Reading 705

I-Search Paper
Andrea Edbauer
March 31, 2014

Undergraduate Course Work

When I began college in 2001, I knew that I wanted to be a teacher. I had always
wanted to be a teacher, and I was finally ready to begin my studies. However, after
taking some basic courses, I wasn’t sure if teaching was right for me. I began to doubt
whether or not I could handle all of the responsibilities that came along with teaching. I
started to explore other career possibilities, such as human services and business, but
the thought of teaching would not leave my mind. It wasn’t until a few years into college
that I finally decided to dedicate myself to become a teacher. During my first semester
of taking education classes, I knew that it was the right career choice. I found my
classes interesting, and studying no longer felt like work.

It is difficult to remember my undergraduate coursework, since it began thirteen years

ago. The titles of classes, and names of professors have escaped my memory. I looked
at my transcript from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh to see the names of the
classes: Reading 305, 410, and 420. All of these classes were taken from spring 2006
to spring 2007. Reading about methodology and best-practices in a textbook, and
completing assignments and projects was helpful in building a strong background
knowledge. However, until I could actually apply what I learned to my own classroom,
the concepts and skills didn’t really “stick.” It is difficult for me to recall exactly what was
learned in my undergraduate courses. I remember certain assignments and projects,
but nothing in particular stands out. Looking back, my undergraduate courses did a
great job of helping me recognize and develop meaningful, developmentally-appropriate
activities and lessons. However, most of the knowledge I have about teaching reading
was acquired after I graduated, and began teaching reading in my own classroom.

Clinical Teaching
My clinical experience was Theresa Bures’ kindergarten classroom at Roosevelt
Elementary School in Oshkosh. She implemented a modified version of Daily 5.
Students worked on read to self, work on writing, or word work for 30 minutes per day,
while she met with a guided reading group. A reading specialist also came into the
classroom during this time to meet with a second guided reading group. This was my
first experience in a kindergarten classroom since I was in kindergarten, and I
remember being amazed that children so young could read.
My clinical group had to plan a reading unit, and this was the first time I had planned a
lesson that would be taught to real children. Ms. Bures shared some resources that
were provided by the school, and told us that we could use them if we would like. We
decided to use one of the big books on weather. Our Daily 5 activities also centered
around a weather theme. For a writing activity we had students write a letter to
someone about the weather. For word work we had students sort words into word
families. For read to self, we found a variety of books related to weather that the
children could choose to read. While the students were working, we would interact with
them and ask questions like “Can you think of any other words that could fit into this
word family?” Overall, I had a very positive clinical experience, and first glimpse into
how kindergarten had changed since I was a student.

Student Teaching
My first student teaching placement was in a preschool classroom at Project Bridges
Daycare and Preschool in Appleton, which was also a Head Start collaborative site. The
children in the classroom were ages three to six. The school followed the High/Scope
Curriculum, so many of the lessons were more exploratory and interest-based. For
example, for one lesson I turned the dramatic play area into a restaurant. The children
were provided pens, paper, and menus. I was able to see the power of learning through
play. The children knew the purpose of a menu, and which way to hold it. Some children
took orders by scribbling notes on a notepad. As the children played, I was an active
participant, asking them questions and introducing new vocabulary words, such as
“teaspoon.” Through this student teaching experience, I also learned the important role
that finger plays, rhymes, poems, and interactive read-alouds play in early literacy
development.

My second student teaching experience was at Smith Elementary School in Oshkosh.

Unfortunately, I did not observe very much literacy instruction taking place. For
example, the teacher did not have Daily 5, CAFE, writer’s workshop, reading workshop,
or guided reading routines established. Instead, students were just journaling during
writing time, and reading independently every day for extended periods of time. I
observed very few writing and reading lessons. The classroom teacher gave me the
freedom to do whatever I wanted to do, so I did a poetry unit. Students read poetry
books, and wrote poems. They chose some poems to publish, and we had a poetry
CAFE, where the classroom was set up to look like a coffee shop, complete with hot
chocolate. We invited other school personnel, such as the principal, into the classroom,
and students took turns sharing the poems they wrote. Looking back on my experience,
I wish I would have been placed with a stronger cooperating teacher. It was nice to have
so much freedom, but it would have also been nice to learn from a strong mentor. I also
wish that I would have taken it upon myself to launch Daily 5 in the classroom, and meet
with guided reading groups.

