Differentiated Literacy Coaching: Fostering Reflection with Teachers

International Reading Association, Orlando, FL, May 9, 2011

Katie Stover

Karen Haag

Rebecca Shoniker

Teacher Reflection Model

Has intuition
and has theory
Has intuition
but lacks theory
Lacks intuition
but has theory
Lacks theory
Lacks intuition

Stage IStage II Stage III Stage IV

Teacher Scenarios – Where are each of these teachers on the Reflection Model Continuum?

It was the end of the unit on writing memoir and Ms. Carter’s third grade students were excited to share their published pieces. Sitting in desks and rows, Ms. Carter’s students patiently raise their hands with hopes of being called on. Ms. Carter calls on Jake to share first. He smiles, pushes in his chair, and walks to the front of the room where he stands to read his entire story. After sharing several more stories in this manner, students seemed to be losing interest. At this point, Ms. Carter realized they were late for lunch. She quickly explained that they would share the rest of the writing the next day and asked students to quietly and quickly line up for lunch. / Mr. Boatright, a first grade teacher spent a great deal of time making sure his lesson plans connected with the standard course of study, were engaging and interesting to his students, and fostered real-world learning including 21st century skills. He was well organized and was excited to put all of his content knowledge to good use. However, after teaching his well thought out lessons and after analyzing data, Mr. Boatright oftentimes felt that his students just weren’t ‘getting it.’ He covered all of the material in his lesson plans and asked a lot of questions but when it came time for students to demonstrate understanding through independent practice, they often missed the mark. Furthermore, many students were off task during independent work time as well.
Ms. Dawson, a fifth grade teacher decidedto review for the quickly approaching end of grade high-stakes assessment with her students. She knew it was important for students to actively engage with text. In her teacher modeling, she demonstrated with a teacher think aloud about which words and phrases she thought were essential by coding the text. For forty minutes, Ms. Dawson talked about why she made her decisions about coding and occasionally she questioned the whole group with basic questions that required a simple one word “fill in the blank” response.One student dominated by responding. As she noticed students losing focus and interest, she increased her volume and speed in an effort to get through the material. / Mrs. Kelly, a third grade teacher referenced her lesson plan book and conference notes before beginning her mini-lesson on great beginnings. She gathered students in the meeting area and began her lesson with a connection to previous learning. She then explicitly named the strategy and provided models of effective leads. Next she encouraged students to turn and talk with a partner to discuss a possible lead for the current piece of writing they are working on. After a few minutes of active engagement, Mrs. Kelly summarized the teaching point and sent students off to write. Some students independently wrote while others met with peers to discuss their writing. The speech teacher assisted a small group of students with their writing at the kidney-bean shaped table in the back of the room.