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

I arrived at The Learning Academy at 7:50am in order to get the final details arranged with Mrs. William for my fluency lesson taking place next Wednesday. Mrs. William has given me a wide range of fluency instruction to work with, and she said, “I am cool with anything you do.” After we worked out the minor details, she showed me what the class calls, “floss words” so that I can help the class with them after my lesson. “Floss words” are words that have a final double consonant. For example, “huff” is a “floss word.” “Floss words” can also have various endings (bound morphemes) such as, ‘s,’ ‘ed,’ ‘es,’ or ‘ing.’ For example, the word “hatch” can stand alone or have a bound morpheme- “hatches,” “hatched,” or “hatching.”

 

The first thing I noticed the moment the students began to flood the classroom, was the absence of their uniforms. The students at The Learning Academy are required to wear a red “Learning Academy” polo, closed toe shoes, and professional pants (no jeans, and skirts come to the knee). However, today was a different attire as the students had picture day. The students were allowed to wear whatever they wished as long as it was “school appropriate” (nothing too short or showy).

 

As with any typical morning at The Learning Academy, the class began with Orton Gillingham instruction. Mrs. William informed me that they have added some new components to OG. One of the newest things the class now does is giving words for the fluency sounds. Mrs. William says, “Give me a word,” and each individual student takes a turn. For example, Johnathan was given the sound “vi-,” and he said, “visit,” and Grant was given the sound, “whe-.” He responded with, “well.” Every student was given two sounds except for Grant. Grant said, “Man! I didn’t get two!” Mrs. William said, “Now, you can do the syllable types all by yourself.” The syllable types on the Smart Board presentation are one consonant words such as, “cat” and the student responds by either saying “open” or “closed.” The OG leader (another student) is required to go fast through the slides. Grant got all fifteen of them correct.

 

After my one-on-one activity with my case study student, I was given the opportunity to do “magic ‘e’ cards.” Mrs. William gave me a stack of cards with two words on each. For example, “hop” and “hope” would be on one card. I gave the students the word without the “magic ‘e’” and then the class spelled it for me while I wrote it on the Smart Board. I then gave the students the “magic ‘e’” word and the students spelled it while I wrote it on the Smart Board. As I was doing this, Mrs. William told the class, “Pay attention to how the ‘e’ makes the word sound different and how the word changes the meaning.” When she said this, “I began to ask the students the definition for each word. This took about ten minutes to fifteen minutes. Mrs. William also gave me the opportunity to do “Alien Words” by myself. I had to think about each sound the letters make, and pause before I said it. I only did three of these slides. Then the students were given a short snack break before picture time. Once their scheduled picture session was over, my day at The Learning Academy ended.

 

 

Classroom Reflection

Lesson planning is one of the most nerve-racking aspects about being a teacher. I have always been an over-planner, and creating a one hour lesson consumes so much of my time. I wonder how professional educators manage their time and plan for a unit. I enjoy having freedom to plan the fluency lesson coming up in Mrs. William’s class. However, I like to be guided as to what to do. I do not want to reteach something the students have already mastered, or contradict anything Mrs. William may have already mentioned.

 

I really enjoyed seeing the students in “regular” attire. I never had that kind of freedom until I reached high school. All through elementary and middle school, I was required to wear uniforms every day all day- no excuses. The students at The Learning Academy appeared to be so happy about being able to choose what they wanted to wear for the day. A child is constantly being told what to do, how to act, and what to wear- but, this one day gave them a sense of freedom and responsibility. Perhaps they feel like they have part ownership in the school because of this. I believe that this can be correlated to “student-centered” teaching. If the students have a say in what is happening in the classroom, then they are more likely to participate and follow the rules. The same applies to dress- if they are shown that they can be responsible students and given the right to do so, then maybe they will be more likely to follow the rules and participate in the future.

