8. Describe Their Implementation

After leaving the Inference training, many teachers want to come back and implement it right away. The instructors seem to struggle the most with the initial implementation.  I have them meet with me and we discuss the size and make-up of their group as well as the amount of time they will have to deliver the strategy. Based on those discussions, we create binders or folders and set up a teacher binder. We also discuss ways to encourage Generalization. By taking this time for the initial set-up, instructors find that it is easier to teach the strategy with fidelity. I also go into the classroom and teach one of the first lessons or just observe to give the instructors support and feedback.

Some teachers want to teach the strategy, but feel the passages are extremely difficult for their learners. We were able to overcome this challenge by locating passages that were more appropriate and then generating questions. I also suggest reading the passage together as a class or pairing the more proficient readers with the struggling readers.

My role as the SIM Coordinator for my district allows me to monitor all of the teachers and coaches so I am constantly monitoring all the data from the teachers who are teaching strategies and the coaches that work with them.  If I can not be in the room then another coach is observing and offering feedback that is then brought back to me and discussed as to the fidelity of implementation and next steps.  Data on the students is constantly discussed and how to provide support to the students and the teachers.

Some of the teachers in the training want to begin using the Inference Strategy right away.  Some are in the middle of other strategy instruction, and they aren't quite ready to begin using it.  This is the expectation overall for the use of this strategy.

• All teachers who teach self-contained strategies classes will be responsible for teaching this strategy to our students in its entirety.
• Co-teachers will provide structured reminders and cues for the use of the strategy in the general education setting.  These teachers are responsible for the generalization of the strategy into the co-taught settings where the students can have supported attempts at using it in these environments.
• All special education teachers are responsible for helping students generalize the use of this strategy into other core classroom areas where there is no provided special education support.

Last year I went into a general education science classroom to teach the paraphrasing strategy too all students a specific teacher had in her classes.  She was looking for support in reading comprehension.  I took one of the special education teachers with me to help so that she could see what we did and begin to incorporate that into other classes in the building.