Amy Miller

7. Describe your Coaching

The instruction consisted of 20-30 minute sessions 4 times per week in a special education classroom. Coaching was provided on the spot.

  • June 8, 2017 at 11:25 AM
  • Visible to public
The strategy was implemented four times per week from November 2015 to March 2016.  Each session consisted of 20-30 minutes.  Instruction began in November 2015 using lesson one with the students creating posters for their writing folders.  Students created either a flip book or a poster depicting the 5 requirements of a sentence to use as a reference.  Anchor charts with physical and mental action verbs were also created and displayed. The students also made their own posters for “PENS” and “MARK” for their folders. The lessons were presented following the instructional steps in the Fundamentals manual with students completing the learning sheets to mastery.  Each lesson consisted of modeling, think aloud, and student interaction. We followed the “I do”, “we do”, “you do” sequence for gradual release of responsibility.  Students were able to progress through the lessons and learning sheets given immediate and specific feedback on independent practice.  Students were able to progress at their own level of understanding.  Additional posters, flip books, and study aids were added for lessons that addressed linking verbs, infinitives, prepositions, adjectives and adverbs.  The posttest was given in March of 2016 to show growth and progress.  
Dr. James Calder provided coaching during the implementation of this strategy.  The first coaching session was on Lesson 5:  Prepositional Phrases.  He provided on the spot coaching.  He also provided feedback stating that it would be beneficial to the students if I told them I was modeling for them.  We agreed that follow up would consist of monthly check-ins to review progress charts. There were no other concerns noted at this time.  I followed his suggestion in subsequent lessons.