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

Mrs. William’s third grade classroom had another visitor named Jose. The visiting student from the previous week, Isaiah, has fully transitioned into The Learning Academy, and he has been here for one full week now. Isaiah makes number twelve in this third grade classroom which is the maximum number of students allowed in each class.

 

Due to this being Jose’s first day at The Learning Academy, Mrs. William provided him a run-down of the whole class. Each student briefly introduced themselves, and Mrs. William explained to him the purpose of OG as well as the various activities associated with it. Mrs. William also went over the OG slideshow (what the students do for each) and hand-placement when doing OG (what he should and should not trace or write). Mrs. William told Jose that he should always trace what is in blue, and he should not trace what is in black. After this review, the class dove right into their normal everyday OG exercise. OG is usually the same practices every day with new additions periodically. Today was a day for a new addition- magic ‘e.’ Before class started she told me that she had rehearsed with two students the explanation visual that was going to take place the previous day. However, she reviewed the difference between short and long vowels and what each says (i.e. says its name).

 

Mrs. William asked two volunteers to come to the front of the classroom to help her with a demonstration of the rule.  Mrs. William stood in front of the two students and said, “The student on my left is the ‘e,’ the student on my right is ‘a,’ and I am a consonant.” All three people stood quiet and then the ‘e’ pinched the ‘a,’ and the ‘a’ said its name while the consonant looked astonished. During this presentation, the ‘e’ kept completely silent. Mrs. William said, “He looks silent, but he makes the vowel say its name by pinching him!”

After this magic ‘e’ introduction, Mrs. William reviewed with the class the difference between the two “th” diagraphs. She had the students place their hand at the base of their neck while they said “thumb” and “this.” The students then had to reflect on the differences in the felt vibrations. Nicole said, “One is voiced and one is unvoiced!”

 

Then, the class helped Mrs. William explain “floss” to Jose. “A short vowel can be followed by an ‘f,’ ‘l,’ or ‘s,’ but each of these letters needs to be doubled or else it looks funny. For example, if I spelled “bel” it looks funny so I must remember “floss” and double the ‘l.’ to make it “bell.”

Next, I read words and sentences for the students to write down in the same fashion as the last few weeks. The students wrote down the words/sentences, and then I picked one student to come the Smart Board and write it down. The students at their desks compared their answer to the answer on the board, and individually came up to back one correction.

 

After the complete review and run-through of OG, Mrs. William said, “I promised the music teacher that I would review the Mother’s Day song with the students. Jose, did you know that a previous first lady is coming to The Learning Academy? She has lived in the White House. Her name is Laura Bush!” The Learning Academy was scheduled for an early release today, so the music class time slot was pushed up to 9:10am instead of the typical afternoon time. Mrs. William gave everyone a copy of the song, “Kick It up a Notch,” and the class choral read each line without saying it to the tune. Then the students were given a short snack time before they went off to music class.

 

While they were in class, I helped Mrs. William take down the hallway bulletin board, and come up with a new spring theme. I left the blue background up, but took down the snowman, the letters, and the children’s artwork. In its place I only had the time to put up a green polka dot border. Mrs. William and I had previously discussed doing a Dr. Seuss theme so that it could stay up in the hallway for the rest of the year. I will come in later during the week to finish the rest of the bulletin board.

 

Classroom Reflection

One of the components of Orton-Gillingham is the structure of the classroom and the small class sizes to ensure more flexibility and one-on-one assistance provided to each student. OG is a very structured and rigorous process, and I believe that the review Mrs. William provided was beneficial not only to Jose but to the rest of the class. Although the class appears to know all of the steps for each slide, there is always room for improvement as the students may have forgotten how to do a step. OG is something that is new to me, and the review provided was a learning experience in and of itself. I had not previously been aware that the students only trace with their two fingers (pointer and middle) the blue text rather than the black text. I am curious to know why this is. The black text is more letters than sight words, but I think that students also need writing practice with their individual letters as well as the spelling of the sight words.

 

I wonder what went on in the minds of Jose and Isaiah during their first day at The Learning Academy. How different is it than their last school? Do they feel behind coming to a new school? I have heard many of the students at The Learning Academy say that they used to feel lost at their previous schools. However, I wonder if the transition to The Learning Academy makes this feeling more prominent- they are having to learn a whole new set of rules, procedures, and skills not previously taught. I am looking forward to making inquiry observations and reflections on Jose on my own. Inquiry is a way for me to become a better teacher, and I will hopefully be able to pick up on ways to help Jose and my future students based on my observations.

 

Every time I step foot into Mrs. William’s class, I am amazed at all of the stories she tells so that the students are better able to learn the various grammatical rules. I always say that I was never taught the specific rules or why words are formed the way they are; instead, I was given the word and told to memorize it. OG has been so beneficial to me, and I have learned so much in the short time I have been observing at The Learning Academy. The magic ‘e’ rule was so cute, and I cannot wait to use it in my own classroom! Mrs. William is an inspiration to all students- small or tall.

