blank tiles

I have begun using the blank tiles.  This is helping my student visualize the elements of each word.  How it works is I dictate a word, have the student repeat the word, have the student tap the sounds of the word and then have her build the word using blank tiles.  The tiles are color coded for vowels, consonants, digraphs, welded sounds, and the suffix S.  So, my student needs to know how the word is constructed before she can build it with the blank tiles.  She then needs to spell the word out loud which reinforces the elements of the word.  This has had an unexpected benefit - she has been very slow to find the letters of each word after she taps it.  With the blank tiles, once she knows the structure of the word, it's much quicker to just pick up the correct blank tiles and lay them in the correct order.  It was so successful the first time I did it that we have decided to just use blank tiles for part 7 of the lesson. 

Friday I got the biggest compliment ever from my student!  We went a bit over in the afternoon so I apologized to her for taking up some of her recess.  She said that coming to work with me was like having an extra recess!  Imagine that!

This week we will be doing some review lessons because I don't want to start a new substep just before Christmas.  After the Christmas break my student will be ready to work on substep 2.5 (the last substep in step 2).  She is making awesome progress.

observation #2

Wow!  I survived observation #2!  I was really nervous and made some stupid mistakes but my coach was really kind.  My student was AWESOME!!!  Some things she had been having trouble with she nailed during the lesson.  It was really fun to see her shine.  There were very few corrections from my coach.  I forgot, once again, to do the sight words and vocab section.  That has been a problem right from the start.  I'll just have to be more deliberate during that part and refer to the lesson plan more carefully.  I also forgot to have my student repeat the sounds in section 6 before she finds them.  I have that scripted for me so I'll go back to the script for that part.  I used the script for part 8 and was really glad I did.  Also, I forgot to use the blank tiles during part 7 which was no big deal - I just need to really remember to use them.  I learned some useful information.  I spoke with my coach afterwards and told her of my concern that I am moving too fast with my student.  She reassured me that the pace seems good.  She also said that I can do some review lessons from time to time.  Apparently, we are supposed to have completed at least 20 lessons with our student and I've completed 36 lessons!  So, I am ahead of the game as far as that goes.  Yay!  So, onward we go and we have a couple of months before our next observation.  Now I have to start using part 9.  Ugh!

substep 2.3

O.K. now we're teaching exceptions.  I hate exceptions!  Still my student seemed to grasp the concept fairly easily.  It will take a few days for her to be solid on the idea that some closed syllables have a long vowel sound but I believe she will be fluent with this shortly.  Today I noticed that she was using the skills she has been taught to help her correctly spell words in the dictated sentence.  It was really neat to see her thought process.  My second observation is looming so I am trying my best to not forget any parts of the lesson.  I, too, am becoming more fluent with this.  Still, I'll be glad when Wednesday is over!

video taping disaster

Today I video taped the lesson.  I warned the rest of my students that I was video taping and that it would be helpful if they could keep their voices down.  However, it soon became apparent that was a good way to ensure they would be loud and as disruptive as they could possibly manage.  I don't know how my student is able to concentrate with all that background noise!  Fortunately, the video tape is for a department meeting so it's not a total disaster. 

My student is making great progress in the program.  She is making a lot of really neat connections.  I just wish I could remember everything I am supposed to do within a lesson.  I keep forgetting things like having her cover and spell a word after she has built it.  I am getting better at reviewing the sight words before she reads the sentences and I am more consistently having her read sight words and go over the vocabulary words.  Still, we are being observed by our instructor next Wednesday and I am concerned that I am still not up to par with this.  It will be interesting to see what feedback I get from the instructor next Wednesday.

onward

We have completed substep 2.1.  My student really seems to understand the concept of closed syllables.  We had to review digraphs and bonus letters because she seemed to forget about those with the introduction of so many welded sounds.  I was concerned that the program was introducing too much within one substep but my student really rose to the occasion and seems to be solid on the ng and nk welded sounds.  Tomorrow we will start with consonant blends.  I'm glad we did a solid review of digraphs because otherwise I think she would be confused between digraphs and blends.  What I will be most interested in is how she does with all of this after Thanksgiving break.  I am hoping there isn't much if any regression.  I think we're in a good spot as far as timing goes.  I wouldn't want to loose any ground now.

I made a cheat sheet of questions to use while weaving concepts.  I am hoping it will help me during parts 2 and 7.  I sometimes feel like I'm asking the same questions over and over again.  It will be interesting to see what Donna says when she comes to observe next.  That date is fast approaching.  I sure hope I'm ready!

post test and a new step

It's been a while since I posted!  My student completed the post test for step one with flying colors.  I was concerned about getting the whole lesson in within the hour but found that to not be a problem.  I will need to review the notes on doing a post test but I believe I did everything I was supposed to do.  It seemed suspiciously simple so I'm sure I'll find I did something wrong!  We started step 2.  There is a lot to teach in step 2.1 - we learned 8 new welded sounds.  They're called the three finger welded sounds (ang, ing, ong, ung, ank, ink, onk, unk)  I wonder why they are all introduced at once since it seems to be leading to some confusion for my student who already struggles with short vowel sounds.  She was a trooper and completed the first two lesson - both of which are introductory lessons.  In the second lesson I taught her the concept of closed syllables - syllables with only one vowel followed by (or closed in by) one or more consonants.  She seemed to understand the concept readily and quickly learned how to do the marking up of those words.  It's nice to be teaching a student who can quickly grasp concepts!  I think we'll be on this substep for a while since we have so much to master.  My student made delightful illustrations for the welded sounds.  For "honk" she drew a picture of her mother's school bus with her mother honking the horn!

