The Learning Academy is a private elementary school that provides students (grades second to sixth) the opportunity to learn techniques, by way of the Orton-Gillingham (OG) Approach, that will better assist them through their lifelong journey with their reading disability. Dyslexia is very hard to diagnose, but many of the students at this school are assumed to have this reading hindrance. Reading difficulties begin to arise and become recognizable in the first grade, which is why this outstanding school does not start until grade two.

 

Classroom Observation

As with any typical morning at The Learning Academy, the students began OG instruction right at 8:00am. However, the students were given something I had never seen before. Each student was given a rough mat to trace their letters and words on. Mrs. William said, “It helps the students remember how each letter is supposed to look, and it puts it in their long term memory.” All of the students participated during OG instruction except for two students, Bill and Travis, and they were given “marks” for not following along. When I asked Mrs. William what the markings meant she said, “The marks are given to students who have behavioral issues during instruction or who do not listen and follow directions. When the students reach a certain numbers of markings, they do not get to do the fun Friday activities.” These markings are written under each student’s name on the white board at the front of the room. While the students did OG, I looked and saw that these same students at the most markings (Travis had five and Bill had four). A little further into OG, Travis once again was given a mark because he was talking during instruction as well as not tracing the appropriate letters. Mrs. William called Travis to the back of the room, talked with him for a couple of minutes, and then walked him to each student as they were tracing their words. Mrs. William had Travis put his hand on each students shoulder so that he could feel the vibrations of the “rough tracing.” When Travis had visited each student, Mrs. William said, “This is the appropriate way to trace letters. You should be able to feel them trace each letter. They are not being lackadaisical like you were and tracing circles on the paper to make it look like they are actually tracing and paying attention. Please return to your seat and trace the proper way.” Mrs. William then came over to me and said, “The whole class has been getting worse when it comes to OG- they simply do not care.”

During the next part of OG (alien words), someone in the class would consistently say ‘b’ when the letter on the board was ‘d.’ Mrs. William then had trick to remind them, “Put your glasses,” she told them. The students made an ‘o’ with both hands and left their pinky fingers up. Then the students brought them straight down onto their desk so that the left hand resembled a ‘b’ and the left hand resembled a ‘d.’ Mrs. William said, “Remember to do this trick whenever you feel confused.”

I was then given the opportunity to give the students two sentences to spell during the last part of OG. The students were instructed by Mrs. William to listen to the sentence, repeat the sentence, count each word, and then write. However, the class would start writing during the first reading of the sentence, and then they would ask questions about the words (i.e. what word comes next). I then said, “I am going to read the sentence again. Please put your pencils down.” I read the sentence and then slowly read it with the students as they counted the words. When the students began to finish their sentences, I called one student the front of the room to write what they had on their paper on the Smart Board. Then, I called on other students to come and fix one mistake.

After OG, the students were separated into three groups- Mrs. William took one, I took another, and my classroom partner took another. In these small groups, we played games and cards with the students. I took the game “consonant CLE, and the FLOSS cards.” During the game, the students took turns drawing cards and adding the appropriate ending to the word. If the student got the final word correct, they moved the appropriate number according to the dice. During the card game, the students took turns drawing a card and reading the word. If someone received the moose card, that person got everyone’s cards, and they won the game. The students rotated centers until snack and recess time.

Mrs. William’s room has some good news: the observing students from the last two weeks are now attending The Learning Academy full time!

 

Classroom Reflection

Over the past few weeks I have noticed that the students in Mrs. William’s classroom are not putting in their full effort during Orton-Gillingham instruction. The reason these students are at The Learning Academy is for this unique instruction style. In all of the other classrooms I have been in at The Learning Academy, both the teacher and students take this part of the day very seriously. However, I have noticed one crucial detail- the rooms in which OG is done in a methodical fashion are the ones in which the teacher does OG with the class. Mrs. William does not do OG with her students per say. She is typically doing other things while the students take charge of their own learning, and during this “learning” the students are randomly shouting out the words/letters without following along with one another. I do believe that students need this independence, but only at the appropriate times. OG must be done a certain way, and it must be modeled with the students. Perhaps Mrs. William let the students have control of OG too early instead of implementing a gradual release of responsibility mindset. Now that the students have full control of OG, it will be very difficult for Mrs. William to regain control of her classroom by the end of the year.

