Sound Partners CADRE Capstone
Sound Partners CADRE Capstone
Using Sound Partners Intervention to Increase a Student's Reading Ability
Purpose Statement
The purpose of my study was to determine if the use of the Sound Partners Intervention would increase my student's accuracy to increase her overall reading ability.
Rationale
What Did I Implement?
The purpose of my study was to determine if the use of the Sound Partners Intervention will increase my students accuracy to increase her overall reading ability. Sound Partners is a phonics-based tutoring program that provides supplemental reading instruction to elementary school students grades K-3 with below average reading skills.
Why Did I Implement it?
I currently have a fourth grade student who is reading substantially below grade level. The student has been receiving special education services since she was in first grade. At the end of third grade, my student had reached the reading level M (end of second grade) within the Fountas and Pinnell text leveling system. At the beginning of this year, she dropped down to a level L (middle of second grade). In a recent evaluation, the student showed that her text level had increased to a level N (beginning of third grade). The student was able to demonstrate 97% accuracy with excellent comprehension, while reading 32 words per minute. She also completed the Measurement Academic Progress (MAP) assessment this fall. She was able to receive a RIT score of 182, while the fourth grade level norm was a RIT score of 198.
It is clear that my student struggles with being a confident reader. The student often second guesses a word she reads and will change the answer. She often will look at a word and notice the beginning sound. From there, she will look up and make a complete guess, which is typically a word that she thinks it looks like. I have noticed that my student has difficulty with decoding and phonemic awareness. When given the Quick Phonics Screener, she was able to correctly identify 40% of silent e words out of context and then 60% of silent e words in context. She was able to identify 70% out of context r controlled words and 90% of in context r controlled words. Last but not least, my student was able to identify 30% out of context vowel team words and 90% in context vowel team words. The information from the Quick Phonics Screener has helped me to believe that my student has definite need for extra practice and individualized strategies on her decoding and phonemic awareness.
Every two weeks, my student is also assessed through the Aimsweb Monitoring program. She is currently averaging 32 words per minute with 5 errors for her one minute reads. She is also given a MAZE to assess the student's vocabulary and word knowledge. When given three minutes, my student is able to identify 16 words and is able to get 9 of them correct. This helps me to believe that my student has a necessary need for improvement in the student's word identification.
Sound Partners would be a beneficial program for my student due to the fast pace and intensity of the program. Sound Partners is a one on one program, which will help her feel comfortable and confident in this setting. The program also incorporates fun activities and important learning opportunities, which will keep my student engaged and motivated to do her very best.
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Current Interventions
Currently, my student is seen twice a day for thirty minutes, four days a week to help build the student's reading ability. She is in a reading comprehension intervention that uses classroom Reading Street curriculum. This intervention strictly focuses on the ability to read grade level material and comprehend it at a fourth grade level. The intervention focuses on vocabulary and the basic comprehension over the text. My student is also in another group working on a Leveled Literacy Intervention (LLI). This intervention focuses on using leveled stories to help improve the student's decoding skills, reading comprehension, and reading fluency.
Research
“In today’s society, it is absolutely critical that every child has the fullest opportunities to become an accomplished reader” (Chard, Pikulski & Templeton, 2000, pg. 1). It is known that a student who is unable to read will face tremendous social, personal, and economic limitations in today’s world. Many are stating that there is a much higher demand of reading than there was in the past. In 2001, the National Reading Panel presented an idea that there are five pillars of reading (Cervetti & Hiebert, 2015). The five pillars include phonics, phonological awareness, comprehension, fluency, and vocabulary.
The first pillar of reading is phonics. Phonics refers to the instructional method that connects written letters and letter combinations with the sounds of spoken language. Once the letters are linked to sounds, they no longer become meaningless marks. They are now building blocks of words. The second pillar, phonological awareness refers to the understanding that language is made up of words, syllables, rhymes, and sounds. “It is the area of oral language that relates to the ability to think about sounds in a word rather than just the meaning of the word” (Adams, et. al, 1990, pg. 117). The third pillar is comprehension. Comprehension is when the reader must be able to understand, make inferences, compare, and create conclusions over the text they are reading on a daily basis. The fourth pillar is fluency. Fluency is the ability to read a text accurately and quickly, either silently or orally. The fifth and final pillar is vocabulary. The vocabulary pillar focuses on a stored set of words that students know the meanings of and use (Anderson, 2009).