Teaching Experience
In the summer of 2008 I was hired to teach kindergarten at Suamico Elementary School
in the Howard Suamico School District. I was hired in June, so I had most of the
summer to prepare for my job. I spent most of June and July setting up my classroom.
Literacy was a main focus when doing so. I knew that I wanted an alphabet line, word
wall, and as much environmental print as possible, without the room being too busy and
overwhelming. I started doing more curriculum planning in August. I felt overwhelmed
with the idea of developing a curriculum. I was afraid that I would leave something
important out. I consulted with my team members often, and they were very generous
when it came to sharing resources and ideas. I decided to begin the year by following
the reading series that the district provided as a resource, Harcourt Storytown. I knew
that a scripted program was not necessarily best practice, but it gave me a place to
start, and a scope and sequence. I followed the lesson ideas for sight words, phonics,
phonemic awareness, robust vocabulary, and comprehension. I also supplemented with
some of my own ideas. My principal was very trusting of my teaching, and letting me
experiment with new ideas. He would offer advice, but never told me exactly what I had
to do. I appreciated this, because I wasn’t afraid to try new things, and I could learn from
my mistakes.

I learned as I went my first year, and I had a very positive experience. I was very
dedicated and proud of my work, and my students were flexible as I tried new things. I
started to have a better understanding of the development of an emergent reader. Over
winter break I remember getting together with some friends who also taught
kindergarten. We spent a day making rings of sight words for students to take home and
practice. One thing I did not know very much about that first year was guided reading. I
consulted in my literacy specialist, Lisa Josephs, to help me get guided reading groups
started in my classroom. She gave me a brief overview of what guided reading looked
like. I also observed a first grade teacher, April White, as she met with guided reading
groups. I then assessed my students using the Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark
Assessment System, and placed them into leveled groups. I remember starting guided
reading on my birthday, February 9th. Looking back now, I cannot believe that I waited
that late in the year to do so! However, all of my students except for one were proficient
or advanced by the end of the school year.

While I was meeting with guided reading groups, students were working in literacy
stations based on Debbie Diller’s book ​Literacy Work Stations: Making Centers Work​.
Literacy work stations appealed to me, because, unlike traditional centers, the stations
remained up all year, and allowed me to “differentiate for the various levels within a
classroom” (Diller, 2003, p. 5). For each station, I developed an “I Can” chart, which
listed tasks that students could do at that station. I spent a lot of time that year
developing engaging, meaningful activities. Students rotated in mixed-ability groups of
three. I noticed that my students enjoyed the stations, and I felt that they were doing
valuable work, and working fairly independently and on task for kindergarteners.

One thing that did bother me a bit was the noise level, and amount of interruptions I was
faced with while meeting with guided reading groups. I would sometimes have to take a
break from my groups to remind students to stay on task. During the summer of 2009, I
decided to read ​The Daily 5: Fostering Literacy Independence in the Elementary
Grades​, and my life will never be the same! I was hooked on the first page, when
Boushey and Moser (2006) painted a vivid picture of what their classrooms looked like
prior to their Daily 5 days, “If you had walked into our classroom during literacy time in
our first years of teaching, you might have seen children who were...clustered at centers
looking quite busy. Except for Jason-he was sharpening his pencil and bother a group
of students sitting nearby” (p. 4). This was exactly what my classroom looked like during
center time: some students appeared to be on-task, others maybe not, and some
students were obviously off-task, and bothering other students.

I decided to launch The Daily 5 with my kindergarten students that fall. First, I had to
adapt the system a bit to fit the needs of my little learners. For example, I established a
large collection of picture and alphabet books, since most of my students could not read
at the beginning of the year. I came up with a variety of word work and work on writing
activities. Most of the ideas I developed my first year for literacy work stations could be
used during Daily 5 time. I followed the Ten Steps to Independence recommended in
the book, and I was in awe at how independent my students were during work time.
They were engaged, on-task, and quiet. I also noticed that my students were taking
pride in their work. When the class’ stamina increased, they would get very excited. One
day when they were building stamina, I had to stop them because it was recess time.
When I announced that they could have gone longer, but I stopped the timer because it
was time for recess, they were very upset. They begged me to let them stay in for
recess so that they could keep building stamina. Their hard work and independence
allowed me to start meeting with guided reading groups in November, much earlier than
the previous year.

