Running head: IAAL – LITERACY INTERVENTION 1

I as a Learner – My Exploration in Literacy Intervention

Courtney Lipski

University of Nevada, Las Vegas, CIL 621

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I as a Learner – My Exploration in Literacy Intervention

I as a Learner Goal

I began this semester with the understanding that literacy is an essential element in

education instruction. Literacy is the foundation of our society. It is the basis of communication,

the thread that is woven through the fabric of civilization. Developing basic literacy skills in

reading, writing, and communication is imperative at the very start of a child’s academic

journey. With this understanding, I developed a goal that I would identify instructional strategies

that would assist struggling readers.

My original goal was to explore various instructional strategies that will assist struggling

readers in their development of essential literacy skills, identifying at least four strategies that I

believe will ensure their success as independent and confident readers, and exemplifying

specifically how these strategies may be implemented within the classroom. After feedback from

my professor and careful consideration as to what the purpose of my goal was, I reevaluated my

goal to include research into the expectations placed specifically on third grade students for

reading. My established goal thus was redeveloped to state that my goal as a future first-year

third grade teacher is to understand the Nevada State Senate Bill (SB) 391 Nevada Read by

Grade Three Act and the Nevada Academic Content Standards for third grade English Language

Arts, explore four instructional strategies that may assist struggling readers in developing literacy

skills that meet the requirements of SB 391 and the state standards, and develop effective lesson

plans for each of the strategies.

Project Summary

To begin my project, I developed a website that would organize my research and provide

resources for the four instructional strategies that I would explore. My exploration in literacy
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intervention began by reading SB 391 and the literacy standards for third grade. I discovered that

SB 391 requires accountability from teachers, administration, schools, and districts for reading

proficiency of all primary grade level students through third grade (S.B. 391, 2015). Students’

reading proficiency is closely monitored throughout the primary grades through assessment.

Teachers and schools must identify students who fall behind grade level standards for reading

and develop rigorous intervention plans, notifying parents and administration, to ensure that

students meet the grade level standards prior to entering fourth grade (S.B. 391). Students who

do not meet the Nevada Academic Content Standards in English Language Arts, specifically the

Reading Standards that align with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) Initiative for

English Language Arts in Reading, will be retained in third grade.

After learning about SB 391 and the standards, I then summarized SB 391 and outlined

the specific sections of the bill on my website. To simplify the requirements of the bill to provide

clarity visually, I created a graphic map of how SB 391 will impact third grade students

throughout their third grade year. Although, the map is rather simplified, my goal was to outline

the general expectations of teachers and students in third grade, noting that exceptions are

considered. To provide clarity and a simple reference of the standards for third grade literacy, I

developed a graphic organizer of the third grade CCSS for English Language Arts. The graphic

organizer is meant to provide a general visual of what is included in the standards for third grade

students.

After outlining SB 391 and the standards, through course readings and online sources, I

chose four instructional strategies that would assist struggling readers in developing essential

reading skills. Through my reading of Tompkins (2014) and the Reading Rockets WETA Public

Broadcasting website (n.d.), I decided to explore partner reading, choral reading, word maps, and
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readers theatre. Beginning with partner reading, I first discovered two online journal articles

supporting and exploring the benefits of partner reading. Meisinger, Schwanenflugal, Bradley, &

Stahl (2004) investigate the history of partner reading, its benefits, and how it may be

incorporated in classroom instruction. Meisinger et al. (2004) also identify the importance of

positive collaboration between students during partner reading. The second article discusses the

fluency oriented reading strategies that may be incorporated to support reading fluency,

including partner reading (Stahl & Heubach, 2005). Utilizing these articles, along with other

sources, I developed a page on my website specific to partner reading.

Researching into the benefits of choral reading, I discovered an article written by Miller

(2013) on Education.com, which summarized how choral reading may be incorporated in

classroom instruction. In addition, “Choral Reading” (n.d.) outlined how choral reading can

benefit early readers to practice predictable sounds, inflection in reading, and reading fluency.