When thinking about a student with a specific learning disability in the area of basic reading, it is important for the teacher to focus his or her interventions around the phonics pillar and the phonological awareness pillar. “The National Research Council (1998) highlighted the importance of the alphabetic principle and phonics when observed, ‘Visual word recognition can flourish only when children displace the belief that print is like pictures with the insight that written words are comprised of letters that turn, map to speech sounds’” (Chard, Pikulski & Templeton, 2000, pg. 2). Students with a disability in basic reading have difficulty with this concept. When a student has a disability in basic reading, it means that they lack word and letter recognition. Word and letter recognition is driven by the student's understanding of phonics and phonological awareness. By focusing instruction and an intervention around those two pillars, the student will become a better reader.
To help a student become a better reader, the focus should be around the pillar of phonics and the pillar of phonological awareness. “Early phonics instruction develops an understanding of the alphabetic principle and helps young children make use of the orderly relationship that exists between letters and sounds” (Chard, Pikulski & Templeton, 2000, pg. 10). These pillars focus on the student’s ability to develop an awareness of individual sounds and then being able to attend to and manipulate them in a word. There are currently four different levels of phonics and phonological awareness within words. These levels are words, syllables, sounds, and rhymes.
Within phonics and phonological awareness, word awareness is extremely important. Word awareness is when a student is able to understand the concept of a word and what its role is in a sentence (Adams, et. al, 1990). Syllable awareness also plays a major factor in phonics and phonological awareness when it comes to reading. When a student understands the amount of syllables or beats in a word, the student is then able to perform segmentation. Segmenting the word helps the student sound out the multiple letters to be able to put them all together quickly. Rhyme awareness is when a student is able to understand the concept of a rhyme and effectively segment, delete, substitute, and blend. These skills then transfer to the student’s ability to read fluently and accurately with a strong understanding of phonics and phonological awareness. The final component is sound awareness, which has the student segmenting and blending different sounds together to make words. This component is one of the hardest for students to grasp, due to the difficulty of segmenting sounds like blends, digraphs, and vowel teams. All four of these levels help bring together the concepts and skills that fall under the phonics pillar and the phonological awareness pillar. “Students with a good understanding of phonological awareness have the underlying framework in place for decoding, which then correlates to the success of them as readers” (Adams, et. al, 1990, pg.119).
Decoding is also an extremely important factor when it comes to a student’s success in reading. “The ability to decode is at the core of reading ability, such that learning to decode is tantamount to learning to read” (Gough and Tunmer, 1986, pg. 6). Decoding sets the foundation for a successful reader. When a student reads a passage, being able to decode unknown words helps build his or her accuracy of the text and his or her comprehension over the passage. Many researchers have said that learning to read words is not a matter of memorizing the visual appearance of each written word. Learners need to be able to make the connections between the letters in the written words and the sounds that correspond to those letters (Chard, Pikulski & Templeton, 2000).
There are several phases of decoding that correlate to being able to recognize the letters and sounds in words. The phases of decoding are broken up into four different areas, pre-alphabetic, partial alphabetic, full alphabetic, and consolidated alphabetic.
Pre-alphabetic is the first phase of decoding. This phases focuses on how the student reads the word. These students associate particular visual characteristics of words, and the context in which they occur, with a meaning. Partial alphabetic is the next phase. This phase focuses on how students are making some salient sounds within words, and then make connections between some of the letters and sounds. The full alphabetic phases are similar, but it is when a student can fully attend consciously to all of the sounds within a word. The last phase is a consolidated alphabetic. The consolidated alphabetic phases are when students begin to notice that the same patterns of letters, such as –at and –ike, occur in many words, they start to form the realization of patterns in words. “Instruction that focuses on these patterns and the experience of reading these patterns over and over in words leads to the ability to process or ‘chunk’ the letters as a single unit rather than as three separate letters” (Chard, Pikulski & Templeton, 2000, pg. 5). These four phases are then built upon each other to help the student become a successful decoder, which then correlates to their ability to successfully read grade level text fluently.