In February of that year I had the opportunity to attend the Wisconsin State Reading
Association’s conference in Milwaukee. I attended break-out sessions lead by Peter
Johnston, Ellin Keene, and The Sisters. After returning to Green Bay on Saturday, I
spent the weekend at school, excited to implement Literacy CAFE in my classroom. I
set up a CAFE menu, and determined which strategies I would place on the menu with
my students. I had student “experts” write the menu cards, which helped them take
ownership for their learning. At the conference, Ellin Keene discussed the importance of
reading a variety of texts across different genres. I had been reading many of my
favorite fiction texts to my students, but I hadn’t branched out into other text types. Her
discussion inspired me to read more poetry, websites, historical fiction, biographies, and
mysteries.

Another big focus of my reading instruction that year was author studies. I had an
“Author of the Month” bulletin board. We would read books by a certain author, such as
Eric Carle or Leo Lionni, study his or her writing style, and then write a letter to the
author if he or she was not deceased. Students enjoyed learning about new authors,
and they would sometimes try to mimic the author’s writing style during writing time. For
example, after reading books by Mo Willems I placed directions on how to draw the
pigeon character in the writing center. Students enjoyed writing their own stories, using
the pigeon as the main character.

In the summer of 2010 I had an amazing opportunity to attend a two-day workshop with
“The Sisters,” Gail Boushey and Joan Moser. My district, along with CESA 7, sponsored
Daily 5 and CAFE workshops, which were held in Green Bay. Since I was already using
The Daily 5 and CAFE in my classroom, much of the information was a review, but I did
learn some new tips and tricks to enhance my instruction. During my third year teaching
kindergarten, I continued to refine my teaching. I moved away from the Storytown
curriculum almost entirely. I continued to follow the scope and sequence, but I found my
own activities using a variety of resource books that I found at the local teacher store. I
started to become more comfortable in my classroom management skills, which allowed
me to focus more on refining my instruction. I had enjoyed teaching kindergarten, but
the idea of teaching an older grade was beginning to appeal to me a bit more. I did not
want to leave my district, so I was excited to see a 2nd grade opening at another
school, Meadowbrook Elementary.

In the summer of 2011, I was hired to teach 2nd grade at Meadowbrook Elementary
School. I was excited to work with students who were a bit older. Prior to the beginning
of the school year, I spent a lot of time moving into my new classroom, and setting up
the physical environment. I knew that I wanted to create an appealing classroom library.
During my years teaching kindergarten, I had built up a large collection of picture books.
I spent a lot of time that summer researching popular series for 2nd graders, and
shopping at garage sales and thrift stores to collect as many Magic Treehouse and
Horrible Harry books as possible.

When it came to planning the curriculum, I decided to plan the first month or so, and
then wait until I knew my students better to plan the rest. I knew that I wanted to launch
The Daily 5, and teach the CAFE strategies. However, I felt that I did not know 2nd
graders well enough to plan too much in advance. I had quite the class that year! There
were a few students in Title 1, some in special education, a gifted student, and
everything in between. The students in my class ranged from a level C to a level R,
according to the Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System. I found myself
taking many of my kindergarten materials out of storage to use with my struggling
readers. I began the year with two students in special education, and ended the year
with seven (one-third of my class), due to new students qualifying. I felt like I spent the
entire year just trying to “stay afloat” (there were a large number of behavior problems in
my classroom, as well). It was difficult to meet the needs of my lower students without
the support of a special education teacher, since most students qualified for services at
the ​end​ of the school year. Because of my past experience in kindergarten, I had a
strong understanding of the needs of an emergent reader. This knowledge helped me
identify the needs of the struggling readers in my classroom.

Launching The Daily 5 was a lifesaver. Because of the Ten Steps to Independence, my
students were very on-task and independent during work time, despite all of the
behavior concerns, and wide variety of learning needs. My principal viewed my
classroom as a model for what independent literacy work time should look like. Having
this structure allowed me to work with students during guided reading groups without
being interrupted. Throughout the year, I developed reading units based on the needs of
my students, while making sure to cover all of the district’s standards.

In my second year of teaching 2nd grade, I had a smaller number of students with
special needs in my classroom (four), and more support from the special education
teacher. I continued to use The Daily 5 and CAFE structures for literacy learning in my
classroom. I also began to do more research into guided reading instruction. Some of
my colleagues had the opportunity to attend a conference presented by Jan
Richardson. They had great things to say about her book, ​The Next Step in Guided
Reading​, so I purchased it myself. Even after teaching guided reading for four years, I
still felt that I did not have a good understanding of what I should be doing when
meeting with groups. Richardson’s book was a great tool to use when planning guided
reading groups. For example, I had never thought about incorporating guided writing
into guided reading time. The book includes a detailed outline of procedures and
expectations for guided writing for students, based on their reading level.

