Impact Story

This year i focused on achievement challenge 5: 

Improve the achievement of students with additional needs in the learning areas of English/key competency using language symbols and texts

My inquiry question was:

Will increasing the Key Competency “Managing Self” improve student achievement in reading?

This year i continued my inquiry from the previous year but implemented the process I undertook with a new group of learners. Last year i had a group of high functioning boys with Autism, this year i had a group of new entrant students with a range of disabilities. Due to the nature of my classroom where some students spent a short period of time with me before transitioning out to a satellite class (at a mainstream school), my focus group of students changes each term which made my inquiry more challenging.

WHAT HAPPENED TO MY LEARNERS?

- All students increased their ability to remain seated.

- All students were able to engage in self selected reading (SSR) independently.

- All students learnt pre reading skills such as turning the page, pointing to the words and using visuals.

- Non-verbal students were able to attend to their AAC (augmentative and alternative communication).

- 2 students were able to recognise some high frequency words by the end of the year.

- All students were able to follow the classroom routine.

- 1 student in my focus group transitioned to a satellite successfully and moved up 1 reading level.

- Parents commented on how they were able to enjoy a reading book at home with their child.

WHAT EVIDENCE DO I HAVE?

Due to the nature of my students, much of this year was spent building a rapport and transitioning them into school routines. I wasn't able to do much formative assessment as they were not able to sit and attend to the assessment. Many of them were not sure how to point so i was unsure of how to test their current skills. However as the year went on I was able to find out how each student could be tested and that is how i gathered my data. I also gathered evidence by noting how long they were able to attend or sit for as well as follow classroom routines.

WHAT DID I DO?

- Built strong relationships with both the students and their families by sending home a questionnaire.

- I used this information to make personalised books about their hobbies and interests.

- I implemented a sensory curriculum to engage them in learning tasks (a transitional programme from kindy to school).

- I put structure and routines in place so that the routine in class was predictable, this took out any anxiety about what was going to happen at school each day. All students were introduced to an individual timetable.

- Reading packs were set up: 1x book per week with individualised activities that went home each day.

WHERE TO NEXT?

This year went very differently to last year as my students last year already had foundation reading skills. This year i have had to teach them alphabet knowledge and for some students, how to use a book. While many of my students were not able to move up a reading level, their pre reading skills improved.

My wanderings about where to next is, how do we test those students who are nonverbal? How can we tell if they are reading in their head? How do we teach them to point in order to answer comprehension questions. This is one of the biggest challenges i have faced this year as the majority of my class are non-verbal or have restricted language.

As i write my end of year reflection, I feel proud of what my students have accomplished but also how i have grown as a teacher. I feel fortunate to have been a part of this journey for two years. I hope you have enjoyed being part of the ride and learnt something from my blog this year.

What have i implemented this year?

Here is a short video summary of what i have implemented this year as part of my 2018 inquiry.
This year has been a huge learning curve for me. I have always had students who had come to me with foundation reading skills but this year i have had the opportunity to teach those skills to students who have not had much exposure to a structured class setting. While much of the year has been spent on teaching skills such as engagement, communication and increased work time, I have still seen huge shifts in my students reading. As i write my end of year reflections I am proud of all the students who have hit so many milestones, not only starting school but gaining skills in areas where they have not previously excelled.

Reading Sucess

One student in my focus group has done particularly well this year. At the beginning of the year he was unable to attend to a task for long periods of time. He is now able to sit and work for up to 20 minutes (previously he wasnt able to sit longer than 1 minute at a non-preferred activity).

Through predictable classroom routines, implementing a visual schedule, a work/reward system and regular sensory breaks we saw a huge increase of on task engagement.

While he has stayed on level 1 Magenta he has learnt many foundation pre reading skills which are the building blocks for learning how to read. Skills such as:

- pointing to the words

- reading aloud

- turning the page

- recognising high frequency words

- looking at the pictures for decoding words

- attempting to read words that look the same (eg look and like)

One of the biggest achievements for this student has been feedback from his family who are now able to enjoy reading a book together at home.

