Improving literacy instruction of special education teachers through additional course work and support.The purpose of this article is to report the outcomes of literacy instruction used by special education students in a * federally funded master's degree master's degree n. An academic degree conferred by a college or university upon those who complete at least one year of prescribed study beyond the bachelor's degree. Noun 1. program known as Project LEAD: Leadership for Educators Amid Diversity. Participants in the project reported specific projects completed, new methods used in their classrooms, and additional strategies and modifications utilized as a result of Project LEAD. Project LEAD: Leadership for Educators Amid Diversity was a four-year project designed to provide a master's degree in Collaborative Teaching (Special Education) to 30 teachers in a large urban city. One of the major goals of the project was to improve literacy instruction at the school, home, and community levels. The purpose of this article is to report participants' perceptions of the literacy component after completing their literacy training. ********** The article is divided into three sections: (a) a description of the literacy component of Project LEAD, (b) the major question asked concerning the literacy component at the end of the project, and (c) the changes that occurred in literacy instruction as a result of Project LEAD. Literacy Instruction in Project LEAD Students enrolled in Project LEAD were required to take two literacy classes, complete a supervised su·per·vise tr.v. su·per·vised, su·per·vis·ing, su·per·vis·es To have the charge and direction of; superintend. [Middle English *supervisen, from Medieval Latin tutoring program with a student in special education, and demonstrate changes in their teaching of reading and writing in their own classrooms. During the two literacy classes, five broad objectives were used. Students will be able to demonstrate: 1. specific approaches to teaching beginning readers and non-readers. 2. specific approaches for teaching more advanced, struggling readers. 3. strategies and modifications for teaching beginning and non-readers. 4. strategies and modfications for teaching more advanced and struggling readers. 5. implement a literacy project in the classroom that reflects approaches and strategies learned during the two classes. During the 2001-2002 year of Project LEAD, the literacy faculty supervised the implementation of literacy approaches and strategies in the participants' individual classrooms. Teachers enrolled in Project LEAD demonstrated these approaches and/or and/or conj. Used to indicate that either or both of the items connected by it are involved. Usage Note: And/or is widely used in legal and business writing. strategies and the instructor made suggestions for adapations and modifications. These suggestions were documented and presented to the students during the next faculty visit to their classrooms. Evaluating the Literacy Component At the end of the Literacy Component for Project LEAD, students were given a qualitative evaluation in which they responded to one major question. What literacy related project(s) and modifications did you attempt as a result of Project LEAD? A content analysis was completed to determine the projects, modifications, and changes students made in their classrooms. Listed below is a summary of the three categories of changes that occurred: (1) specific projects that were completed, (2) new methods used in the classrooms, and (3) strategies and modifications utilized. Specific projects completed. Each Project LEAD candidate implemented a literacy project in the classroom. The following three projects are examples: 1. Increasing parental involvement in students' reading. "My project was designed to increase parental involvement in my students' education. I felt that this was an important component of teaching literacy ... The first thing I did was invite the parents to a meeting held during the school's open house. The purpose of this meeting was to familiarize the parents with the Voyager Voyager, airplane Voyager, the first airplane to circumnavigate the earth nonstop on a single load of fuel. Designed by Burt Rutan and flown by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, Voyager took off from California on Dec. Literacy program that was being implemented and show and explain to them the items that would be coming home for them to complete with their children ... During the school year I had various family members come to the class to read. A the end of the year ... parental responses were encouraging and positive." 2. How to motivate students at the secondary level. The following strategies were used: Venn diagrams A graphic technique for visualizing set theory concepts using overlapping circles and shading to indicate intersection, union and complement. It was introduced in the late 1800s by English logician, John Venn, although it is believed that the method originated earlier. , Directed Reading Thinking Activity, Mindset mind·set or mind-set n. 1. A fixed mental attitude or disposition that predetermines a person's responses to and interpretations of situations. 2. An inclination or a habit. Approach, K-W-L (What we know; what we want to know; what we learned), and anticipation guides. The students also completed activities on current events using the internet. 3. Teaching reading to middle school non-readers. "I worked with one child with a specific learning disability who scored at the preschool level on the KTEA. I used environmental print. I also made a word wall of the Dolch Primary word list and placed them on another board across from my environmental print board. We made a notebook for the student to take home and the same information to keep in the classroom. She made little progress, but was happy to be able to know how to use decoding de·code tr.v. de·cod·ed, de·cod·ing, de·codes 1. To convert from code into plain text. 2. To convert from a scrambled electronic signal into an interpretable one. 3. to read new and unfamiliar words." New methods used in the classroom. The following were new methods Project LEAD students reported they used in the classroom as a result of the literacy classes: 1. Visual/Auditory/Kinesthetic/Tactile Methods (VAKT VAKT Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic, Tactile ) 2. Environmental Print (Aldridge, Kirkland, & Kuby, 2002) 3. Powerpoint presentations with students 4. Differentiated instruction Differentiated instruction (sometimes referred to as differentiated learning) is a way of thinking about teaching and learning. It involves teachers using a variety of instructional strategies that address diverse student learning needs. (whole group, small group, individualization individualization, n the process of tailoring remedies or treatments to cure a set of symptoms in an indiv-idual instead of basing treatment on the common features of the disease. ) 5. Daily News 6. The Writing Workshop (Graves, 1983; Fletcher Fletcher may refer to one of the following: Ideas and companies