I also became the 2nd grade representative at my school for the Common Core State
Standards (CCSS) for English/Language Arts curriculum team. The team, which
consists of one 2nd grade teacher from each elementary school in the district, meets
about five times during the school year. Our duties in that first year included looking at
the standards more closely, determining which standards teachers would report out on,
and developing common assessments that would be used by all teachers district-wide.
Being part of this committee was very beneficial in that it helped me understand the
CCSS more thoroughly. I am considered the “expert” for 2nd grade standards in my
building, and other teacher ask me for advice when trying to interpret them.

In the summer of 2013 I read Donalyn Miller’s ​The Book Whisperer.​ I was inspired to
instill a love of reading in my students. Of course, as a teacher of reading, this has
always been my goal. However, Donalyn’s students seem truly thirsty for more books.
Miller (2009) states, “I also reveal to students that I am knowledgeable about books and
that I value their prior reading experiences and preferences.” Miller really connects with
her students through literature. She learns their interests, and seeks out books that they
may enjoy. In the past, my students would place books in their book bins for
independent reading time, but I didn’t communicate with them very often about their
choices. I might have seen ​Knuffle Bunny​ in a student’s bin and said, “Oh, I love that
book!” but the discussion didn’t go much further. I made it a goal for the upcoming
school year to get to know my students more as readers; to not just know their strengths
and weaknesses, but also their interests.

For the current school year, I have a total of twenty-three students in my classroom, six
of whom have special needs. My district follows the Professional Learning Community
(PLC) model for teacher collaboration. Each PLC team has to establish a goal, and
come up with tasks that will help them meet their goal. My team decided to focus on
phonics instruction this year. We have noticed that phonics is an area where some
students really struggle, and we would like all students to be stronger in their phonics
skills before moving on to third grade. Even our higher students often struggle to apply
phonics rules when trying to decode unknown words. We researched best practices in
phonics instruction, and decided to follow the Orton-Gillingham approach. As stated on
Orton-Gillingham’s website “​This theory combines multisensory techniques along with
the structure of the English language...Multi-sensory education incorporates the three
learning pathways, which are: auditory, kinesthetic, and visual. This approach is
beneficial not only for students with dyslexia, but for all learners.” This is exactly what
we were looking for when trying to decide how to approach phonics instruction:
something that would benefit all learners. ​I ​purchased some resources off of their
website, and watched free training videos online. So far I have enjoyed teaching
phonics in a more structured, systematic way. We gave our students the Scholastic Red
CORE Phonics Survey which we will give them again at the end of the year to see how
much growth was made by implementing the program.

I have also continued to use The Daily 5 and CAFE structures in my classroom this
year. Prior to the beginning of the school year, I came up with my own scope and
sequence, which shows when I am going to teach what. A main goal of mine this year
was to integrate literacy and the content areas even more so than I have done in the
past. I find that I have less time to dedicate to social studies and science, which makes
it even more important to integrate. I have worked hard this year to develop text sets, so
that my CAFE lessons can be taught using books that tie in with what we’re learning in
social studies or science.

One of my biggest challenges this year has been working with two students who are
reading at a kindergarten level. One student began the year at a Fountas and Pinnell
Guided Reading level C, and the other at a level A. Both students were reading at a
level D by the end of October. However, they have not made any growth since, and it is
currently the end of March. They are both working with the special education teacher,
and are receiving Leveled Literacy Intervention (LLI). We decided recently to stop using
LLI, and focus instead on Orton-Gillingham phonics. These two students continue to
keep me challenged, and trying to think of new approaches to teaching students with a
learning disability.

The Future
During my past six years as an elementary classroom teacher, my knowledge of how
children learn how to read has increased greatly. Each year I am faced with new
students, and new challenges. I enjoy reading professional texts, and discovering new
strategies for teaching. I am hoping that working towards a masters degree in reading
will help me find the answers that I need to continue to help my students succeed. What
are some more ways to integrate reading into the content areas? What are some
strategies that can be used to help my struggling readers when I have tried all of the
tricks up my sleeve, and nothing is working? How can I improve my guided reading
instruction? How can I continue to challenge higher readers?