Progress update - Term 3

This term has been a hectic and busy one and unfortunately i have not been able to trial as many interventions as i initially planned. I have had a huge influx of new students who started during term 3 and each child takes a few weeks to settle. My programme has been disrupted and i haven't had the opportunity to develop behavior strategies to improve my students reading practice.
Here is a brief outline about what i was able to achieve this term in regards to changing my practice and what strategies i put in place to improve the key competency "managing self".

Oliver: This term Oliver has been unsettled due to his family going away for a few weeks of the term and having his routine out of place. In the classroom he is not able to attend and focus like he was during term 2. However a behavior therapy student has been working with Oliver 1:1 to find the cause of his behavior and to set up a behavior plan for the remainder of the year. We are continuing to follow the behavior plan we have put in place and it continues to work well for him. I am looking forward to trialing more interventions for him next term.

Conner: Conner progressed so well during term 1 and 2 that he has been moved to a satellite class in a mainstream school. He has transitioned well to his new class.

Benjamin: Benjamin has made the most progress this term. He is calm, happy, settled and compliant. He is started to vocalise as he is reading rather than just pointing to the words as an adult reads. This is huge progress to Benjamin being able to read by himself as he can already recognise many high frequency words.

Testing Success!

This term i have focused hugely on assessment. I now have a good relationship with my students and a good grasp of their current skills.
I have a few students who i find challenging to assess. I have tried many different assessment techniques and the data remains inconclusive.

Getting accurate testing information from students who are unable to verbalize the answer is complex. After attempting alphabet testing with one particular student multiple times with no success I was unsure about what to do next. Some times he was able to show me that he knew some letters and other times I thought he was just guessing. Over the weekend i decided to download some new iPad apps which were motivating and easy to use.
Not only did he get almost all of them correct but I had finally found a testing method for a student who was difficult to test. Now i can use the same method to test letter sounds and high frequency words. Finding alternative testing techniques has been the biggest breakthrough in my inquiry this term.
This year has definitely taught me to try and if something fails....try again!

Student Sucess

This term one of my focus students, Conner, has excelled since starting school. Next term he will be attending one of our satellite classes. It is a good opportunity for him to be able to integrate with his mainstream peers.

In the two terms since he has started school he has learnt to;
- join group activities in the classroom
- complete his morning routine
- write his name
- use his individual timetable so that he understands what he is meant to be doing
- attend to learning activities for an extended period of time (from 5 minutes to 30 minutes). This was a goal for him in the classroom as part of my inquiry.
- reading skills: turning the page, pointing to the words, recognising high frequency words, retelling the story line, identifying the title, answering comprehension questions.
- he has moved from a Level 1 Magenta reader to Level 3 Red reader.
- his high frequency word recognition has increased (see graph).

I look forward to hearing how he progresses in his new classroom. I have two new students starting next term so i will choose another student to add to my focus group.

Ready to Learn

I currently have 7 students in my classroom, 6 out of the 7 students have an individualised reading programme using the reading packs i make up each week.
One of my students has taken much longer than the others to settle. Last term she got upset when asked to complete a request. Once upset she would cry for an extended period of time. My main goal for her last term was to follow the class routines rather than complete work. She was encouraged to sit while the other students were sitting during circle time and meal times. When the other students were moving around activities for writing and math's she was expected to stay at the table but was not expected to complete work. Along with the behavior therapist we decided to take away all the demands. This was a very hard decision for me as i want all of my students to have the most learning opportunities throughout the day. Not encouraging her to complete a work task went against everything i believe in however it allowed her the chance to observe what the other students were doing and learn the class routine.

