Curriculum Implementation​                Home        Learn More        Standards        Inspiration        About the Author

How It All Began...


​I am a Reading Intervention Specialist and for the past 6 years, I have been working with small groups of students providing level- specific reading intervention to students who are below grade level.  Year after year, I noticed a similar tendency;  the scores for High Frequency Word assessments and the BPST scores were showing students success.  Yet, they were continually struggling to use their skills in context and their reading levels were not showing improvement. This led me to ask my original driving question, “What effects does guided reading have on reading comprehension and reading accuracy?”  

In order to answer this particular question I analyzed ex-post facto data which was composed of Developmental Reading Assessment scores from last school year and this school year, for students who are provided reading support through the use of a reading program that is now being implemented at my school site.  I chose to use this data in a pre-test/ post-test method because it provided with me a numeric quantity for where students began and also where they ended.  Figure 1, to the right, displays the averages for the pre-test and the post-test.  I also thought it was important to analyze qualitative data though the form of a survey for the teachers.  Figure 2, on the right demonstrates the mean of the teacher responses for each question.

Results from the study suggest that A Flying Start to Literacy, by Okapi, was effective in improving the participants’ reading scores.  Yet, as I further analyzed my scores, I realized that 8 out of the 10 students whom did not show improvement were in Second Grade.  It seems to be more helpful in improving accuracy which is measured more intently in the lower levels of the DRA, but the higher levels include more comprehension.  These results left me inquiring if the second graders who did not show improvement, lacked skill in accuracy or comprehension?

I thought that was going to be guiding my next cycle of inquiry, but there was a change in direction for me.  During the last few months of school, our assistant Principal decided to take another job in our district and I was asked to step in to take his place.  That is the moment when I realized I would have to approach this from a different angle.  I would utilize the knowledge I had acquired to create a website that assisted teachers with the strategic implementation of a guided reading curriculum.
​
​
Figure 1
Figure 2

Useful Tools To Support Guided Reading
​
​
Flipgrid is a tool in which students can create videos, on a specific topic and share them with the class. 
  • Students can use Flipgrid to complete a retell of the story used during guided reading.

​

​

Padlet is a tool students can use to collaborate and display their work. 
  • Students can utilize Padlet to respond to questions a asked by the teacher during guided reading sessions.



​

​Edpuzzle allows teachers to upload a video and embed questions throughout the video for students to answer. 
  • Teachers could screen-cast the story being used during guided reading (to create a video) and then embed the comprehension questions.

Standards Addressed in This Capstone Project
​

Guide to Links on This Page

This is what you will find in the links, to the right, for each image shown below.
​​
Picture
LESSONS
Picture
HOW-TOs
Picture
REFERENCES
Picture
ASSESSMENT
Picture
LESSONS
Picture
HOW-TOs
Picture
REFERENCES
Picture
ASSESSMENT
  • Links to Guided Reading lessons from the program, A Flying Start to Literacy by OKAPI
  • Links to standards
  • Demonstration videos on how to conduct Running Records
  • Screen casts of Running Records
  • Websites
  •  Articles
  • Books
  • Blogs
  • Research paper
  • References
  • Academic articles 
  • Assessment data (DRA's)
  • Sample Running Records
  • Data from teacher survey