Field_Experience_A

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Grand Canyon University *

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325

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Mechanical Engineering

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Jan 9, 2024

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February 15, 2023 Field Experience A GCU – ELM: 315 - Dr. Ziroli Part 1: Mentor Interview and Observation ● Describe the reading needs and abilities of the students you typically teach in your classroom. o The students in my language class require lower-level reading material and activities. While the students are freshmen through senior grade levels, they read at the second to fourth-grade levels. ● Describe the relationship between cognitive processes and reading instruction and discuss how you apply your knowledge of brain-based learning, the Science of Reading, and Scarborough’s Reading Rope when designing instructional activities for your students. o Scarborough’s Reading Rope is not a concept I am familiar with; our schools do not utilize it. o As for the relationship between cognitive processes and reading instruction, there are steps teachers take to help students learn to read and decode words they are not familiar with. I look at their base level of reading and comprehension and create more middle-of-the-road level lessons for the group of students I work with. This helps and encourages my lower-level students and reinforces cognitive processes for the students who are above the level of the lesson I have planned. When writing is involved in the lesson, each student is then able to write at their academic level. ● Explain some of the student engagement and instructional strategies you have used to successfully meet the needs of students with exceptionalities, including dyslexia, English language learners, above and below-grade-level readers, and reluctant, struggling, and striving readers. o Students will read either independently, in groups, or as the entire class a relative article pertaining to holidays or news topics (i.e., Ground Hog Day, Valentine’s

Day, September 11). To encourage student engagement, I will find articles that are relevant to them. I do not have students who struggle with Dyslexia or are English Language Learners, so this is not a concern. However, I do have students who are reluctant to read due to speech impairments. For these students, while I want them to read, I do not push them to read out loud; however, I will call on them to speak and answer questions with the class. ● Discuss the data you typically review and collect related to student literacy skills and describe how you use this data as part of the instructional planning process. o The data I look to collect starts at the beginning of each school year. I look at the base level each student begins at, their previous advancement, and where I realistically see them reaching for the current school year. ● Describe how you collaborate with special education and resource teachers as well as a reading/literacy specialist to meet the needs of the students in your classroom. o When I taught kindergarten at the beginning of my career, I worked closely with the special education teacher. Kindergarten is a gray area of education because it is assumed that when a student is behind the academic grade level, they must have an IEP. I do not believe this. Just because a child is not grasping concepts at the same rate as their peers does not mean they immediately need to be given an IEP. I would work with the special education teacher on ways to help my struggling students first, then proceed from there. ● Describe how you differentiate lessons and use a variety of instructional methods, student grouping, informal and formal assessments, and a variety of reading materials in your classroom to meet student needs. o All my students are able to read the materials I use in my classroom. When it comes time to complete assignments based on the readings, I provide worksheets specific to each student's grade level. The students who are at a fourth-grade level

receive an assignment slightly more advanced than the students who are at the second-grade level. The students are still completing an assignment with the same end result, but instructions are different based on their academic level. I also try to provide worksheets to texts we read that encourages critical thinking, so that each student is able to answer questions at their level, verse providing answers that may be above their level of comprehension. ● Discuss the greatest challenges you face in teaching literacy skills and describe how you use support resources, including technology, to overcome these challenges. o Challenges with teaching literacy skills varies from student to student. Typically, language classes are divided up by grade level, though this year all my language students are in one class. There is also an issue of having enough technology devices available for all my students. We have 10 devices to use, however we share those devices with another class. More specifically with technology, I have a couple students who do not know how to operate a Chromebook enough to be able to do so independently. To accommodate this challenge, I have a classroom para who helps. ● Describe the action steps you take when you determine that a student is struggling with literacy skills and meeting the expected grade level milestones. Include a discussion of intervention strategies you employ before seeking additional help from a reading specialist. o Since I teach high school language for students who are at the elementary level, meeting expected grade level milestones is not as concerning as it is for elementary students. However, there are concerns for high school students who are at elementary grade level academically. The main concern would be that they are able to comprehend simple texts that relate to everyday life.

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● Describe how you engage the families of students in literacy activities that can help students reach the grade level milestones and move toward reading proficiency. o Our school schedule is set up on a block rotation, so each class is 85 minutes long. This is beneficial for our students because it provides more time than they traditional 55 minutes students would be in my class. However, this also eliminates a very large portion of family engagement when it comes to completing literacy activities. I usually have parent involvement when I notice students are not participating but usually do in my class. If I notice behavior differences this becomes a concern to me and I will reach out to parents to check in on the home-front. GCU Student Observations: ● Student engagement strategies: Students read aloud as a class, each taking turns reading a portion of the book. Students are provided word searches once a week to increase their literacy skills, among other skills such as vocabulary, ● Instructional strategies and activities: Prior to reading chapters in their book, students completed vocabulary worksheets, stating what they think different words from the book mean. Once they read the chapters, they went back to their worksheet to check whether or not they gave the correct definition based on the context of the book. ● Differentiating instruction: Students are encouraged to complete assignments to the best of their abilities. Questions are encouraged to be asked, whether it is because the students do not understand the instructions or because they want to know “why” the answer is what it is. ● Student grouping during instruction: Students are grouped based on their reading level.