This term she has come back to school and is now very settled and calm. Her family said she missed school over the holidays, often putting her bag on wanting to come to school. I have reflected on her progress recently and how far she has come. I think the reason she is more settled this term is because we let her to settle on her own time, giving her opportunities to join in but not forcing her to be ready before she was ready to learn. Learning readiness is something that we need to take on board as educators, especially when that student has additional needs. They need to have the foundation skills in order to be able to engage in a learning programme that is designed for them.
Last term gave me the chance to be able to reflect on my own practice
, i needed to change the way i approached a student in order to cater to their individual needs

Alternative testing techniques

In special education we learn to get creative with how we deliver our teaching and test our students. I have a group of students in my class who i have struggled to formally test. I have used many different techniques to find out if they know their alphabet. For a teacher who has a student who is non-verbal it can be challenging to find out what they know.
Usually i would get them to choose out of 3 cards "show me ___" however what if they cannot yet make choices or don't understand the task? What if they cannot respond to simple instructions like "point to", "show me" or "give me"?
I have a student who i have attempted to test 8 times, ive tried everything from building alphabet towers and getting them to find the correct alphabet block to using  letter stencils to make letters in play dough.
Benjamin (part of my focus group) works well with technology however i couldn't find an app or game that was suitable. I have access to a smart board in my classroom so i made a game where Banjamin had to pop the balloons with the letters on them.
I used peer modelling initially to teach him the task. I used a student who had good alphabet knowledge and as i read out the letter, he would pop the balloon. When it was his turn he completed the task correctly, i was astounded that he knew all his lower case alphabet. I tested him twice to ensure that my data was correct and managed to capture some evidence on video to show his family.
Now that i have found a method to test him, i look forward to finding out what else he knows.

Transition to school

I have 8 new entrant learners with a variety of special needs. They are all transitioning from daycare or kindergarten where there was limited routine and frequent free play where they could explore their surroundings on their own accord.
School is a very different place and can be a huge adjustment for any learner. While I am getting to know my students and what my programme will look like I have ensured that I am setting up routines that will encourage their independence while they settle.

Here are some of the routines and strategies i have set up over the first 2 weeks to increase the key competency "managing self". Most teachers at our school would have these strategies set up in their classes as they are key components of any special education classroom however these strategies may also be helpful to other teachers who have students with additional needs in the classroom.

• using a timer to finish an activity - this assists with their independence so they can pack up the activity on their own. It also prepares them that an activity is going to finish which is particularly helpful when they have to leave a preferred activity
• individual timetables - this also assists with their independence so they know where they need to be in the classroom so that you don't have to tell them. Timetables are especially helpful for children who are non-verbal and cannot ask what is happening throughout the day.
• first - then visual sequence (see previous post for more information http://ssslaurencol.blogspot.co.nz/2017/05/using-first-then-visual-sequence.html)

I have already seen a shift with their independence, compliance and willingness to join the class for group activities.  

Making Words - Update

For the past two terms i have been using a programme called "making words" which was suggested by Dr Sally Clendon. At Sommerville we are fortunate enough to get regular professional development by Sally who focuses on a "balanced literacy curriculum".

I have blogged about this programme previously which you can find here and here.

I have been using this programme with one of my students who struggles with decoding and spelling who is currently reading at level 17/18.

I have noticed huge changes in Evan since using this programme daily. There are mini-lessons which use specific letters and a "special" word that they have to build up to spelling. The lessons start off by spelling small letters like "as". The teacher gives specific instructions to help them to build more complex words, eg; add a letter to the start of the word "at" to spell the word "pat". The student has to use their sound knowledge to word out where the letters have to go. Evan's confidence with spelling has grown so much that now he doesn't need as specific prompts, now we say to him "use three letters to spell the word cat". The managing self skills that Evan has gained has transferred to his writing. Previously he was unable to write a sentence without adult support, this week Evan wrote a story about his cow puppet independently.

Impact Story - Key Competencies and Reading

One of my biggest success stories this year has been James. Up until this year he remained on the same reading level for many years with limited success. I believe that improving his ability to manage himself alongside an individualised reading programme has attributed to his reading success.

Where are my students at?

At the beginning of the term i outlined a list of mini-goals that i wanted to focus on for each individual in my inquiry (listed below from a previous blog post). 

• James : attempt to sound out a word he doesn't know. I am going to try Elkonin boxes with him as seen on another colleagues blog. 
• Evan : Attend 2x mainstream classes a week for reading. 
• Toby : implement a programme suggested by my schools SLT to teach Toby comprehension. 

Here is how i have progressed with my inquiry. My students did not have "managing self" goals this term as their behavior in the class has stabilized and they are settled. 

