderful. They have the > background, the "teacher work ethic," and the love of children. I also > have 2 EAs who have worked in Title for many years and one certified > teacher (secondary math--but still a teacher) who just wanted part-time > because of family...It helps when your EAs don't have to learn the ropes > from the ground up. 2) Take time to train your EAs on exactly which > programs, progress monitoring tools, and routines you want to use. Make > sure he/she > can use materials with fidelity. 3) Find a way (and this is a hard one > for me, but I found it helps a lot ) to do regular mini-observations on > your EA to support her/him and for your peace of mind that the students are > getting what they need. This will also help support the EA and give you > the opportunity to answer specific questions about practice. This is > particularly important if your EA has no prior teaching background. 4) > Meet weekly to go over the data he/she has collected on students. You > should be the one to enter that data into whatever record-keeping system > you use, so you know exactly where each student is working. 5) Build a > professional and friendly rapport with the EA. Those weekly meetings give > you the opportunity to listen to the EAs insights and feelings about the > chilodren he/she teaches, and are usually insightful. 6) If you learn > something new/know of available professional development opportunities that > would be beneficial, help to facilitate the EA's professional growth. > For example, I scheduled a training from our district ELL department on > SIOP techniques, which was very beneficial and appreciated. You don't have > to do all the training yourself. I hope this helps. One of my favorite > reading gurus, Richard Allington, is very against the use of EAs, saying > that the least trained people are working with the neediest children. He > is undoubtedly correct most of the time. But if you can hire experience, > train carefully, and monitor effectively, I think you'll get a lot of bang > for your district's buck. :) Terry _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive
