Dear Parents,
I am writing to you today to discuss Shantel and my plans to help her succeed in my classroom. After having her complete a few reading and writing assessments in order to determine her reading/writing level, Shantel is reading and writing at below grade level, specifically at the third grade level. She is specifically struggling with reading fluency, sigh word recognition and vocabulary development. There are other students in the classroom who are at a similar level of development and some students who are at a fourth grade reading level or above. In order to ensure that Shantel is getting the attention and help that she needs, I intend to offer differentiated instruction in order to help her succeed. For example, at the beginning of Literacy hour, I have the students participate in independent reading where each student gets 20 minutes to read in a book that is both interesting to them and at their reading level. After the 20 minutes has passed, I will have them complete an online comprehension check in order to ensure that they are comprehending the text that they are reading. I will take the results from those checks and post them in a chart so that Shantel and other students can monitor their own growth and learning. This can help to motivate students to continue learning and improving. In addition to this, when we are reading a story as a class, I have the students who are ahead of everyone else read on their own in the reading corner while I read to the other students personally. What this does is allow the struggling students to gain a better understanding of the content of the story without having to worry about the technical aspects of reading the text.
Another form of differentiating instruction that I have prepared to help Shantel improve her reading ability is called guided reading lessons. During this type of lesson, I will take Shantel and other students who are reading at her level and we will read a chapter or two of short chapter books that are at their reading level and reflect each students’ ability to use different reading strategies. Following that, the students will discuss those chapters and will then proceed to reread them independently or with a friend. This will allow them to develop the comprehension that they need for understanding the important aspects of the story while still giving them practice reading on their own and gaining that kind of experience. When they are reading with a friend, I will ensure that the person they are reading with is at a similar reading level so that each student can assist each other while avoiding the problem of one person dominating the reading session. As a group, we will record a list of the books that we have read and this will help the students to develop confidence in their reading ability because they will be able to see first-hand the amount of reading they have been able to accomplish. During this activity, all of the books selected for reading contain valuable and interesting information that is represented in the core standards for fourth grade curriculum. This means that what your student is reading is not only interesting to them but relevant to their learning needs.
After the students have completed reading for the day, they will engage in a variety of activities that help to ensure comprehension and extension of the ideas presented to everyday life as well as other classroom subjects. These activities may include making venn-diagrams, writing a summary sentence, creating brochures or poster boards, writing poetry or short stories, creating concept quilt squares, etc. The important common characteristic of all of these activities is that all of them will be specially selected based on the level of development for each student. This means that students who are struggling will be working on a different, but equally as challenging and important, activity from those who are ahead of the rest of the class academically. This ensures that all students are challenged appropriately.
Another aspect of the differentiating instruction that I have prepared to help Shantel succeed is differentiated spelling tests. Each week, the students in my classroom are given a vocabulary list of words that they need to know how to spell. I give them a pretest in order to assess their prior knowledge of the words and then the students will work on the words every day until Friday when they will take the spelling test. During the week, Shantel completes individual activities such as Making Words and Word Sorts which both focus on developing Shantel’s vocabulary and sight-word recognition. This will help to improve her spelling ability as well. Each student will be given a different set of words that matches with their individual level of development. This way, all of the students are challenged without being offered material that is too difficult and often discouraging for them. Because Shantel tends to need more time to finish the spelling tests than other students, I will be sure to allow her the time she needs to complete the test to the best of her ability. I believe that this kind of flexibility is necessary in order to ensure the success of my students.
When students are working on projects, they are often given many different choices regarding the topics of these projects, the type of information gathered, and the way in which they present the information. This means that each project is meaningful to each student because they are given choices so that they can complete the project in a way that is relevant to them. These options also allow students to showcase their individual knowledge and skills in unique ways because they are able to choose the method of presentation. For example, Shantel seems to really enjoy dramatization. She might chose to present her report by acting out the information she wishes to share.
The final area of differentiated instruction that I would like to include in my classroom is an after school club that I would like to create. This club would meet every Tuesday and Thursday right after school and would focus on developing reading and writing skills. During this club, I could help students who are still struggling in these areas in a one-on-one, personalized setting. We could do activities as a group that are fun and interesting but also help develop such skills as reading fluency, sight-word recognition, vocabulary development, writing skills, comprehension, etc. During this club, I would also like to encourage parent volunteers to come in and read and write with their students. This can help to encourage the students and developing their reading and writing skills as well as provide assistance to other students who need it. Please let me know if you would be interested in participating in this type of after school club.
I look forward to having a wonderful year with Shantel and I encourage you to contact me at any time if you wish to discuss the development of your student.
Sincerely,
Emily Rippetoe
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