James: I have not yet implemented Elkonin boxes as we focused on inflectional endings instead. Initially James was only reading the root word,  he can now read words with different endings.

Evan: Unfortunately the mainstream teacher left the school and Evan was unable to attend many sessions. I am approaching multiple teachers in the junior syndicate and we will work on integrating him to another classroom. Evan also started on a "making words" programme to assist with his spelling

Toby: Toby completes a reading comprehension programme daily after reading his book. He can now respond to familiar questions by pointing out objects from the book in response to "find one that looks like this". Previously he would repeat your question back rather than responding appropriately by following instructions.

Here are the reading level results from Term 3, i look forward to the final results at the end of the year. I will share my goals for next term in another blog post.  

Student	Reading Level T2	Reading Level T 3
Toby	2 Magenta	Emergent red 2/3
Evan	17 Turquoise	18 Turquoise
James	4 red	5 red

Term 3 Reflection

This term my class have been settled and calm. The current behavior strategies are working and my students are thriving. I have seen growth across all curriculum areas but especially reading. We read 1:1 four afternoons a week; all of my students know the routine therefore reading in my classroom is generally the calmest part of the day. This goes to prove that there is a significant link between managing self and accelerated shift in reading.
Next term i wanted to have a class focus on another key competency which is part of my inquiry. My students struggle with the key competency "relating to others".

The reason i have not addressed this particular key competency is because i wanted the students to be able to manage themselves before focusing on social skills.
In the last year my classroom have integrated into the mainstream playground during playtime. This is a very challenging part of our day as the students can be unpredictable in social situations as they navigate how to interact with their peers. Next term I will be implementing strategies to help my students understand social interactions to be able to build relationships.

High Frequency Words - Results

I have always had a word wall in my classroom however last year i felt that my students never used it or even recognized the words on the wall. This year I have worked on using the word wall effectively in order to recognise their high frequency words. At Sommerville we have our own list of high frequency words that we use to test the students on their word recognition.
As part of my inquiry i set out to implement different games that we played every day that would include all of the students with their different skills. Some students work on recalling the word and putting it under the correct letter and other students are using their chosen word in a sentence, finding words that rhyme or finding out how many syllables in the word. This way i can include all of my students in the same game.
Here are the results of using the word wall daily for two of my students who I have selected as part of my inquiry.
* Please note that Evan's results are not shown as he can already recall all words in word list 1-4.

Taking Risks with Reading

My inquiry this year is the link between the key competency of "Managing Self" and my students reading levels. One of my students that I am focusing on doesn't like to take risks with his reading. Instead of sounding words out he will ask me what the word is, even if he has the skills to decode the word on his own. I have built a good relationship with this student as he has been in my class for almost two years. A year ago he would never have tried this activity for the fear of getting it wrong. The importance of building strong relationships with our students is imperative to their success, especially with students who display more challenging behavior.

http://educationtothecore.com/2015/12/ways-to-build-stronger-relationships-with-your-students/

Reading Results

What a busy and rewarding term for my students. I am overwhelmed at the success my students have had this term. At the beginning of my journey I shared my students initial reading levels. After implementing multiple strategies to mange their on task behavior i have seen a huge shift in my students reading this term.

Students	Reading Level T1	Reading Level T2
Toby	1/2 Magenta	2 Magenta
Evan	14 Green	15 Orange
James	2 Magenta	3 Red

Toby continues to work on answering comprehension questions using a core board. This term he was able to use the board to label characters and objects from the book. He is coping well at reading less repetitive books at level 2.
James has made a huge jump up to red level this term and he has found a new appreciation for reading. He is enjoying the added content that a higher level book provides. His reading is slow but he is trying hard to work out new words he doesn't know.
Evan has joined the mainstream classes at Tamaki Primary for reading, he reads at a lower level in the mainstream classes so he is successful.

My students have also made significant gains with their sight word recognition scores which i put down to my word wall activities which are repeated each day. The biggest learning challenge for me this term has been teaching comprehension. Our class speech language therapist is going to work with me next term to help Toby with his comprehension and language.