improvement

Yesterday's lesson went MUCH better with an increased understanding of how to teach part 7.  My student was right on with her responses.  I really felt like the whole lesson flowed nicely.  I am a little concerned that it is taking me so long to get through parts 1-8 of each lesson.  I hope I can become more fluent soon.  Today I remembered vocabulary and sight words!  First time remembering to do them.  Sadly, my student went home sick and was not able to finish the lesson.  She's ready to go on to nonsense words in our next lesson.

substep 1.6

I totally bombed the introductory lesson.  Parts 1-5 were fine.  Part 6 was a bit awkward but really no problem but I fell apart when I got to part 7.  It was awkward and I had a hard time remembering what to do and how to do it.  My student was really off task yesterday afternoon.  It took way too much time to complete that part of the program so we had to cut part 8 short.  I completely forgot to do the sight words.  This morning I went back and watched the training video for part 7 and took careful notes.  Now I think I can be more successful with part 7.  It's a good thing my student is patient with me!

life after the first observation

My first observation was no where near as horrible as I had imagined.  Actually, it was a valuable learning experience.  It was good to know what I am doing wrong and to get concrete ideas about how to make the lesson better.  Yesterday I practiced the skills my instructor taught me and discovered how much richer in content the lesson became.  Once again, however, I feel like a fumbling new teacher.  My student is being patient, kind and understanding as I struggle to learn how to deliver a lesson with complete fidelity.  She and I decided to keep her on the same sub step even though she is probably ready to move on.  I just need a couple more days to learn how to deliver a lesson and she, in the meantime, is benefiting from a couple more days to increase fluency.  Since substep 1.6 (the next substep) works with base words and the suffix s, I believe the fluency will stand her in good stead.  I wasn't too far off on the reading block (parts 1-5).  Where I fell apart was primarily in part 8.  Now I have a solid script for that part.  The other part that I really need to work on is teaching sight words.  Still, every technique I teach my student, she uses both in our lessons and in the general education classroom.  I really do believe that this reading system will be greatly beneficial to some of our struggling readers.  In spite of all the additional work, I am excited to be part of this learning opportunity.

first observation - coming soon!

My first observation is happening this Thursday.  I am sure I am doing several things wrong.  I recently completed substep 1.6 training and was glad to see a clear indication of when a student is ready for this substep.  No more guess work!  My student should be ready for that substep by the end of this week.  I am having some difficulty with some of the procedures.  They feel a bit cumbersome and unnecessary so it will be good to talk with Donna to find out if I do, indeed need to continue using them.  For example, when identifying a short vowel sound, how necessary is it to use the keyword at this point?  I can see the reason for it if the student is weak on short vowel sounds but my student seems solid on that now.  I was glad to see that in substep 1.6 Barbara said we don't need to use tapping unless the student is having difficulty with a word.  Thursday will be a very informative day.

Success!

What an awesome lesson today!  My student told me that she is using the strategies I've taught her in her regular classes!  Wow!  She took her notebook, which is a reference, up to the regular classroom to use during the day.  We learned about the bonus letter spelling rule today and she really seemed to understand the concept and was able to apply it right away.  She asks such wonderful questions.  I feel so honored to be working with such a delightful student.  Great day!

Ready for a new substep?

My student read all 15 nonsense words without tapping today so I am making the judgement that she is ready for the next substep.  Knowing when to progress is feeling a bit nebulous but I believe she is ready for a challenge.  Today's lesson went well until I had to correct her for rearranging the magnetic letters.  That felt really silly and fussy to me but it is the Wilson way.  I explained that tomorrow the reason for the set up will become apparent.  I felt like I lost her a little bit after that but I HOPE we ended on a good note.  Certainly she wished me a good day when she left and seemed happy to see me at recess and at dismissal time.  I messed up the sight word instruction today.  I need to practice that part a bit more to become fluent with it.  I liked the way part 8 went today.  After doing the dictation part we revisited the sentences - doing proofreading and then marking up the digraphs.  I felt like that was more lesson like.  Still lots to learn.  We also attacked when to use ck today - that went well!  So, on to substep 1.4 tomorrow and teaching about bonus letters!

a complete lesson at last!

Finally, we got through an entire lesson today!  There is a significant difference between my student's ability to decode real words and nonsense words.  I saw issues with reversals and short vowel sounds today that I had not seen previously.  For my part, I need to increase my knowledge of how to run a lesson, especially the spelling parts of the lesson.  I need to watch Barbara Wilson teach part 8 again - not at all sure I did that correctly.  I think we need to stay on the same level until I am more fluent with delivering a lesson and to give my student time to strengthen short vowel sounds and some of the consonants. 

I separated the letter cards into separate piles for vowels, consonants, and digraphs which made making words go more quickly today.  I'm looking forward to getting into a more reliable routine next week.

fire drills, assemblies, and early dismissals

So, this is my first time blogging.  I am learning to use the Wilson Reading System (WRS).  Here I am sharing my reflections on lessons taught and the lessons I have learned from this.  Yesterday I started my second lesson with my practicum student.  We met for only a half hour in the morning because we had an assembly during our meeting time in the afternoon.  I used the letter cards more efficiently yesterday.  I pre-sorted them into vowels, consonants and digraphs so I had smaller stacks and could find the letters more easily.  I also used the technique of changing just one letter to change the word.  My student really liked seeing this.  Today we got a late start in the morning because of a bus fire drill.  We did a quick warm up of the short vowel sounds, the digraphs and a few of the consonants.  Then I had my student illustrate the digraph key words.  She did a wonderful thing - she had a theme - starting with sh - ship - /sh/.  The pictures told a story and were all done in red, white, and blue!  Such a creative mind.  I was excited about working with her this afternoon but she had to leave early.  Oh well!  Tomorrow is a new day.  I wrote an entire new lesson plan for tomorrow - hope we can get through the whole thing in the time allotted.