 

 Having added components to OG instruction is a great idea. Sitting through the instruction myself, I can see where it can get pretty mundane. However, switching it up a little creates excitement. However, I do not think I would have made Grant do all of the syllable types by himself if I were the main teacher. The other students in the class need practice with this section, and if Grant had not gotten them all correct he could have become very frustrated- resulting in a mental breakdown which would ruin the rest of the day. If I were the main teacher, I would just have Grant double up on the syllable types. I am also sensing issues with the 'wh' sound. I do not think that the students have been taught the difference between 'w' (well) and 'wh' (where). I believe that this is where my ESOL course comes into play. In this course, I have learned about tongue placement and the amount of air needed for certain sounds. The students need an ample amount of pratice with these difficult sound variations before they can fully master it.

 

I was extremely nervous about doing “Alien Words” all by myself in front of a class of third graders. When I stood up there, I felt like sense I was a college student, I should be able to get these sounds correct without any mess ups. Thankfully, I did not mess up. It goes to show that I am learning just as much as third graders.

 

I absolutely loved being able to do the magic ‘e’ cards. The students listened to what I had to say, and appeared to be excited when I directed the lesson. Hopefully this will help create a calm, respectful learning environment for my fluency lesson next week. The Learning Academy really has OG down- it not only teaches the elementary students, but teaches college students, as well. I have learned something new every time I step foot into the academy. In my elementary years, I was never taught “magic ‘e’.” I was given the word, the definition, and was expected to memorize it/use it correctly in my writing and speaking. However, the students at The Learning Academy are taught the reasons behind every grammatical rule there is which really helps maintain the student-centered learning environment. If the students have a question, the teacher is able to answer it instead of pushing it off to the side. Some of the words I provided to the students I had to think about myself. I could tell that the students had practiced this rule before, and I was thankful for that. I probably would not have been prepared to answer any questions regarding the reasons behind this rule. I cannot imagine the time and preparation these amazing instructors at The Learning Academy must have gone through in order to receive their original position. I admire everything The Learning Academy has to offer.

 

Case Study Observation

When I first met Hannah, she did not participate at all- did not participate in saying the words or in drawing the letters. Last week was the first week I began working incorporating the OG instruction into our weekly one-on-one sessions. Last week I asked her, “Do you feel overwhelmed during OG instruction? Do you want to do it alone with me instead?” Hannah responded, “Yes to both questions.”  This week was the first week I have seen Hannah begin to participate. When I saw this, I quietly went up to Hannah and said, “I am so proud of you!” Hannah smiled and continued on with instruction. I one particular point, though, during the “ing, ang, ong, ung, etc.,” portion of OG, the students did not say the sounds at once. Instead, they shouted them all at different times and intervals. I quickly looked over at Hannah and saw her no longer participating.

 

When the sound portion of OG begun, I sit next to Hannah because I cannot hear what she is saying. I want to be able to hear if she adds any extra sounds. She did today. For example, the students were given the sound, ‘b.’ All of the sounds should be cut- no additions. However, all I heard come from Hannah was, ‘ba.’ Mrs. William heard it as well and said, “Quit adding the ‘a’s’.”

 

During the fluency words, Hannah was given two sounds, and she correctly provided two words. The sounds she was given were “gi-, ti.” Hannah’s words were “giggle and tick.”

 

