Running head: I AS A LEARNER 1

I as a Learner

Crystal Massengale

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

CIL 621

Dr. Stephanie Loomis

May 10, 2021

I AS A LEARNER 2

Original goal:

Create a website with assessments and intervention resources for students at a variety of levels.

Plan: As we work through each stage of comprehensive reading instruction (phonemic

awareness, phonics, fluency, etc.), I will add assessments and instructional materials, research, or

other pertinent information that would be helpful to students who are in need of additional

instruction within that particular skill set.

Updated goal:

Create a website with information, assessments and intervention strategies for students at a

variety of levels.
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I as a Learner

As educators, we must continuously reflect upon our practice and use research based

strategies to reach our students. Without continuing education and learning about new studies

and research findings, our teaching can become stale and ineffective. I work at a school where a

large percentage of students are considered “struggling” or “at-risk” readers. Students are

subjected to many assessments but little intervention. For this project, I wanted to create a

resource that could be used to better pinpoint which assessments will provide meaningful data

for teachers and also provide access to research, strategies, and other resources that will help

teachers (myself included) select instructional materials and methods that target the needs of

each student.

I chose to create a Padlet to organize and contain the resources. This website format is

used by administrators at my school site; I had not created a professional Padlet before, but

wanted to create something that would be familiar to my colleagues. Padlet is an easy website to

create and navigate. Creators can add to each column at their leisure. I like that I am able to add

and rearrange resources over time. Although this project is now complete, I do not feel that I am

finished with this website; I plan to add resources and strategies to it as I learn them. I have

already contacted my school’s literacy specialist and she is interested in adding Read by Grade 3

resources to it as well. A useful feature in Padlet is the ability to duplicate a website to allow for

edits - I can keep this original for my records and create a school-wide Padlet to collaborate on.

In order to better organize my resources, I color-coded the information in each column. I

began with a brief overview of each of the six areas of literacy I chose to focus on (phonemic

awareness, phonics, fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, and writing) in blue. I included some

brief tips and strategies for providing instruction in this area in this first section. Next, I added
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important terms and research in green. My school has several new teachers and ARL students

who are not always familiar with the vocabulary used in literacy instruction; I thought that

including this would make the research and discussion regarding each area more clear and help

avoid confusion. I focused on articles that I have read (for this course, other UNLV courses, or

my own curiosity) that included pertinent research and that I found impactful.

Below this section, I added yellow resources - these were primarily assessments that I

found effective based on my experience in this course or in the past. By selecting assessments

that target each area of literacy, I believe teachers can make more informed decisions when

selecting assessments for individual students. Many teachers in the intermediate grades or not

familiar with primary assessments, so I believe this Padlet can provide some insight in selecting,

implementing and grading assessments. One of my favorite things in the entire Padlet is

information regarding how to miscue analysis. My school has used AIMSweb to monitor fluency

for several years and teachers are encouraged to complete the assessment online. The issue with

this is that the online system only allows teachers to mark a missed word - not to identify the

miscue and truly analize what type of errors a student is making. By conducting running records

or informal reading inventories such as the one found in the Flynt & Cooter text, teachers can

plan next steps to target specific types of miscues. It is so much more meaningful to see what

types of errors a child is making; it gives you a lot of insight as to what is happening within their

minds versus simply marking down an accuracy percentage or number of errors. When I add on

to this Padlet, I will be able to add assessments that are beneficial from our school curriculum as

well.
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Finally, I included a section for references in case a teacher wishes to look further into a

given article or resource outside of the Padlet. The references are in APA format and are also

available at the end of this document.

Overall, this project was very beneficial in helping me organize my new learning. As I

read articles and found resources during my courses this semester, I was able to think “oh, this

would be a great addition to my fluency column!” I was also encouraged to seek out information

that was interesting to me and answer my own question when they arose during readings or

discussions. It was difficult to narrow down resources and turn pages and pages of research into

just a few key bullet points. By having to narrow down my website, I was encouraged to

synthesize my learning and focus on the learning I found most helpful and realistic. I am excited

to now have this resource that I can share with other educators and add to as I continue my own

formal education (as well as any informal learning that comes with the job!)

It is my hope that this Padlet will become a helpful resource and a hub for more strategies

and possible lesson ideas. When I am able to run small groups in my classroom again, I would

love to add videos of myself and my students practicing some of the strategies or completing

some of the assessments in real time. I know that seeing something in action can be very

powerful! Just like good teaching, this Padlet can be responsive to new research and teaching

strategies as I learn them. Although constant change can seem overwhelming at times, it can

also be exciting and refreshing - here’s to a lifetime of learning and a project that can grow with

me!

Link to Padlet: https://padlet.com/martic13/7uvq9k9bkbiiwa4m

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Resources

Airth, M. (2021, March 31). Understanding Miscue Analysis & Running Record Retrieved from

https://study.com/academy/lesson/understanding-miscue-analysis-running-record.html

Applegate, M. D., Quinn, K. B., & Applegate, A. J. (2002). Levels of Thinking Required by

Comprehension Questions in Informal Reading Inventories. The Reading Teacher, 56(2),

174–180

Armbuster, B.B., & Lehr, F., & Osborn, J. (2010). Put reading first: The research building blocks

for teaching children to read: kindergarten through grade 3. DIANE Publishing.

Hart, B., & T.R. Risley. 2003. “The Early Catastrophe: The 30 Million Word Gap by Age 3.”

American Educator 27 (1): 4–9.

www.aft.org/pdfs/americaneducator/spring2003/TheEarlyCatastrophe.pdf.

Invernizzi, M., Abouzeid M., & Gill, T. (1994). Using Students' Invented Spellings as a Guide

for Spelling Instruction That Emphasizes Word Study. The Elementary School Journal,

95(2), 155–167. https://doi.org/10.1086/461796

Loomis, S. (2021). Stages of writing and writing assessment. PowerPoint.

Phonics. Read Naturally, Inc. (2021).

https://www.readnaturally.com/research/5-components-of-reading/phonics.

SchoolEducationGroup, director. How to score an informal reading inventory (IRI). YouTube,

YouTube, 4 Apr. 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMxOsyG0CJI.

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Training & Technical Assistance Center. (2015). PDF. William & Mary School of Education.

https://education.wm.edu/centers/ttac/documents/packets/wordaboutvocabulary.pdf

Williams, C., Phillips‐Birdsong, C., Hufnagel, K., Hungler, D. and Lundstrom, R.P. (2009),

Word Study Instruction in the K–2 Classroom. The Reading Teacher, 62: 570-578.

https://doi.org/10.1598/RT.62.7.3

Yopp, H. K. (1995). A test for assessing phonemic awareness in young children [Abstract]. The

Reading Teacher, 49(1), 20-21. doi:10.1598/rt.49.1.3