Gabriella Gaimaro-SPED843- Artifact #10

SPED843- Methods and Assessment: Literacy Interventions for Struggling Learners &
Students with High-Incidence Disabilities

Identifying The Big Ideas In Literacy Response Assignment

A quote that has stood out to me to firstly address some of the big ideas that have been
exemplified through out the module in regards to big ideas in literacy are, “ True understandings
of the world, and how it works, cannot be based on pure thought alone, no matter how logical,
creative, or contemporary such thought may seem. True understandings require some measure of
science and the willingness to seek information when making decisions.” (WHAT IS
SCIENTIFICALLY BASED RESEARCH?) I really liked this quote because I feel it spoke
volumes. So often teachers are expected to make decisions for quality but no matter what, there
has to be some sort of scientific correlation to these decisions. Scientific based research is
defined as, “research that involves the application of rigorous, systematic, and objective
procedures to obtain reliable and valid knowledge relevant to education”. In an Interventionist
position I see so many of my teachers just trying random things to support students they teach
without any real data, or scientific based research. I applaud that they are trying to be proactive
but often are failing because they are not using methods that are based in research that could
target the specific needs of the student. This text explained to the readers that educators need to
use research and separate it from low quality claims. “Low quality” claims will do nothing other
than waist valuable time. Scientific thinking in the classroom is important. It helps evaluate
scholars and helps with IEP’s as well as any student that is struggling or showing signs of not
meeting educational growth. Educators need to evaluate claims before they use them in their
classrooms. A teacher should be able to observe and track data to see which method fits what they
are trying to mediate in a student’s struggle. There needs to be systematic approaches and
methods in order to progress students to the desired outcomes. Observational methods help
provide valid data. Case studies can be useful tools as well. All these things tie back to scientific
research and observations instead of just claims. Observations are extremely important because
observations track a behavior or struggle, when it happens, how often it happens, and what comes
before it happens. This helps teachers figure out which method they should look to use to help
the student.
I enjoyed the text “ Put reading first: the research building blocks for teaching"
...Armbruster, Bonnie B. This texted spelled out what many of us already know and struggle with
combating, scholars struggle with learning to read. There are many consequences for not being a
fluent reader. Such consequences are low self-confidence, and lack of motivation in
school. Unfortunately, there is no short-term solution to this ever-growing problem. I feel that
after all these years this is still a major concern of mine, there is such an emphasis on reading
fluency because this is a direct building block of literacy comprehension and literacy success.
Literacy problems need to mediate quickly in students because literacy is a major component in
every other course, including math. In an era of standard based, Common Core aligned
academics, literacy is at the foundation of it all.
There are 5 areas of reading instruction, phonemic, awareness, fluency, vocabulary, and
comprehension. What works for reading readiness is dynamic and fluid instructions and ongoing
review and assessment. Scientific based research also plays a major role in this article as
well. There is a science behind reading. Over the last year and a half a good friend of mine
became the Speech Pathologist at my school and she has taught me so much of phonemic
awareness and strategies when it comes to intervening with reading issues with older students.
She has showed me many methods to assist students so I can plan interventions for them. There
is a science to everything related to literacy-based interventions and methods to support even in a
Tier 1 classroom.
I picked the article titled "Improving Adolescent Literacy: Effective Classroom and
Intervention Practices “ because I work with middle school and high school scholars. 90% of my
scholars have reading comprehension problems and disabilities. Across the board, scholars in my
school struggle with reading for one reason or another. One of the major reasons my students
struggle is because they do not like to read. Many do not read at home and have not been
immersed in books as young readers. In order to be good at something that does not come natural
you must practice. I believe that reading does not come natural for anyone, as no one born
knowing how to read. Reading is a skill that is taught, learned, and conditioned. Therefore, if a
student hasn’t practiced this skill in the lower grades inside and outside of school there will be a
substantial deficit in the advanced grades. This means it is essential to target these students with
scientific based research. I thought this article was informative and interesting. Some of the big
ideas that were expressed in this article were evidence-based recommendations to improve
literacy levels. One article stated that many scholars are far below proficient reading levels and
more scholars are below basic reading levels. This means that scholars are not
understanding/comprehending and synthesizing from what they are reading.
A very interesting fact that I came across was that “reading ability is a key predictor of
achievement in mathematics and science.” This just goes to show how important reading
is. Reading affects every subject area our scholars are in. I know for a fact that my scholars do
not even understand how important reading is and how the majority of the things they do in life
revolve around reading. Improving scholar’s motivation is also important. In this article there
was a checklist that I really was interested in. It gives many strategies for upping literacy
comprehension. I printed it out and will be using it in my classes. I have observed this to hold
very true at the high school level when dealing with high school level math courses. Many of my
students who are struggling in math are also struggling with ELA. I feel that this is due to the
analytical and synthesizing components of literacy. At the high school level you are
implementing formulas and utilizing higher order thinking and processing which directly is
connected to literacy.
The required reading text of this week are very interesting to me because I work with
mostly struggling scholars and special education students, I am always looking for new ways to
engage my scholars while building their literacy and comprehension. I have two intervention
class, one for middle school, one for high school and do office hours for my intervention students
weekly in that focuses on bringing the lowest 5% of literacy based strugglers in both middle
school and high school progressing to grade level. I work on growth and progression through
strategies, techniques, interventions, and methods that have been proven to work and have
substantial data to utilize and manipulate for each of my targeted students. I focus on making
curriculum, units, task and homework assignments that are engaging and interesting while using
Common Core standards that my students need to work on to meet grade level expectations. My
program is for 7th and 8th graders who are on a 4th and 5th grade reading and comprehension
level and my high school intervention course is for 9-11th graders who are at least 3-4 years
behind grade level. There are many different ideas I read about for this weeks readings and I am
excited for this course and what I am going to learn, that I can take back into my classrooms. As
a special education teacher and a learning strategist, I try very hard to always find new techniques
and strategies that are relevant, and data proven to work for others. I hope I am able to take away
information this course that I can really apply and help move my scholars along.
What exactly does scientifically based research actually mean? Well, through research
and some identification through my own knowledge obtained from my time in this program, I
have learned that scientifically based research methods that “employs systematic, empirical
methods that draw on observations or experimentation. It involves rigorous data analyses that
are adequate to test the stated hypotheses and justify the conclusions drawn. It relies on
measurements or observational methods that provide reliable and valid data across evaluators
and observers, across multiple measurements and observations, and across studies by the same
or different investigators. Scientific based research methods are evaluated using experimental or
quasi-experimental designs in which individuals, entities, programs, or activities are assigned to
different conditions and with appropriate controls to evaluate the effects of the conditions of
interest, with a preference for random-assignment experiments, or other designs to the extent
that those designs contain within-condition or across-condition controls. These methods ensure
experimental studies are presented in sufficient detail and with clarity to allow for replication or,
at a minimum, offer the opportunity to build systematically on their findings, (these methods
have also been accepted by a peer-reviewed journal or approved by a panel of independent
experts through a comparably rigorous, objective scientific review).