 

I love being able to help teach OG, because I believe that I can use it in my own classroom. OG does not just have to be beneficial to students with reading disabilities, but can be used for students of all learning levels. Teaching OG and listening to OG takes two different skills and mindsets. For example, I still have to think about my long and short vowels, the various signs that go with them (macrons and breves), and the pronunciation of each. I hope to get to the point of not having to think about these components by the end of the semester. I typically have Mrs. William briefly go over each word/letter with me before I present them to the class. I have told the students many times that I am learning along with them, but I do not want them to think that I am a teacher who knows nothing. I always believed that my teachers were the smartest beings on the planet- I want my students to feel the same way about me.

 

Creating bulletin boards is one of the main things I think of when I hear the term “teacher.” This is the time when I can let my creative sparks fly. I am so looking forward to finishing the board and seeing the student’s reaction to it!  

 

Case Study Observation

My observations with Hannah were cut short today due to early release. Time quickly slipped by and half of my assignments were pushed back to next week.

I observed Hannah during my instruction as well as during Mrs. William’s. When Mrs. William began reviewing diagraphs with the whole class, I went over to Hannah and bent down on her level so that I could better hear her repeat the diagraph sound. I also had Hannah say them quietly to me, as well. Hannah got all five diagraph sounds correct during OG instruction.

 

During my OG instruction, I had Hannah come up to the board and help correct the written sentence done by Joshua. Hannah was correctly able to fix part of the sentence. I also had the class hold up their individual white boards during the word spelling part. I was able to see that Hannah did not get the full word right; however, she was not too far off as I was able to understand what she was trying to put. Next time, I think that I will make a brief note on my clipboard of her spelled words/sentences so that I can compare them and make further determinations of struggling areas.

 

OG time was cut short, and I completely forgot about pulling Hannah aside until halfway through the music class. I told Mrs. William, “When will the class be done with music? I forgot to pull Hannah aside because I was teaching for half of my observation time which is when I normally pull her.” Mrs. William said, “Oh no! I forgot, as well! Music class is almost over so I will go and get her now.” Hannah came into the classroom at 10:20am and my day at The Learning Academy needed to end at 10:30am so that I could make it over to my advising meeting at 10:40am. I had Hannah complete a “Color by Sound” worksheet. I did not help Hannah with this worksheet because I wanted to see how much she knew on her own. Hannah had to correctly color the picture according to the directions based on its beginning diagraph. I also had Hannah just say the diagraph sound as she colored. For example, she colored “shoe,” and she said, “sh.” Hannah got 14/16 of the pictures correctly colored. However, she added the ‘a’ sound onto “wh” 3/5 times. I corrected Hannah three times, and she began to correctly say the sound the last two times.

 

My plan was to also give Hannah ten spelling words with the four different diagraphs that we have been working on based on the spelling assessment. However, due to our shorten time I was unable to get to this assessment. My hopes was to determine her new level for next week so that I could better gear new assessments (find a different way to work on diagraphs or begin blends). However, this assessment will have to wait until next week. I will also bring along a blend worksheet next week in case Hannah does well on this assessment as well as a new diagraph assessment in case she still needs practice.

 

Case Study Reflection

I am pretty disappointed with how my last two observations with Hannah have gone. I feel as though I do not know where to go from here. I do not want to keep rehashing the same skill over and over again, but I can never get to a spelling assessment based on time limitations. Perhaps I need to pull Hannah at exactly 8:00am before I begin instruction with OG. I can begin to see that I routine in the class has formed of me helping to teach OG. Time management in the classroom is a skill in which I still need to master. Time goes by so quickly, and what I think may only take a few minutes takes an hour. I need to begin moving forward with Hannah so that she can master more than one skill within the semester. I feel as though I will not have accomplished anything if she has not mastered more than one skill. I wonder if this assignment presented to me this semester is about the quantity or the quality. I do not want to receive a poor grade on my final because I have only mastered one skill with Hannah.

 

Based on Hannah’s assessment today, I can infer that Hannah knows how to associate the diagraph with the picture- it is not about knowing diagraph placement as it is with pronunciation. I am aware that Hannah has poor oral language skills based on her WRMT. My hopes are to present Hannah with another verbal spelling assessment to see if my next practice assignments need to be in the form of oral communication in order to enhance these skills. Perhaps she is unable to depict apart words when orally presented to her.

Hannah has been participating more frequently during OG instruction now that I have begun teaching part of it. I always make sure to call on her a couple of times during instruction. However, I am worried that I do not call as much on the other students in the classroom because of this. I recorded myself during my fluency lesson last week and noticed that I call on the right hand side of the classroom (where Hannah is) more than the left side. This is a skill I need to work on so that all students are learning and actively engaged. I am so focused on making sure my case study student is getting the attention and observation time she needs rather than focusing on the class as a whole.

 

I am looking forward to see Hannah’s future placement next week, and I will ensure that we have ample time to complete all assignments.