Utilizing these resources, I developed a page on my website specific to choral reading.

I then explored the benefits of word maps for the use in word study activities in

classroom instruction. Reading Tompkins (2014) and “Word Maps” (n.d.), I learned how word

maps may be utilized to support reading and the various ways word maps can be incorporated in

reading instruction. I developed a page on my website specific to word maps and created an

example of what a word map may look like.

Lastly, my exploration led me to readers theatre and how it may support reading fluency,

oral reading, and student confidence in oral reading. Readers theatre I found to be a very

engaging and motivating instructional strategy that can be incorporated in any grade in a fun and

interactive way. Personally, I found this activity to be the most engaging for whole-class reading

instruction. The reading passages may be differentiated based on the reading proficiency of the
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students. Utilizing Tompkins (2014) and “Reader’s Theater” (n.d.), I developed a page on my

website specific to readers theatre.

Evidence of Accomplished Goal

I accomplished my established goal through various online articles and resources.

Through the development of my website, I exemplified my goal accomplishments through the

organization of specific webpages within my website. My Home page and About Me page

provide clarity into what literacy means to me and my teaching philosophy, offering background

as to why I explored literacy intervention. My Home page also includes this reflection. The IAAL

page details my goal, my reasoning for developing this goal, and how I planned to accomplish it.

In addition, I included a detailed outline of SB 391, a graphic map of a student’s third grade

literacy journey based on SB 391, and a graphic organizer of the third grade CCSS in English

Language Arts. Also included on the IAAL page is a short summary of each of the instructional

strategies, useful websites for literacy instruction, links to the three online articles I utilized for

my project, as well as references for the page.

I developed a separate page for each instructional strategy providing insight into how the

strategy may be used in classroom instruction. On each of the four webpages, I provided a

summary of the strategy, its benefits, considerations when incorporating it in reading instruction,

how it may be implemented in the classroom, an example of an assessment that may align with

the strategy, the Nevada Academic Content Standards that align with the strategy, a lesson plan

example for the strategy, online resources, and references for the specific page. References for

lesson plans are included in the lesson plan documents, as well as in the reference list included in

this reflection. I wanted to develop a website that was easy to navigate and exemplify how I

accomplished my goal.
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Reflection

I found this project to be exceptionally beneficial for me as a first year teacher. By

understanding the state expectations and standards, I can better align my instruction to ensure the

success of all my students in reading. Through the exploration of the four instructional strategies,

I feel confident that I understand how to differentiate reading instruction to benefit the reading

proficiency levels of all my students. I do not think student retention is beneficial to students and

therefore, I will work diligently to ensure that all my students excel to fourth grade.
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References

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phonics, vocabulary, and spelling instruction (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson

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Choral Reading. (n.d.). In Reading Rockets WETA Public Broadcasting. Retrieved from http://

www.readingrockets.org/strategies/choral_reading

De Seve, K. (2018, June/July). 6 cool robots: These new droids could change your life. National

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English language arts standards. (n.d.). In Common Core State Standards Initiative. Retrieved

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Hill, B.C. & Ruptic, C.A. (1994). [Adapted] Writing continuum checklist. Retrieved from UNLV

WebCampus

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uploads/5/1/9/2/51925027/article_on_graded_reading_list.pdf

Meisinger, E. B., Schwanenflugel, P. J., Bradley, B. A., & Stahl, S. A. (2004). Interaction quality

during partner reading. Journal of Literacy Research 36(2), pp. 111-140. doi: 10.1207/s1

5548430jlr3602_1

Miller, J. J. (2013). Choral reading: performing text to deepen understanding. In Education.com,

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Morris, D. (2015). Morris informal reading inventory: Preprimer through grade 8. New York,

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Read by Grade 3 Act of 2015. S.B. 391. 78th Nevada Legislature (2015). Retrieved from https://

www.leg.state.nv.us/Session/78th2015/Bills/SB/SB391.pdf

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