When thinking of the pillars of reading and the importance of decoding when reading, it is evident that a specific intervention is need to help students with a specific learning disability in the area of basic reading. Sound Partners Intervention is a research-based one on one tutoring program that is known to help students with their difficulties in the area of phonics, phonological awareness, and decoding. “Sound Partners is a phonics-based tutoring program that provides supplemental reading instruction to elementary school students grades K-3 with below average reading skills” (Marchand-Martella, et.al, 2002, pg. 1). The program focuses on instruction that covers letter-sound correspondences, phoneme blending, decoding and encoding phonetically regular words, and reading irregular high-frequency words, with oral reading to practice applying the phonics skills in the text. The program consists of one hundred, thirty minute lessons, that have four to eight short activities in each lesson (WWC Intervention Report, 2010).
Sound Partners has been known as a simple one on one program that really breaks down the skills and knowledge of phonics, phonological awareness, and decoding. Denise Austin, the READ Interventionist at Reeder Elementary in Millard Public Schools, spoke wonders of the Sound Partners Intervention. Denise is currently in her 23rd year with Millard Public Schools as a READ specialist. She has grown with the district and has experienced the many evidence-based interventions that have been implemented into the curriculum and programs. Within her experience she has been able to fully analyze the success and failures that have come with the Sound Partners program. She gave a testimony to the program and its work on increasing students’ decoding ability, fluency rate, accuracy percentage, and overall text level within the Fountas and Pinnell Text Level. Austin was recorded stating, “The Sound Partners Intervention is a district-approved literacy intervention, that really helps the students regain their ability to recognize alphabet letters, letter sounds, and high frequency words” (Denise Austin, personal communication, December 21, 2016). She also stated that the program teaches students how to segment and blend words, which comes in handy when a student is reading a word that is unfamiliar. The one disadvantage that she found with Sound Partners is the intensity, and how it often has the students lose their ability to comprehend and read fluently. She suggests pairing the Sound Partners program with another evidence-based practice that allows the students to read text level material. By using the Sound Partners program with another program, it allows for the student to have an opportunity to build his or her practice on decoding and phonemic awareness, as well as comprehension and fluency. Overall, it is clear that the Sound Partners Intervention would be a beneficial program to do with a student that has a specific learning disability in the area of basic reading.
What is being Implemented?
I am implementing the Sound Partners Intervention into my instruction. The Sound Partners Intervention is a district approved, evidence based intervention to help students build their phonics and decoding skills. The program focuses on instruction that covers letter-sound correspondences, phoneme blending, decoding and encoding phonetically regular words, and reading irregular high-frequency words, with oral reading to practice applying the phonics skills in the text. The program consists of one hundred, thirty minute lessons, that have four to eight short activities in each lesson.
With whom is it being implemented?
The Sound Partners Intervention will be implemented with one of my fourth grade students who struggles with decoding, phonemic awareness, and fluency.
Why is it being Implemented?
I implemented the Sound Partners Intervention with one of my fourth grade students, because she has shown a substantial need for practice in the areas of basic reading and fluency. She has been receiving special education services since she was in the first grade. At the end of third grade, my student had reached the reading level M (end of second grade) within the Fountas and Pinnell text leveling system. At the beginning of this year, she dropped down to a level L (middle of second grade). In a recent evaluation, she showed that her text level had increased to a level N (beginning of third grade). She was able to demonstrate 97% accuracy with excellent comprehension, while reading 32 words per minute. My student also completed the Measurement Academic Progress (MAP) assessment this fall. She was able to receive a RIT score of 182, while the fourth grade level norm was a RIT score of 198.
It is clear that my student struggles with being a confident reader. She often second guesses a word she read and will change her answer. She often will look at a word and notice the beginning sound. From there, she will look up and make a complete guess, which is typically a word that she thinks it looks like. I have noticed that my student has difficulty with decoding and phonemic awareness. When given a quick phonics screener, she was able to correctly identify 40% silent "e" words out of context and then 60% silent "e" words in context. She was able to identify 70% out of context r controlled words and 90% in context r controlled words. Last but not least, my student was able to identify 30% out of context vowel team words and 90% in context vowel team words. The information from the Quick Phonics Screener has helped me to believe that my student has definite need for extra practice and individualized strategies on her decoding and phonemic awareness.