● Reading materials and genres: Third and fourth-grade level chapter books; fiction and non-fiction texts; word searches. ● Informal and formal assessment activities and data collection: Assessment activities were not completed during the times I observed Mrs. Smith and her class. ● Collaboration with other teachers or paraprofessionals: Collaboration with the students IEP case managers to better understand what level of reading they comprehend and read at. Part 2: Reading/Literacy Specialist, Reading/Literacy Coach, Reading Interventionist, Special Education Teacher, or Principal Interview Special Education Teacher Interview: Audrey Smith ● Explain the role and responsibilities of the reading/literacy specialist. o Reading specialists assist with thinking of accommodations and modifications for students who struggle to read and/or comprehend what they have read. ● Describe how you collaborate with classroom teachers to support the needs of all students, including those with exceptionalities, dyslexia, English language learners, above and below grade level readers, and reluctant, struggling and striving readers. o Students who receive IEP minutes for language and reading, are provided a classroom para to assist with assignments ● Discuss the greatest challenges you face in supporting students who are struggling with literacy skills and describe how you use support resources, including technology, to overcome these challenges. o Challenges I face are that I’ll have students in one class that require different accommodations and modifications from one another. We also do not have

enough technology devices for every student when devices are needed. There are also students who do not know how to use Chromebooks adequately enough to benefit them with assignments. To overcome this particular challenge, students will be paired together when completing an assignment that requires a technology device. ● Describe the types of data that must be collected by classroom teachers and the strategies they should employ before seeking the support of a reading/literacy specialist to assist in meeting the needs of students in their classroom. o Data reported from classroom teachers include the struggles they see students presenting with. They also provide assignment details to our special education teachers and paraprofessional in advance so that accommodations and modifications cane be made at the time of the lesson being assigned. This helps with keeping students on task and with the rest of the class and not falling behind with completing assignments. ● Discuss the role you play in providing professional development opportunities and individual coaching for teachers. o This is not something I assist with. Our school has a position for director of student services. The individual in this position is responsible for providing professional development opportunities and individual coaching for teachers. I receive the same professional development as general education teacher, and coaching when requested. ● Describe how you engage the families of students in literacy activities that can help students reach the grade level milestones and move toward reading proficiency. o With being a high school literacy teacher for students at the elementary academic level in reading, writing, and comprehension, family involvement is typically addressed. We will meet with parents/guardians of the students if we see issues such as lack of involvement from the student, otherwise we complete all activities

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in class. Our school schedule is on a block rotation, meaning, each class is 85 minutes long so we have ample amount of time to address any issue or skill that needs be improved upon. If our class schedule was traditional and only 55 minutes for each class, changes to how assignments are completed would need to be done and family involvement would be needed more. Use any remaining field experience hours to provide support or assistance to the class as directed by your mentor. Reflection: In 250 words, reflect on what you learned from your interviews and classroom observation by addressing the following: ● Explain the relationship between cognitive processes and reading instruction. o The cognitive process is having and using the ability to process and comprehend because of mental pathways. When individuals are able to learn and communicate through comprehension, they increase their ability to think, remember, and problem solve. This relates to the Science of Reading, because the Science of Reading helps understand the what the cognitive process is and how it is vital to learning to read. The Science of Reading is also what we know about how students learn to read, and the importance of being taught in a variety of ways. ● Describe how the research on the Science of Reading and Scarborough’s Reading Rope can be applied when designing instructional activities and supports for all students. o The Science of Reading and Scarborough’s Reading Rope can be applied when designing instructional activities and support for students because both can guide what type of activities are beneficial for some students, and what would not be appropriate. The ultimate goal is for the class to learn the state standard, but some students will require alternative methods of instructions so that they can learn their way.

● Describe two challenges you may experience as you plan lessons to meet the diverse reading needs of the students in your classroom. o Typically lesson plans are completed in advance for class. This is fine, and can help guide the class. However, when the lessons are completed too far in advance, teachers may end up having to change their plans on the fly because some of their students may not respond or learn accurately with the lessons as is. Another challenge could be that the there will be different levels of students in my classroom, and ensuring that I have reading texts that meet the needs of all my students could be challenging, especially if there are any English Language Learners in my class.