[MOSAIC] Questions for Reading Specialists

[Lori Lacaillade]

Hi Shannon,
I am a first year teacher in a school district in New Jersey. I spend an
hour every other day (we are on a six day rather than 5 day cycle) in a
push-in situation with two different 4th grade students for language arts.
These are both one-on-one situations. When I get there we spend about 10
minutes working with words - sight words, making words (compound words,
contractions etc.) with letter tiles and magnetic letters. These are
generally words I have seen the student read incorrectly during guided
reading as well as words specified in his/her IEP. There is also a book
called Making Words, by Patricia Cunningham, and Dorothy Hall, that I use.
Then I focus on guided reading for about 20 minutes. With one student this
is re-reading a book she has already read once with her teacher in a Guided
Reading group.  We use the Guided Reading model outlined by Fountas and
Pinnell in our district.  This re-reading builds fluency and helps with
decoding. With the other student I work with, we read a book for the first
time.  I always give a strong introduction introducing concepts and
vocabulary he will need to work through the text.  In both cases I try to
teach a concept in a mini-lesson I saw the student struggle with during
reading.  This may be a short phonics piece or word work.  Finally, I work
with the comprehension strategies for about 20-30 minutes.  I often read
aloud to the student modeling the strategy first and then have the student
become more independent eventually building this into the guided reading
piece as well.  This follows the model presented in Mosaic of Thought by
Susan Zimmerman and Ellin Oliver Keene. This push-in situation was written
into the students' IEP's last year. The first few weeks I observed the
student within the regular co-teaching classroom.  Then the teachers and I
sat down and developed a plan for my work with these students. After each
session with the students, I spend some time (5-10 minutes) talking to the
teachers about what they have seen in the classroom and what I have seen
during my session. This is helpful when planning for the next session. Both
of these students are 2 grade levels below where they should be in regaurd
to thier reading level and one has not yet mastered the first grade sight
words set in our districts language arts curriculum guide. This is intense
one-on-one help. I work in both pull-out and push-in formats with different
students.  I sometimes find that the student I am working with in the
push-in program is distracted by what the rest of the class is doing
(normally guided reading groups) while we are working.  I am also unsure
about the social implications the push-in program is having.  The student is
still in his/her least restricted environment but they are very much
isolated by constantly being seen working one-on-one with a different
teacher.  It might not be as bad with a small group. The student is in
his/her least restrictive environment.  I have also found that it can be
less restricting when the teacher has a project or lesson planned that the
student would benefit that I can support that student with in the
classroom.  I am not locked into working with that student one-on-one away
from the rest of the class. I hope this helps and I have been clear enough
to understand.  If you have any other questions don't hesitate to contact
me.  Thanks!
Lori L.
New Jersey

On 11/10/06, Shannon Winkler <swinkler at mail.nixa.k12.mo.us> wrote:
>
> I am a Title I Reading Specialist for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade
> students in my building.  Typically I am pulling these children out
> of their regular classrooms into a small group setting of 5-7
> students in my classroom.  This is my first year in this position (I
> taught both 1st and 3rd grades prior to this) and have two questions
> for any others on the list who might be in a similar teaching
> position.
>
> 1.  I would like to get ideas on what your time with students in your
> groups 'typically' looks like.  Specifically, how do you incorporate
> word work, teaching the comprehension strategies, decoding
> strategies, writing, etc., etc. throughout the week?  When I was in
> the regular classroom, I always used the reading/writing workshop
> models to guide my instruction--I am trying to continue that same
> 'style' of teaching within my groups and would like to hear how
> others might be doing this.
>
> 2.  I would also like to know if anyone has used a "push-in" format
> vs. the "pull-out" format I am currently using.  What are pros/cons
> you have found, and if you did find it beneficial (I have a 4th grade
> teacher wanting to do this with me--she does reading workshop) what
> was your role in the classroom when you went in?  How much time did
> you spend in the classroom and what did your time in there "look
> like" with the teacher and his/her students (specifically your
> 'group' students)?
>
> Thank you in advance for your time and ideas!
>
> -Shannon
>
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