Due to the fact that Hannah scored so well on her sound-letter correspondence last week, and because I was able to fully pinpoint her spelling stage (middle diagraphs), I gave her two different activities in order to further gather evidence on her level. The first activity I provided Hannah was a diagraph worksheet. There were various pictures for Hannah to cut and paste under the correct diagraph (‘ch, sh, th, wh’). I had Hannah tell me what each of the pictures were before I had her start the activity. The only pictures Hannah did not know what “thief” and “throne.” When she glued the pictures to the paper, however, Hannah misplaced “thief” and placed it under the “wh” category. The second activity Hannah did was a flower diagraph project. I pre-made flower parts in order to save time, but I allow Hannah to paste and write. I based the diagraph selection based on what I had just recently observed in class (the struggle with ‘wh’), Hannah’s misplacing of “thief” on the previous activity, and the most commonly missed diagraphs on the spelling inventory (‘sh’). In the “pollen” portion of the flower, I had Hannah write the diagraph; in the “petal” portion of the flower I had Hannah write words that she knew that started with the diagraphs. There were five petals for five different words. For the “wh” flower, Hannah wrote, “what, “whitt, “whiskl,” “whistll,” “whint.” For the “sh” flower, Hannah wrote, “shell,” “shine,” “shie,” “shot,” show.w.”. For the “th” flower, Hannah wrote, “thome,” “thine,” “thowhe,” “thingch,” “thowne.” When Hannah wrote her words, she started over five times, and retraced her words multiple times. I eventually had to redirect her attention to another petal. I later asked Hannah what each of her petals said, and she told me. However, I then asked why she repeated some of her words and she said, “I did not know how to spell some of them so I wrote them both ways.”

 

I then read a chapter from the book, “Red Cap.” This book was recommended to me by Mrs. William in order to help her with intonation as this book has many questions, statements, and exclamations. I began reading this five page chapter, by reading the first page to Hannah. I then told Hannah, “How about you read one paragraph and I will read this next.” This ensued until I started reading a paragraph and Hannah continued reading down from her paragraph (a choral reading). I told Hannah, “Wow! I enjoy listening to us read together.” Hannah smiled and the chapter ended. I then asked Hannah questions about the chapter in order to gear her comprehension level, as well. Hannah was able to fully retell the chapter with various in-depth details.

 

My one-on-one instructional time with Hannah lasted 25 minutes, and then I dismissed her in order for her to finish out OG.

 

 

Case Study Reflection

I have already seen tremendous growth in Hannah within the few weeks I have been at The Learning Academy when it comes to participating during OG instruction. I am associating her not participating to being extremely overwhelmed. As teacher-candidate, I am overwhelmed with the shouting of answers and the answers not being said in a uniform fashion. I believe that classrooms should have order, but especially in a classroom centered around Orton Gillingham instruction. The students need time to process the information on the screen, as well as formulate their own answers. I think that this is what is hurting Hannah- she not able to think for herself because by the time she has an answer, the class has answered and moved on to the next slide. Hannah has not become used to her peers answering for her.

 

Hannah also needs work with “chopping off” the extra sounds she adds to her letters. Mrs. William briefly touches on this, but quickly moves on. Hannah needs extra one-on-one assistance in this area, and I believe that her mastery in this will flow over into other areas she struggles in- as seen in her “flower activity.” The one thing I am nervous about when it comes to instructing is teaching morphemes. I have never been taught how to “chop off the access.” I wouldn’t even know where to begin if I was asked to help the students with ‘wh.’

 

My goal while working with Hannah is not only be able to get her mastering skills, but to also work on fluency and comprehension. I have been reading to Hannah every session I am with her. I know she likes being read to, but I also want her to begin reading independently. I loved the fact that she took initiative to read along with me rather than stopping her “designated stopping paragraph.” This tells me that she has the potential to enjoy reading. I often times wonder if the reason behind students not wanting to read is because they are never given the chance to read for fun. I have yet to read with/to Hannah and give her a writing assessment afterwards. Students easily can become stressed out when they are asked to read- they know what is coming next. I do not want Hannah to every feel this way. I want her to want to read and to enjoy what she reads. I will always make sure that I am reading with Hannah for the enjoyment of it. However, I may need to give comprehension assessments later down the road, but “enjoyable reading” will also ensue no matter what.

 

After observing Hannah’s completed activities, I am at a loss for what to do from here to be honest. I originally believed that Hannah had mastered her sound-letter relationship. However, some of word letter choices make me wonder if she knows what they sound like individually, but does not hear the individual phonemes when put together. Perhaps next week I will work on breaking down the word into their individual sounds. Hannah also needs assistance with blends (‘thowne’ for ‘thorne’). However, blends is something we will work on at a later time after I ensure that Hannah can pull apart the sounds from the whole word.