What I learned as an educator
One thing that I learned throughout my study is how powerful it is for students to take ownership and be active participants in his/her learning. Every week of my study, my student set a goal on his decoding graph of where he wanted to be and what goal he wanted to reach, and this greatly impacted his motivation as a learner. The student not only would graph his own success, but also go around and tell all of the adults who are involved in his learning. It was extremely motivating as a teacher to see your student succeed through explicit teaching and specific strategies to support the students learning. Another thing I learned throughout my study is that as educators, finding and implementing specific researched based strategies and interventions can impact your students greatly if done correctly and consistently. The growth and progress that my student made in 8 weeks was significant and as he continues with these strategies and interventions, he will continue to make growth as a reader.
Successes and Challenges
One challenge that I faced throughout my study was my student being absent multiple times. Although this was frustrating at times, this just shows the reality of students and what could happen to students throughout their education. My study was with one student, so making sure that I made up any lessons that were missed or adapting to the schedule changes that happen in the general education classroom was key. Another challenge that occurred throughout my study was the communication with the general education teacher about the data that would drive my instruction and study. I had to consistently remind and encourage the general education teacher to take data. A consideration for the future is to implement these strategies with not just one student, but multiple students who need explicit teaching and decoding strategies.
My study had a lot of different successes. The biggest success was my students progress that he made in decreasing his number of errors in decoding while reading. He had multiple days where he made zero decoding errors, resulting in fluent reading. I saw my student gain confidence each day of the study by being able to fluently read without stopping frequently to ask “what word is that?”. As a result of this study, my student is now independently comprehending the text and asking questions about the text. Before this study, my student could not independently do this. My student is also reading more at home and interested in trying new books. The student now has a purpose while reading and is motivated to read and continue to grow.
Study Impact
My study showed me that choosing specific interventions and strategies based off of student needs can greatly impact student growth. Finding research to support my teaching can help guide my decision making and show parents, colleagues, etc., that I am choosing the best practices that will positively impact my students. One of the most important parts of this study is that I now feel confident implementing and researching practices to make the best educational decisions for my students. I used the data from my study to drive my instruction and implement specific strategies that will help my student make progress based off of his needs. I implemented the intervention with consistency and took data to show the progress of the student. The process of this study will help me as I continue to be the leader of making the most beneficial educational decisions for my students.
Connections
Throughout this study, I was able to give advice to my other special education team members about the strategies that I was implementing. A lot of our students have difficulty decoding words and one of my team members decided to use the SRA Corrective Reading program with her student and he is now making progress. As a special education team, we are always looking for the best practices and interventions for our students. By implementing this study, my student is now working towards success in the general education classroom. Each grade has specific benchmarks for reading that the student must meet, and now my student can continue his progress to meet the benchmarks for reading.
National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS)
The NBPTS standards list 5 core propositions:
-Proposition 1: Teachers are committed to students and their learning.
-Proposition 2: Teachers know the subjects they teach and how to teach those subjects to students.
-Proposition 3: Teachers are responsible for managing and monitoring student learning.
-Proposition 4: Teachers think systematically about their practice and learn from experience.
-Proposition 5: Teachers are members of learning communities.
My study demonstrated a commitment to students and their learning, as I used research-based effective strategies in order to best support my student and help him make progress in his reading. I directly involved my student in the process of monitoring his learning and he was able to set goals for himself throughout. Each day, I had a specific lesson and took anecdotal notes to guide my instruction and make changes if appropriate. By implementing this study, I can use this experience to improve my instruction with students and to help colleagues improve their instruction.