7. Research based methods for teaching phonics phonics Method of reading instruction that breaks language down into its simplest components. Children learn the sounds of individual letters first, then the sounds of letters in combination and in simple words. (National Reading Council, 1998) Strategies and modifications utilized. Numerous strategies and modifications were reported as being used after the literacy classes. These included: 1. K-W-L (What we know; what we want to know; what we learned) (Ogle, 1986) 2. Venn Diagrams (Vacca & Vacca, 1996) 3. Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA DRTA distal renal tubular acidosis dRTA dominant renal tubular acidosis DRTA Dual Radius Tread Arc DRTA Darwin Regional Tourist Association (Australia) DRTA District Regional Transport Authority DRTA Directed Reading-Thinking Approach ) (Davidson & Wilkerson, 1998) 4. Mindset Approach (Pichert & Anderson Anderson, river, Canada Anderson, river, c.465 mi (750 km) long, rising in several lakes in N central Northwest Territories, Canada. It meanders north and west before receiving the Carnwath River and flowing north to Liverpool Bay, an arm of the Arctic , 1977) 5. Anticipation Guides (Duffelmeyer, Baum, & Merkley, 1987) 6. Semantic See semantics. See also Symantec. Mapping (Vacca & Vacca, 1996) 7. Webbing (Hanf, 1971) Summary Students in special education often do not receive adequate literacy instruction. Participants enrolled in a federally funded master's degree program were required to complete additional literacy experiences to enhance the quality of reading and writing experiences their students would receive. Results indicated that Project LEAD students completed additional projects, used more approaches, and utlized extensive strategies and modifications that they would not have attempted had they not had these additional literacy experiences. Teacher education programs in special education and collaborative teaching should consider adding literacy components that include supervised tutoring and extensive supervision in classroom literacy instruction to improve and enhance reading and writing opportunities for students with special needs. * Preparation of this article was supported by the Division of Personnel Preparation, Office of Special Education Programs and Rehabilitative re·ha·bil·i·tate tr.v. re·ha·bil·i·tat·ed, re·ha·bil·i·tat·ing, re·ha·bil·i·tates 1. To restore to good health or useful life, as through therapy and education. 2. Services, U.S. Department of Education (Contract No. H325E990001) and the University of Alabama at Birmingham UAB began in 1936 as the Birmingham Extension Center of the University of Alabama. Because of the rapid growth of the Birmingham area, it was decided that an extension program for students who had difficulties which prevented them from studying in Tuscaloosa was needed. . The information and points of view expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the funding agencies. References Aldridge, J., Kirkland, L., & Kuby, P. (2002). Jumpstarters: Integrating environmental throughout the curriculum (3rd. ed Rd. abbr. road ). Birmingham, AL: Campus Press. Davidson, J. L., & Wilkerson, B. C. (1988). Directed reading-thinking activities. Monroe, NY: Trillium trillium or wake-robin (trĭl`ēəm), any plant of the large genus Trillium, attractive spring wildflowers of the family Liliaceae (lily family), native to North America and E Asia. Press. Duffelmeyer, F. A., Baum, D. D., & Merkley, D. J. (1987). Maximizing reader-text confrontation with an Extended Anticipation Guide. Journal of Reading, 31, 146-150. Fletcher, R., & Portalupi, J. (1998). Craft lessons: Teaching writing K-8. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers. Graves, D. (1983). Writing: Teachers and children at work. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Hanf, M. B. (1971). Mapping: A technique for translating reading into thinking. Journal of Reading, 14, 225-230, 270. Ogle, D. (1986). K-W-L: A teaching model that develops active reading of expository ex·po·si·tion n. 1. A setting forth of meaning or intent. 2. a. A statement or rhetorical discourse intended to give information about or an explanation of difficult material. b. text. The Reading Teacher, 39, 564-570. Pichert, J. W., & Anderson, R. C. (1977). Taking different perspectives on a story. Journal of Educational Psychology, 69, 309-315. Vacca, R. T., & Vacca, J. L. (1996). Content area reading (5th ed.). New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of : HarperCollins. Renita Goldman, Ph.D., Professor, Special Education, Department of Leadership, Special Education and Foundations; Jerry Aldridge, Ed.D., Professor, Curriculum and Instruction, Department of Curriculum and Instruction; Lou Anne Worthington, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Special Education, Department of Leadership, Special Education and Foundation, University of Alabama at Birmingham. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Dr. Renita Golman, Department of Leadership, Special Education and Foundations, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 119 Education Building, Birmingham, AL 35294-1250; Email: rgoldman@uab.edu |
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