Every two weeks, my student is also assessed through the Aimsweb Monitoring program. She is currently averaging 32 words per minute with 5 errors for her one minute reads. She is also given a MAZE to assess her vocabulary and word knowledge. When given three minutes, my student is able to identify 16 words and is able to get 9 of them correct. This helps me to believe that my student has a necessary need for improvement in her fluency and word identification.
Currently, my student is seen twice a day for thirty minutes four days a week to help build her reading ability. She is now in a reading comprehension intervention that uses that classroom Reading Street curriculum. This intervention strictly focuses on the ability to read grade level material and comprehend it at a fourth grade level. The intervention focuses on vocabulary and the basic comprehension over the text. My student is also in another group working on a Leveled Literacy Intervention (LLI). This intervention focuses on using leveled stories to help improve the student's decoding skills, reading comprehension, and reading fluency.
Overall, after reviewing my students history, needs, and current data, it is clear that she needs more instruction, strategies and practice in the area of phonemic awareness. An intervention is needed to help build her knowledge over certain sounds and how they can form words. I hope that by using the Sound Partners Intervention my student’s reading ability will increase in the specific areas of accuracy and fluency.
When will it be implemented?
The Sound Partners Intervention will be implemented throughout the school week. The intervention took place on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 3:00pm to 3:30pm, which started on January 9th with baseline testing.
How will it be implemented?
The Sound Partners Intervention will be an additional intervention to my student's already established group times. The student came to me at the end of the day from 3:00-3:30 to work on the Sound Partners lessons. The implementation of the intervention started in January with a couple days open for baseline testing. This baseline testing included Aimsweb testing, Fountas and Pinnell Text Leveling, and the Sound Partners Intervention Mastery Tests. After the baseline test were finished and the appropriate lesson to start on was established, the lessons began.
What is the research base for what will be implemented?
Research has proven that the first step to becoming a successful reader is having background in the areas of phonemic awareness and decoding. Phonemic awareness and decoding skills start as early as Kindergarten through 2nd Grade. When a student misses these critical skills they show evidence of falling behind substantially. These basic reading skills could then affect the student's reading accuracy and fluency. For a student with a specific learning disability in the area of reading, they could either fall under the categories of having trouble with basic reading or comprehension. My student has difficulty with basic reading, which affects her ability to decode and have phonemic awareness greatly. An intervention to help build my student knowledge, understanding, and confidence of decoding and phonemic awareness is essential to help build the student’s reading accuracy and fluency, which will then greatly increase the student’s overall reading ability.
Why have the strategy/strategies been selected for implementation?
The Sound Partners Intervention was selected because it is a district approved evidence based intervention that focuses on instruction that covers letter-sound correspondence, phoneme, blending, decoding and encoding phonetically regular words, and reading irregular high frequency words, with oral reading to practice applying the phonics skills to the text. It breaks down the necessary skills needed to be a successful reader one by one to have the child show automaticity of each skill. The intervention is a one-on-one program that focuses on the intensity of over one hundred lessons, to help build the students basic reading ability. The Sound Partners Intervention has then been noted to directly improve a student's basic reading ability, which then increases the student's reading accuracy and fluency.
What data collection methods will be used and why?
There are several methods of data collection used throughout the implementation of this intervention. The student will have a baseline over her Fountas and Pinnell Text Level, Aimsweb, and the Mastery Tests included in the Sound Partners Intervention. The student will also be observed every two lessons. Last but not least, data will be recorded based on the attendance/ participation throughout the program and the student's overall ability on the writing portion of each lesson.
Data Collection Methods
I used just three different methods to effectively collect data during my action research of implementing the Sound Partners program. Two of the methods that I chose are a form of quantitative data to show an exact percentage of growth. The third method I used was qualitative to help better express how my student was growing. The two forms of quantitative data I used were the running records and text levels of the student through a course of multiple book levels and the quick phonics screener. The qualitative data that I used were hand written observations of my student completing the lessons throughout the Sound Partners program. All three forms of data gave me very clear information that has helped me see the successes and challenges of using the Sound Partners program.
