Case+B+Group+2

What can Ms. Ellison do to Create the best learning environment for all students in her class?** Andrew, Chris, Megan, Melanie, Natasha
 * CASE B:

Problems: Two problems were identified in Ms. Ellison's classroom:
 * 1) Students with differentiated reading abilities did not have their individual needs properly assessed or addressed.
 * 2) Students in the classroom tend towards a lower position of self-efficacy.

Solution: In order to help combat both problems (low self-efficacy and improper addressing of reading levels), Ms. Ellison should make a few adjustments to her classroom. The first proposed adjustment would be the inclusion of a "Silent Sustained Reading" time in class. By providing this in the classroom she will be able to allow the students to bring in the books that they want to read; these would be books that they are comfortable reading (since these are books of their choosing, they will most likely be at their level and hold their interest). In an effort to help maintain interest in the SSR time, she should make the room a more comfortable environment. To enhance the comfort she could consider the following: purchasing bean bag chairs, asking students to bring in pillows to sit on, or designating a specific spot in the room for this activity. Throughout the course of this activity Ms. Ellison will be able to travel around the room to student to student to give them all individual attention. She can ask students to read her a passage or two from their book in order to assess how they are developing their "out loud" reading skills. This take the attention away from students in class that may not be able to articulate their words as well as other students.

To help the students develop better reading skills, Ms. Ellison could utilize reciprocal teaching strategies. Reciprocal teaching is a structured conversation in which teachers and students discuss sections of a text (Palinscar & Brown, 1984). Reciprocal teaching involves four steps: 1) summarization of the material, 2) question formulation about the material, 3) clarification of the material, and 4) predicting direction or outcome from the material. Utilizing this method, Ms. Ellison would model reading comprehension skills for the students; and then the students would begin to use the strategy with some scaffolding by Ms. Ellison providing cues, prompts and feedback (Palincsar, 2003). The use of reciprocal teaching has been shown to substantially improve reading comprehension among various age groups, from elementary students to adults (Rosenshine & Meister, 1994), as well as among elementary and middle school students with learning disabilities (Gajria, Jitendra, Sood, & Sacks, 2007; Lederer, 2000). This strategy has also been shown to be effective in peer and cooperative learning environments (Palincsar, Brown, & Martin, 1987). Throughout the course of the year, she will be able to model to her students how to approach reading. She can give them scaffolded notes in order to emphasize key ideas to look for. This modeling will include what to look for when reading (plot, character development, setting, etc.) and how to recognize these ideas. Over the course of the year she will be able to provide less and less instruction, while not eliminating the modeling of these behaviors. In order to help reinforce the what/how of reading, Ms. Ellison should have visuals around the room to prompt students while reading. This will help students who are afraid to ask for help, because they are able to look around the room for cues and clues.

Ms. Ellison can model this behavior with a short story at the beginning of the class. She should read the story to the class, and then provide the needed scaffolding and modeling for the class. The story should be chosen to appeal the the majority of the students' reading levels. Following the conclusion of the story and a short debriefing as to what and how to find key elements, the class will be broken up into several groups different reading levels, they will be brought back together and separated randomly (so there is a mix of reading abilities) so they can discuss the story that was read at the beginning of class and they can tell the others about the story that they read. This will help students to internalize the process of taking information out of a story.

Following the groups of mixed ability, the students will be split based on ability: high ability, medium ability, and low ability in terms of reading level. Each group will be given a story that suits their reading ability and during this group time they will be able to read and discuss the story to find the elements that are important.

The low-ability students in this case study exhibit the following: low self-efficacy for reading, low self-esteem (which can be either global- or domain-specific), low self-concept, and no motivation to improve reading skills. Self-concept is related to educational settings because it includes perceptions of one’s knowledge and abilities (Bornholt, 2005; Byrne & Shavelson, 1986). While some influences on self-concept, such as gender and learning difficulties, are beyond the control of educators, teacher-student interaction is important for the development of positive self-concepts (Bohlin, Durwin, & Weber, 2009, p. 53).

Ms. Ellison should focus on praising students and providing feedback on their performance: praising students when they succeeded on academic tasks conveys important information about their level of mastery and helps foster an intrinsic motivation to learn, that is, a motivation to learn for the sake of curiosity, interest, and mastery (Deci, Koestner, & Ryan, 1999a). Ms. Ellison should also consider the zone of proximal development for the students within her class when selecting material for the class reading assignments.



I. Problems a. Low self-efficacy b. Reading abilities are not addressed properly II. Solution a. Silent sustained reading where the teacher will be circling the classroom asking students to read her individual passages and asking critical thinking questions. b. Use of reciprocal teaching i. The teacher will model what is expected of the students in terms of what to do while reading (what to look for, how to look for it, etc.) ii. Information and models are posted around the room. Multiple visuals are provided. iii. Modeled work will be based on one story for the entire class c. The class will then be broken into groups based on reading level and given different stories for each group. Discussions and worksheets will follow within this group based on what the teacher modeled. d. The groups will then come together and be re-shuffled not based on ability in order to discuss what was read initially by the teacher. III. Theories to include: a. Self-efficacy b. Reciprocal teaching c. Intrinsic motivation d. Scaffolding e. Modeling f. Vygotsky – ZPD – social constructivism