As I reflect on my teaching thus far, one area in which I would like to improve is helping
my students apply reading strategies during their independent work time. When I think
of the gradual release model, and the “I do, we do, you do” approach, I realize that I do
too much of the “I do” and “We do” steps. I have developed many lessons for modeling
and teaching strategies. As I am reading a story, I will call on students to think, pair, and
share. We often fill out graphic organizers together during guided reading groups.
However, I am often afraid to take the training wheels off. I think that my students aren’t
ready to apply a strategy on their own, or that they’ll struggle a lot, and get frustrated.
The importance of students being able to practice strategies independently is also
stated in the International Reading Association’s Standard 5.4: “Use a variety of
classroom configurations (i.e., whole class, small group, and individual) to differentiate
instruction” (2010).

For my Professional Learning Experience project, I would like to develop a collection of

lessons, graphic organizers, and other activities to help students become more
independent in their metacognitive thinking. First, I am going to set up an interactive
CAFE menu on my classroom website. Students will be able to click on a strategy to
view videos, pictures, links, and other information that will help them apply each
strategy when reading independently. Having this information available on my
classroom webpage will also help parents gain a better understanding of the strategies.
next, I will develop a collection of graphic organizers, games, and other resources that
can be used during guided reading groups, and individual reading and writing time. The
resources I find will be easily differentiated, so that they can be used with students at a
variety of grade levels and ability levels. ​(Update May 5, 2019: ​Here​ is a link to the
interactive literacy CAFE menu.)

Helping my students become more independent will allow them to apply the strategies
learned when they are reading at home or during independent reading time. As stated
by Roe and Smith in their book Teaching Reading in Today’s Elementary Schools
(2010), “The teacher should tell the students what strategy they are going to learn and
how it will help them in their reading. Then the teacher should describe the strategy,
model it, provide teacher-guided practice with it, and offer cooperative an independent
practice opportunities. This procedure allows for a gradual transfer of responsibility from
the teacher to the student” (p. 260). I worry that practicing strategies only during shared
reading and/or guided reading groups, as I currently do, gives students the impression
that the strategies are only to be used when I tell them to, and not on their own time,
and for their own benefit. I want them to understand that the strategies we practice
together will help them become more successful readers, and I feel that the work I do
for this project will help them accomplish just that.
May 5, 2019
Since writing my I-Search paper in March of 2014, a lot has changed in my life as a
professional educator. The 2015-2016 school year was my last year teaching. I have
been a stay-at-home-mom to my two children for the past three years. The goals that I
had set for myself five years ago still resonate. Developing tools and expanding my
knowledge on how to support students during independent reading is still an area in
which I would like to evolve.

As a parent to young children (currently two and four years old), I have seen firsthand
what can happen if you let children develop early literacy skills at their own pace, while
creating a literacy-rich environment, and offering support. For example, I have friends
whose young children knew every letter of the alphabet by the age of two. I have other
friends who use alphabet/literacy apps and flash cards to help teach their young
children early reading skills. My daughter just turned four, and she has just recently
become more interested in the alphabet and writing. I was never worried about her, and
I never forced her to participate in language activities that she wasn’t interested in. I
knew that she would develop these skills when she was ready, and I could support her
by reading every day, and engaging in rich language experiences.

Having children of my own has shown me that sometimes it is best to step back, and let
kids discover things at their own pace, while offering support as-needed. I recognize
that children are naturally inquisitive, and building on their interests and strengths can
have many benefits. Of course, there are circumstances in which children require
intervention to advance in reading and writing, but I do feel that teachers sometimes talk
too much and interfere too often. This new insight is something I will keep in mind in the
future when I work with children.
Resources

Boushey, Gale and Moser, Joan. (2009). ​The CAFE book: Engaging all students in
daily literacy assessment & instruction​. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

Boushey, Gale and Moser, Joan. (2006). ​The daily 5: Fostering literacy independence in
the elementary grades​. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

CORE phonics survey. (​ 2012). Scholastic red.

Diller, Debbie. (2003). ​Literacy work stations: Making centers work.​ Portland, ME:
Stenhouse Publishers.

IRA Standards for Professionals Revised 2010:

HYPERLINK
"​http://www.reading.org/General/CurrentResearch/Standards/ProfessionalStanda
rds.aspx​"

Keene, Ellin. (2009). Presented at: Wisconsin State Reading Association Conference.

Miller, Donalyn. (2009). ​The book whisperer: Awakening the inner reader in every child.
San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Orton Gillingham Professional Development:

HYPERLINK
“​http://www.orton-gillingham.com/​”

Richardson, Jan. (2009). ​The next step in guided reading.​ New York, NY: Scholastic
Teaching Resources.

Roe, Betty and Smith, Sandy. (2010). ​Teaching reading in today’s elementary schools,
11th Edition​. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.