Dawan Coombs, English Education
Evaluation of Academic Objectives
Struggling readers fill today’s secondary classrooms in alarming numbers. Although numerous programs remediate these readers, research shows students need more than strategy instruction to read successfully. Reading difficulties result from a complex combination of social, cognitive, and affective factors that can only be addressed through meaningful instruction within the context of trusting student-teacher relationships using approaches that draw on students’ interests and cultures.
However, providing this kind of reading instruction within secondary schools proves problematic. Secondary English/language arts teachers, although trained to teach literature, are not prepared to teach reading like their elementary counterparts. But by default, secondary English/language arts teachers often assume the burden of teaching reading classes. In addition, secondary school structures make it impossible to provide one-on-one attention needed to assess and address the needs of struggling readers. Therefore, without proper teacher preparation, appropriate classroom conditions, and low student-to-teacher ratios, reading classes prove ineffective.
This study examined what happens when four undergraduate preservice teachers worked with a professor/certified reading teacher to develop and taught a semester-long reading course for 9-12 graders at a local high school. In this course struggling readers received individual and small group instruction using interest-based materials to develop reading skills. Specifically, this research addressed these questions:
- How can teachers create reading classrooms where students receive instruction built on students’ interests within the context of trusting relationships?
- Second, how can clinical experiences in reading classrooms better prepare undergraduate preservice teachers to effectively teach struggling readers?
The ultimate academic objectives for this project were twofold. First, we wanted to provide preservice teachers with clinical experience teaching reading that they would not otherwise receive as a part of their initial teacher preparation experience. Second, we wanted this work to benefit at-risk students in the community who needed one-on-one attention to overcome their reading challenges. Working together, we hoped both sets of students—those at the high school and the preservice teachers—would learn from one another. The interview and observational data collected from the high school student participants and from the preservice teacher participants strongly indicates that the academic objectives of this project were met. Both groups of participants reported significant learning and increased academic performance in their respective responsibilities as a result of participating in this class.
Evaluation of the Mentoring Environment
The students who participated in this project gained valuable experience working in the classroom doing the work of real teachers as well as participating in the research process.
The five students who were the initial participants in this research project learned how to collaboratively plan as they created research-based reading units under the guidance of their university mentor. They also learned how to administer assessments, select texts, and differentiate instruction on individual, small group, and whole class levels. During the second semester, the three student participants who remained with the project taught small groups of struggling adolescent readers using the units created during the first semester. They also collected data on student performance, practiced classroom management, and reflected on their teaching. Their work in this project created a strong foundation for them to draw from as they began their internships in the fall of 2015 and worked as the primary teacher in their own classrooms. In short, participation in this project provided them with clinical experiences that helped them succeed as teachers in the classroom.
These three students, as well as the other students who participated in the project as research assistants, gained experience in research methods that will inform their future practice as critical and reflective professionals. As they participated in hands-on experiences conducting research, they learned the skills necessary to conduct their own research in their future classrooms. These skills also prepared them for research opportunities in graduate school. Ultimately, participation in the research component of this project allowed the students to create presentations to share at the 2015 National Council of Teachers of English conference undergraduate research roundtable session. Their participation at this conference allowed them to experience the benefits of joining the larger conversation around significant issues in the field and exposed them to another aspect of professionalism they might not otherwise experience.
Student Participants
- Caroline Howard, undergraduate: This student participated in the research study from start to finish. She created multiple unit plans that she used as she taught in the Sports English course. During the second semester she helped teach the Sports English course. She will be presenting her work on the project at the student research roundtable and at our research session at the 2015 National Council of Teachers of English conference. I anticipate working with this student on an article based on her work on the project.
- Olivia Gardner, undergraduate: This student participated in the research study from start to finish. She created multiple unit plans that she used as she taught in the Sports English course. During the second semester she helped teach the Sports English course. She will be presenting her work on the project at the student research roundtable and at our research session at the 2015 National Council of Teachers of English conference. I anticipate working with this student on an article based on her work on the project.
- Alexandra Harker, undergraduate: This student participated in the research study from start to finish. She created multiple unit plans that she used as she taught in the Sports English course. During the second semester she helped teach the Sports English course. She will be presenting her work on the project at the student research roundtable and at our research session at the 2015 National Council of Teachers of English conference. I anticipate working with this student on an article based on her work on the project.
- Curtis Harding, undergraduate: This student participated in the first two months of the project before changing his major to English. However, in the time that he participated, he produced a unit plan that was implemented by other teachers as we taught the Sports English course.
- Dallas Hadley, undergraduate: This student participated in the first two months of the project before changing his major to English. However, in the time that he participated, he produced a unit plan that was implemented by other teachers as we taught the Sports English course.
- Alison Blackburn graduate: This student joined the project as a research assistant during the second half of the second semester. Her duties included interviewing the high school student participants, transcribing interviews, organizing data, calculating assessment results, and conducting a literature review. She presented her work on this project at the student research roundtable presentation at the 2015 National Council of Teachers of English conference and we are writing an article from the data collected. She also used some of the work on this project as part of her master’s thesis.
- Demarie Anderson, undergraduate: This student worked primarily transcribing interviews, organizing data, calculating assessment results and maintaining student records. She worked on the project as a research assistant for a semester and a spring term until her schedule no longer allowed her to continue.
- Johanna Hardy, undergraduate: This student took over the transcription and organizational responsibilities after Demarie quit working on the project. She worked as a research assistant for approximately half of a semester.
Results & Findings of the Project
The results of this study proved beneficial to both the struggling adolescent readers who participated in the reading class as well as the preservice teachers that worked with them teaching the class. First, the adolescents received personalized reading instruction that integrated their interests and specific needs into the lessons and concepts presented. Results from the Reader Self-Perception Scale and from student interviews reflect an increase in the amount students’ read as well as how the perceived and participated in the reading process. Most of the students reported an increase in their academic performance in other subjects and almost all of them described applying reading strategies they learned in the class to reading experiences in other contexts.
Second, the preservice teachers who participated in both the planning and teaching involved in the project gained training in reading assessment and pedagogy typically only available in graduate level courses. They reported learning about classroom management, planning, assessment, and collaboration that prepared them to participate successfully as interns and first year teachers. They also engaged in valuable reflection that helped them develop the dispositions and practices necessary to evaluate and improve upon their own practice as professionals in the field.
Budget
The total awarded for this MEG grant was $20,000. This money was spent as follows:
- Student wages: $15,000
- Supplies for the project: $1500
- Student registration & travel to the 2015 NCTE Conference: $3500