Text Levels and Running Records
The first form of quantitative data that I have is the running records and text levels completed throughout the Sound Partner program. From the beginning of the year to the end of my action research implementation, I was able to gather ten different records running records and text levels. After implementing the Sound Partners program, I have found that the intervention helped my student increase her text level by three levels in just fourteen weeks. Her text level in the beginning of the year was a level L. With out Sound Partners, she was able to increase her text level to a level N by December. This shows me that her text level increase was slow but she was showing growth. After implementing the Sound Partners intervention in January, my student was able to increase her text level to a level Q by April. The graph below shows the progression of my student’s text level increase over this timeline of this year. The fluctuation throughout the graph shows the decrease of accuracy shown after trying a new text level. The goal was to have my student increase her overall accuracy to then increase her overall text level. I personally believe that my data shows a clear view of how implementing the Sound Partners program was a successful intervention for my student. Not only was she able to increase her accuracy throughout a specific text level, but she was also able to increase her overall text level. This type of growth makes me excited to continue working with my student with this program. I am hoping to see her grow more before the end of the year.
Observations
For qualitative data, I chose to take handwritten observations throughout my student’s time when working on the Sound Partners lessons. I really enjoyed being able to write down specific notes about the mannerisms, language, successes, and challenges throughout each lesson. The observations gave me a clear look at what words or sounds I need to challenge her on, as well as what sounds and words we can move on from. The observations also helped me document her attitude, emotions, and overall confidence throughout the program. It was evident to see throughout my observations that her confidence grew tremendously and she was getting more comfortable with certain sounds. I found the observations extremely beneficial and it was awesome to see how far she has come from the beginning of the program until now.
Quick Phonics Screener
My last form of quantitative data was the Quick Phonics Screener. The Quick Phonics Screener is a simple assessment that has students read nonsense words, real words, and sentences focusing on a certain sound skill. When I first gave my student the Quick Phonics Screener she seemed very discouraged and was constantly looking to me for reassurance when reading the words. I also noticed that half of the words, she could hardly pronounce. It was amazing to watch the difference in one student from December to April. My student was able to identify either all or more than half of the nonsense words, real words, and sentences focusing on each skill. It was evident that she was using the specific strategies learned throughout the Sound Partners program. She made sure to recognize the sound pattern in the word, sound it out, and then say it out loud correctly. It was amazing to watch her process through each word and then correctly say it. This to me was a clear sign that the Sound Partners program was successful. Once again, I am excited to continue on with the program to see if my student will be able to make more growth before the end of the year.
Connections
How does the Sound Partners program align with other National Organization Standards?
My district's standards align with Nebraska’s State Standards. When looking at the State Standards for Language Arts at the fourth grade level, I notice that there were three main standards that align with my research and implementation of the Sound Partners program. The first standard discusses the concept of print. This standard asks students to demonstrate knowledge of concepts of print. The next standard I found was over phonological awareness, where it asks the students to demonstrate phonological awareness through oral activities. I found both of these standards to be very interesting because they are supposed to be mastered by the first grade. This helps me understand that any student who does not have these mastered needs explicit instruction in both of these areas. The last standard I found was word analysis. This standard asks students to be able to use phonetic analysis to read and write grade-level text. I personally believe that this standard really wraps up what the Sound Partners program is trying to help students do. Overall, all of these standards should be met by implementing the Sound Partners program.
District
There are seven main framework principles that all teachers in the state of Nebraska should follow. The first principle is foundation knowledge. Foundation knowledge was covered through out my action research due to researching the basics of reading and the Sound Partners program. By gaining this specific foundation knowledge, I was ready and able to dive right in to implementing the program. The next principle is planning and preparation. Planning and preparation was covered due to the many hours and seminars spent to plan, organize, and prepare for full implementation of the Sound Partners program. Picking a student, researching, organizing materials and data, and receiving permission from my district all played an important role into my preparedness to start working with the Sound Partners program. The learning environment is the next principle. This principle I have near and dear to my heart. I strive on having a learning environment that is comfortable, safe, and colorful. I pride myself on having a room where my students can come in and join in on the joyfulness that is learning.