The two students who received markings during OG are students that usually act out in class, but I have never seen Mrs. William give any student a mark in the time that I have been observing. I am unsure as to why she is starting to enforce this management technique at the end of the year when these behaviors have always occurred in the time that I have been in her classroom. It appears as though Mrs. William is becoming frustrated by the management of her classroom, and these markings are a way of allowing her to try and regain control. Hopefully, Mrs. William has learned the mistakes from this year and will make the necessary adjustments for next year.

I love being able to interact with the students during OG, and the games were something different- it changed my day as well as the students. I am learning how the OG system works along with the students, and I am able to construct my own ideas that I will be able to implement in my own classroom. The games gives me the practice opportunity I need to become a better teacher- it allows me to practice the segmenting and blending of words that I never received as an elementary school student.

 

Case Study Observations

In order to ensure ample time with Hannah, Mrs. William said that she would prefer me to pull her at the beginning of OG instruction. During this twenty minute block, I gave Hannah a spelling inventory with a focus on the diagraphs we had been working on that week. I administered eight spelling words- two words for each of the four diagraphs we have been focusing on. Hannah got five out of eight correct. She missed both ‘wh’ diagraphs and one ‘sh.’ I began incorporating the ‘wh’ diagraphs a couple of weeks ago when I noticed the class was practicing it as a whole although it was not one of the diagraphs included in the original spelling inventory. The words given were: catch, thumb, white, shop, check, thank, that, and where.

After this oral diagraph check, I gave Hannah a beginning blends worksheet in which she got them all correct- no oral language component included. After, Hannah and I buddy read “Hey, Little Ant.”

Hannah has been participating in OG more and more as each week passes by. Hannah continued to raise her hand during the correction of the sentences in the latter portion of OG. Despite improvement in this area, Hannah misspelled several words after the class had gone over them.

Hannah was playing with her pencil when Mrs. William called on her to spell a word on her paper that the class had just gone over. The word was “mule” and Hannah spelled it, “mulle.” When Hannah orally spelled the word Mrs. William said, “Please pay attention, and step away from your pencil.”  

 

Case Study Reflections

I was informed at the beginning of the semester that Hannah had difficulties with oral language; however, I assumed that these difficulties came with directions as stated in her file. After taking a thorough look at her oral diagraph spelling inventory, I am beginning to see where her oral language abilities are failing off- hearing the individual phonemes. I am now going to take a different direction with my activities, and include oral language as well as written comprehension. I want Hannah to practice her listening oral abilities, but I need to be able to have work to grade and analyze in further detail- numbers that back up my reflections. I am not too concerned about Hannah missing the ‘wh’ diagraphs components because this is still being worked on the classroom whereas the other diagraphs are ones that she should have already mastered at a younger age. With the missed ‘sh’ diagraph, I am not too concerned as I know that Hannah tends to “zone out” when she gets frustrated. Hannah probably felt as though she was missing some of the previous words and gave up- as she has done with some of the previous activities. I am going to take a step further next week, and I am going to fully start working on blends with an oral component. I am not taking a close look at the other parts of the word except the diagraphs because this is the skill we have been working on.

I am so proud of Hannah and her continued participation during OG. I do not think Hannah received much praise for her work at her previous school, and because of this, she shut down and decided not to participate. Now that I tell her “Good job!” in front of her peers, she is building the confidence she needs to excel. All of the students in Mrs. William’s class tend to have difficulties staying away from their pencils. If I were Mrs. William, I would have the students put all of their pencils in a specified spot in the back of the class until it is time to use them. The students, including Hannah, have probably gotten away with this kind of behavior for too long and it has now become habit.

I am looking forward to the future blending activities planned for Hannah in the coming weeks. I am wondering if it would be appropriate for me to randomly practice diagraphs with Hannah as well- not a focus as with blends but just a refresher. I will make a note to ask my supervising teachers within the next week.