D188 Task 2

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Western Oregon University *

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Course

D188

Subject

Health Science

Date

Oct 30, 2023

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pdf

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Uploaded by emilycalcagno

2051.3.2: Contributing to the Professional Development of Colleagues Emily C Calcagno MSCIN Program, Western Governors University D188: The Collaborative Leader Professor: Terrance Siler October 2023

Curricular Or Instructive Need An instructional need within my school is more professional development opportunities and training regarding the science of reading to help address our student's phonics learning gap. Our elementary school is piloting the reading program UFLI (University of Florida Literacy Institute) that aligns with the science of reading in hopes to help our students have strong foundational reading skills to prevent learning gaps from growing. Due to our school piloting this program for our district, we are the only school familiar with the program, which makes it difficult for professional development and training opportunities. On district wide in service days, we are doing professional development/trainings on our previous reading program which is not helpful in our schools' situation. Our school specifically has the lowest STARR literacy scores at the elementary level within our district, which is why we decided to act fast and try something new that will work for our students. The lack of training and professional development for UFLI has left teachers at my school struggling to learn the new program and are often learning about it in their own time, including myself. For our school's pilot experiment to be successful, teachers need more guidance, support, and overall learning of the UFLI program to feel more confident in what we are instructing. Our students are struggling and need our help, but we are struggling to help our students further when we are still learning ourselves. Data The existing data that helped me to identify the need from part A is our school's STARR scores for literacy. My school's STARR literacy score includes the following : 6% proficient, 18% meets standards, 37% approaching standards, and 39% did not meet standards. We have concluded that our students lack foundational reading skills and need a program to assist K- 2 with effective reading instruction and 3-5 an effective reading intervention program. After intensive research, our principal went to our district to approve the pilot of UFLI within our school to help assist our students' reading needs and to work towards closing learning gaps. Improving School Effectiveness One example of how addressing this need will improve my school's effectiveness includes implementing an effective reading intervention program that aligns with the science of reading to help assist grades 3-5 that do not have foundational skills for reading. By implementing a reading intervention program, it supports students with the largest learning gaps and will hopefully increase reading skills such as decoding, segmentation, and eventually being able to fluently read. Another example of how addressing this need will improve my school's effectiveness includes supporting students K-2 with their foundational reading skills and helping our younger students to prevent learning gaps in their reading. By implementing a strong phonics program into our classrooms reading instruction, it allows students to learn and grow their foundational reading skills and prevent reading struggles in the future.

I teach kindergarten and have been using UFLI since week 2 of the 2023/2024 school year. At the beginning of the school year, only 2/17 of my students could identify up to 5 letter sounds. We are now in week 6, and after assessing my students on their letter sounds, about 80% of students were able to identify the letter names and sounds we have learned within the last 5 weeks. We have learned 5 letter sounds in the last 5 weeks, and most of my students can not only identify the single sounds but segment and blend words with the sounds we have learned. I have collaborated with my teammates and other K-2 teachers and have heard positive reviews about their students' learning outcomes. If we continue to use UFLI as our core phonics instruction, my teammates and I believe that our students will end the year with strong reading foundation skills. Desired Outcomes The outcomes that I seek to achieve includes students K-2 to gain strong foundational reading skills and begin to fluently read, for 3-5 students to have an effective reading intervention program to help assist closing learning gaps, and lastly for classroom teachers to feel comfortable and confidant in their teaching abilities for reading. These outcomes relate to my school's instructional need listed above because when teachers are supported and educated on what they are teaching, it sets students up for success as well. My school's need is to help guide teachers with the new implementation of UFLI as our phonics instruction, so that in return students reading foundational skills become strong, and older students who are struggling feel supported in their reading journey. Due to our school having the lowest STARR literacy score, we have big gaps to fill, but I believe that this new reading program will be beneficial once all teachers can truly grasp and understand what they are instructing. Knowles’s Adult Learning Theory The three principles of Knowles’s adult learning theory I have chosen for incorporation of the professional development opportunity include need to know, experience, problem orientation. ( Toister,2014 ) Need to know will be incorporated into professional development opportunities by giving teachers opportunities to learn more about the science of reading, and its effectiveness in instruction. By giving teachers professional development opportunities to learn more about the background of the science of reading, it allows teachers to connect and understand the importance of our new phonics program, and how it can be taught effectively in our classrooms. Experience will be incorporated into professional development opportunities by providing teachers with a survey to see what they already know about the science of reading, if they are familiar with the program UFLI, what they want to learn/know more about, as well as what they need for further support with implementation. By giving teachers the survey, it will allow our principle and district to become more aware of what we already know, and what we need to further our knowledge. This will also be helpful with guidance on what types of professional development and training are needed for teachers at my school to be seen, heard, and supported throughout this new reading program.

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