Instructional strategies is the next principle addresses in the framework. This principle is covered throughout the Sound Partners program. I made sure that I chose a program that kept my student active with multiple activities to help her gain the knowledge over the material. Sound Partners is filled with multiple effective strategies that help students gain automaticity over different sounds and letter pairs. The program keeps it light, active, and fun. The next principle is assessment. My action research is full of assessment. Throughout implementing the Sound Partners program, I have done many assessments on my student to gather data behind where she started at, how she was growing, and what the end result was. By giving assessments I was able to gain data, knowledge, and create reflections over my action research plan. The sixth principle is professionalism. I work hard to be as professional as possible in my work place. I am constantly reflecting on my teacher and working to gain more knowledge on how I can be better. I stayed on top of the program and worked hard to get positive results with my student. I pride myself in my professionalism and dedication to my profession. Last but not least, that final principle is vision and collaboration. This principle is my favorite, because I love to collaborate. I think collaboration is key to a successful work environment. Throughout my action research I collaborated with my teammates, my CADRE Cohort, my CADRE associate, and other teachers throughout my school. By collaborating with them I was able to ask about different reading programs, what the want for their students, and how to effectively share my knowledge, information, and program throughout my action plan. Overall, it is clear that all of these principles are present through out my teaching and throughout my action research.
Nebraska Teacher Framework
When thinking about 21st Century Skills, I think about the four C’s- communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity. I found it difficult to pair these four C’s with the Sound Partners program. Sound Partners is very scripted and organized into repetitive categories that has students working on their letter sounds. This leaves little room for students to work on 21st Century Skills. However, there is one skill that I think is encompassed through out the four C’s. The skill is confidence. Throughout the Sound Partners program, I am instilling confidence in my student. She has grown a lot as a reader and her newly found confidence is showing when she reads. Having confidence can then be shown throughout the four C’s of the 21st Century Skills. Having confidence can help her effectively communicate, collaborate, critically think, and have creativity.
21st Century Skills
Proposition 1: Teachers are committed to students and their learning.
I personally believe that the main point of my action research plan was to continue my commitment to my student’s learning and her development as a reader. I knew that my student was lacking the skills necessary to be a successful reader at her grade level. I was committed to finding an intervention that will help her reach her goal of reading where her peers are. I worked hard to find the right intervention suited for her and implemented the program with fidelity. Even though my action research is technically “over”, I am still planning to keep with my commitment to help my student reach her full potential as a reader.
Proposition 2: Teachers know the subjects they teach and how to teach those subjects to students.
For this proposition, I felt like this was the main reason as to why I wanted to research more about reading and the appropriate interventions that go along with it. My district provides many different interventions for us to use to support our students in reading. However, I did not necessarily have the background knowledge about reading and the interventions provided. With my action research, I was able to thoroughly gain knowledge and information over reading and the different interventions my district provides, especially the Sound Partners program.
Proposition 3: Teachers are responsible for managing and monitoring student learning
I believe that this proposition goes hand and hand with the data collection, assessment, and progress monitoring that needed to be completed within my role and throughout my action research. I was responsible for monitoring my student’s growth and my student’s struggles. From monitoring, I was able to adapt my instruction by going back a lesson or knowing to move on from a lesson to better meet the needs of my student. Managing and monitoring student learning is key to understanding how a teacher can better meet the needs of his or her students.
Proposition 4: Teachers think systematically about their practice and learn from their experience.
I personally believe that this proposition is key to being a good teacher. This proposition is all about reflecting and then learning from your reflection. Throughout my entire action research, I found myself reflecting on my students needs, her growth, and what I need to do to make this experience meaningful to her. By taking the time to reflect, I can better understand how I can grow as a teacher to effectively meet the needs of my students and help them grow as students.
Proposition 5: Teachers are members of learning communities.
Last but not least, the final proposition is one of my favorites because it encompasses collaboration, environment, and learning styles all in one. I think it is extremely important to form a positive and pro-active learning community. This learning community is not just for your classroom but it can also be for your cohort. Throughout my action research, I found my self forming a learning community with my cohort. We spent our time in this learning community talking about the strengths, weaknesses, and growth from our action research projects. We were able to bounce ideas off one another and give respectful feedback as well. A learning community is essential to have a positive, reflective, and collaborative role in the teaching profession.
Five Core Propositions
Reflections
The purpose of my study was to determine if the use of the Sound Partners Intervention would increase my student's accuracy to increase her overall reading ability.
What has been learned?
