Emily Cornett

Read 680
Reading Specialist/Coach Interview
Is it difficult preparing and working with students and teachers from multiple grade levels in one
day?
I work with kindergarten through fifth grade students, so I must be well-planned with
materials and lessons ahead of time in order to be able to switch grade levels and subject
smoothly. I keep a notebook of where I stop and start with lessons, so I can pick back up with
them. I reassess every day and take notes. I dont do a lesson 1 today, then lesson 2 tomorrow.
There is no one-size fits all curriculum, I just keep with the lesson until fluency is achieved.
I may face mild opposition by the classroom teacher mainly because they dont
understand that I am not a classroom tutor for what they are doing at that moment in the
classroom. I have to start at the foundation of their difficulty and work up from there. Sometimes
a student doesnt feel safe in classroom environment and the teacher can lose patience with that
child. I want to make it a safe environment for the kids unlike they may feel in the classroom.
Sometimes it can be hard because the teacher will just go over material in the same way, but
same doesnt always cut it for a child with a reading difficult. I believe a team approach with
parents, teachers, and the student always works best.
Is it hard to transition from one grade to another?
It is only hard if Im not on top of my game with the materials. I need to know what I am
doing for the next week.
What about working with lower vs higher grade/level students?
Sometimes its a welcomed change. You can talk to the older ones differently, tease them
a little bit. I have a few minutes to transition and talk with them before we start with the lesson
when I can ask them things like: What are you doing in class today? Are you having trouble
with anything?
How many kids do you work with at a time?
The most I work with is 3 and least is 1 at a time.
What grade do you enjoy the most?
I have worked from Kindergarten thought 12th grade, but I enjoy the elementary grades
the most.
What does your daily schedule look like? How much of your day do you spend planning,
working with teachers, or students? Any other components take up a large chunk of your time?
7:45-12:00: I pull 5th graders first before school starts. Then, I have 1st grade, 2nd grade, 4th
grade, and 3rd grade sessions
12:15-1:00: What I like to call a working lunch because I also plan during this time
1:00-1:30: 4th grade session

1:45-2:45: Planning time, paper work for outside evaluations (private/public), individual
student assessments, phone conferences with psychologists, teacher conferences
2:45-3:30: 5th grade session
I probably spend about 5 hours of my day working with students which is most of my
day.
How much of that time do you meet with teachers?
I meet with teachers whenever there are meetings or when we need to plan about a
student. I also do some classroom observations and after school conferences with teachers and
parents.
Something that has taken up a nice chunk of my time this year is English visual work
when I develop visuals for my English curriculum.
What does that mean?
This is when I create hands on visuals that can be used on the board. I mark visuals and
the students use them to label sentences. It really helps students who cannot read well. For
example, an English visual that means Plural is 2+. Vocabulary is so extensive for English so
these pictures work well for vocabulary.
Do the students seem to respond well to those?
Yes, mine really do. They are very hands on and they connect to EduCreation, and app
they work with on the iPads.
Do you meet with the teachers to teach them about the new plan toward using visuals?
Yes, there needs to be consistency in the visuals that I use and those the teachers use in
their classrooms across grade levels. Other things can change as far as how instruction is
explained as long as the visuals stay the same.
What are some examples of strategies/activities that have worked best for your students?
Multisensory phonemic awareness skill strategies work well for my students. For reading,
I basically use the Barton Language and Wilson Language programs. Both are programs for
dyslexic children that deal with phonemic awareness. They are different programs than what is
used in the classroom to provide for some variety in their instruction and see what works the
best.
I used several different apps: Fry Words Pro, Things2Learn (Reading and spelling),
Spelling (good for students who do not want to write, so they can say the word), Whizzimo,
Story Maker, and Transformation. A lot of these are not free, but I would recommend them
especially for small groups sitting together.
What advice would you, as a reading specialist, give to a school administrator on what to do to
work best with a reading specialist in your school?
I would tell them that the window for EARLY intervention is very brief. Students develop
their own coping skills that fall apart in first/second/third grade. When pre-reading and phonemic

awareness skills are not mastered, there is a need to intervene. I would also make them aware
that screening for phonemic awareness skills is in late K4 and early K5.
Is there an advice to give to administrators about working with you?
We need more help in this area as far as other teachers being on board or available tutors
that are trained to help. There is more need than there are people available.
What is your favorite part about your job? Least favorite?
The relationships that I build with my students, their parents, and the teachers is what
makes this job worthwhile. Ill get emails like this from parents:
This hasnt happened beforehe read 4 books by himself in bed last night! Short books
(Fly Guy), but he has never done that before! He always said he couldnt because he could not
read well enough. :D
Sometimes I tell students that there isnt any reading homework. Just go home and cuddle
up with a book and read with parents or I tell parents to read with their children. I want to get
back to the feeling of reading for fun. I guess its the personal satisfaction of all of this, for me.
My least favorite thing is that time is my worst enemy. Sometimes I feel like I do not
have enough time or energy in the day to service all the students in need (especially those in K52). Also, people tend to think that I have all the answers just because I am considered a specialist,
but I am still learning too.
What is one thing about your job that others might not know or might be surprised to find out?
They might not know how much really goes on behind the scenes when youre trying to
individualize instruction for the students. How much you actually research to find strategies and
activities that will work for different students. Often, the curriculum is medial and doesnt do that
individualization. You just have to find things and put them together yourself to meet that child
needs. That is where I come in and tackle those specific skills that might be missing, skills that
might not be covered in the general curriculum.
I am also always amazed at just how much my students can teacher ME about learning
disabilities and differences. You just have to take the time to explore together.
Reflection
I thoroughly enjoyed my interview with Mrs. Gardner. She really discussed the many
different aspects of working with students in reading. I learned that if you go about this
intervention time with the students in the right way, then they never see themselves as being
different in a bad way. She explained to the students that their brain just reads differently and it is
her job to help that student figure out how their brain likes to read. It is so important for students

to feel safe in their learning environment before they can succeed. After witnessing some
students enter her classroom, I could tell how comfortable, open, and happy they felt there. She
even told me that her students will often feel safer in her classroom during this individualized
time than they do in their homeroom classroom, which is why they work so well. I really enjoyed
hearing about the different hands on activities that she does with her students. She said that she
likes to get away from the textbook. In fact, I dont think she uses one at all in her class, and her
students love that! They work with visuals on the board and in groups or on the IPads,
manipulating words and sentences. I completely agreed with this approach because this
individualized time is for working with students in a different way, a way that they are not
exposed to in the classroom, because for many, that general approach doesnt work as well. For
her, it is about finding what works for the students and using those strategies in their instruction.
I could tell that her students thought so much of her as a teacher, and I enjoyed listening to her
advice and her experience working with students in reading.