2014-15 Writing Road to Reading Professional Development Unit

1. 2014-15Writing Road to ReadingProfessional Development Unit By: Rosalie O’Dea Manual High School SPED

2. During the course of this PDU, what parts of the curriculum worked best? Why? I enjoyed being a part of this PDU so I could work on a curriculum that I believe strongly in. It is so important for students to learn the phonemes of the English language – even in high school, in order to move forward educationally. The parts of the curriculum that worked the best were the sound tapping, visuals paired with words, and bingo dabbing. I believe that the sound tapping and bingo dabbing really helped students to slow down and really think about all of the sounds that they hear in a word – and then associating those sounds with the graphemes. I love the idea of pairing pictures and other visuals with words so that students can have a picture in their heads that they can associate with the vocab. My students responded very well to the visuals – especially when they had their own copies that they could glue into their interactive notebooks paired with what they see on the board.

3. How did I apply the observation feedback from my instructor in my classroom/practice? (examples) Because I began the Writing Road to Reading program during second semester last year, I have been lucky enough to have multiple observations which have all helped me develop this curriculum, and better my craft. While I taught WRTR last year, this year was the first time that I taught the curriculum to MI students. During one of my first observations, I received feedback and support in changing up the pacing a little bit. Because last year I developed it to be used with mild moderate students, it was a very fast paced class. In order to cater WRTR to a lower skilled group of students, I broke down each day of instruction to two days (sometimes 3). At first it felt awkward and slow, but as we moved through each day, I noticed my students really catching on, and making growth. Another application of the feedback I received during an observation was that I had left out the “writing” part of the Writing Road to Reading! While I had great strategies in place for learning the phonemes and vocab, we weren’t taking time to practice writing the graphemes. I added writing paper images to my powerpoints that I use in class so I could model how to write each grapheme for all to see. The students then would do it themselves while I could circle around to check in and make sure they were written corectly.

4. What did I learn to do differently as a result of teaching the curriculum in my classroom or in my practice? Learning and teaching this curriculum has been a great learning experience

5. Why is this PDU action research process important to my students’ learning and to my growth as a professional? • Please add your response here of approximately one paragraph.

6. PDU Data AnalysisReflecting on the data you have collected, how did this curriculum impact instruction, progress monitoring, student performance, and your own practice? • Please add your response here, think about your progress monitoring, SLO assessment data and your student work samples.

7. How will I apply my new learning in the future to further my practice? What are my next steps? • Please add your response here of approximately one paragraph.

8. PDU Artifact #1

10. PDU Artifact #2

12. PDU Artifact #3

15. Exit Ticket • What support(s) do you need to further your professional growth in future PDUs? • I thought this PDU was set up well – with an individual instructor for observations and to share ideas with the class • I loved getting resources like the WRTR book, so resources that I can continue to use are a great support • 2 things that you took away from the PDU this year: • Valuable Outside observations to help me grow • I am taking away the value of explicit instruction and intentional interventions based on need • 1 piece of constructive criticism: • Timing and location changes