Implementing the Sound Partners Intervention for my CADRE Capstone Project was an incredible experience. I have learned a tremendous amount from the few short months that the intervention was implemented. One thing that I learned from implementing the Sound Partners program is that it is very important to pick the right student for the program. I found out that Sound Partners is a very rigorous and repetitive program. Students who have a diagnosis of ADHD or struggle in general with sitting still for a period of time, will have a hard time retaining information in this program. With this knowledge, I know that I need to be very meaningful with my decision of who I will implement the program with. The action research process was also very fascinating to me. I found it helpful to be able to dig deep into the data I had over the student I chose for my project. This gave me good insight to know where she specifically needs help. Being able to research basic reading skills and the Sound Partners Intervention helped me understand why the program is needed and how it could potentially benefit my student. The research I found was positive and got me excited to start implementing the program with my student. Last but not least, I also learned how important it is to keep up with the data collection. There are so many ways to collect data over your students. Finding different data collection methods that worked well for me was essential to the success of this capstone. I was able to learn that I benefit from taking qualitative observation notes, to help me further my lesson planning and instruction. The quantitative data over my students Quick Phonics Screener and the running records gave me very specific data to help show growth and areas of concern. I am excited to start implementing new and different data collection methods into my other curriculum areas. Hopefully, by doing this, I will be able to be more meaningful with my instruction and chosen interventions. Overall, my entire CADRE Capstone Project and the implementation of the Sound Partners Intervention has helped me grow as a teacher. I am excited to continue with my implementation of the Sound Partners Intervention. I am also excited to get started on using action plans to better my teaching.
What were the challenges and successes?
There were many challenges and many successes throughout this process. I personally believe one of the biggest challenges was time and implementation of the Sound Partners program. On my action plan calendar, I put down that I would see my student everyday for thirty minutes except on Wednesdays. The thirty minute sessions were scheduled at the end of the day. My biggest challenge was actually sticking to that schedule. I found that near the end of the day, many things started to come up. My student and I were unable to meet several times due to field trips, other student’s behavior, being absent, NeSA testing, and having to cover classes for teachers. I found it very frustrating and sad that I could not implement this program to the full extent that I had planned on. I do not think the missed times greatly affected my student’s intake on the program, but I know that I could have gotten through a lot more lessons than what I was able to get through. For next time, I plan on implementing the program at a time that rarely gets interrupted and I also plan on implementing the program for a longer period of time. The longer period of time will hopefully help remove the interruptions and missed sessions.
The biggest success I found from implementing the Sound Partners Intervention was the growth my student made. My student was able to move up at least three text levels. I have also noticed that she is starting to recognize the sounds we are working on and rarely looks up at me for reassurance anymore. She is starting to take her time sounding out words and she self- corrects herself when she notices that what she said is wrong. The biggest success that I found from implementing this program is my student’s confidence. She has increased her confidence tremendously. She can tell that she is reading more accurately and is feeling better about sounding out words she does not know. Increasing my student’s confidence when reading was one of my biggest wishes when implementing this program. I continue to jump up for joy when I hear her read and see that big smile on her face. Although there were some challenges, I know that they came as learning experiences. I personally believe that the successes trump the challenges and show that the implementation the Sound Partners program was a success.
How has action research impacted student learning, current teaching, and professional growth techniques?
I personally believe that the action research process as impacted my student's learning, my current teaching, and my professional growth in so many ways. It was extremely clear that my student's learning was impacted throughout the action research process. I was able to take my students data and use it it to effectively research multiple programs that would help her increase her accuracy and overall reading ability. The time I spent researching helped me grow as a professional by learning what reading is truly all about and what the specific process is behind it. This helped me learn about the multiple different interventions that could be beneficial to my student. The knowledge I gained from my research helped me choose a program that I knew was best suited for my student. I am thrilled to say that my student showed progress from the intervention I chose. This helped me to believe that the research and time put into fully learning about different interventions is worth it. My student was able to increase in her text level, increase in her reading accuracy, and even increase in her confidence. With the success of the program, my current teaching has also been impacted. I now know how important it is to look at data, get to know your students, research different strategies and interventions, and to create a plan. By doing all of these things, I believe that I could really make an impact on my students and help them be successful in the classroom. I have grown professionally due to the research process, the conversations had through out the implementation, and the knowledge gained from my program and completing research in a district. I had no idea that the research process needs to be very detailed and specific. These requirements helped me make my action research meaningful for myself, my student, and my district. I have been extremely impacted by this process and I can not wait to have the opportunity to carry out an action research plan again.