Darcy Townley

CHD 119
Literacy Project 1- Reading Specialist Interview
For the purposes of this assignment I chose to conduct an
interview with Mrs. Kelly Rogan. She is a reading specialist at Arcola
Elementary School, located in Loudoun county Virginia. She is certified
in grades K-12, but works with children K-5 and most of her experience
is in grades K-2. She holds a Masters Degree in Education and prior to
becoming a reading specialist she taught Kindergarten and First grade.

I began by asking Mrs. Rogan what made her switch from

teaching Kindergarten and First grade to becoming a reading specialist.
She responded with, Im a reading nerd. Thats different than a book
nerd. I love phonemes and the like! I know what doors being a great
reader can open for people and I see the progress that come with
individualized attention for struggling readers. Mrs. Rogan works with
small groups of struggling readers; there are usually no more than 3
children per group. She is fortunate enough to work in Loudoun
County, one of the more affluent counties in our area. This affluence
allows for these types of resources to be available to students that
need extra help.

I asked Mrs. Rogan how children were chosen for her groups. We
use the DRA (Developmental Reading Assessment) to determine each

students independent and instructional reading level. Once we have

determined their level we place them with a group of students at the
same level to appropriately implement instruction at their specific
reading level. I researched a bit about what the DRA is as well as how
and when it is administered to students. The DRA is an assessment
that enables teachers to assess childrens reading abilities over time.
Often, this test is administered once in the fall, then again in the
spring. The test is administered by having students read aloud to
teachers, older children are timed and words per minute are
calculated. Younger children are not timed. Teachers not how fluently
the children read and if proper punctuation is noted during the
readings. The results of the DRA are then used to group children into
specialized reading groups based on their abilities.
So now that I understood a little bit more about how the children
are assessed and then subsequently grouped together I wanted to
know how Mrs. Rogan works with her small groups. I asked her about
the materials and different strategies she uses when working with her
students. She was a wealth of information! We focus on sight words,
writing, spelling and of course reading them, Guided Reading, and
written response (generally using an combination of developmental
spelling and sight words depending on the grade level), and word work.
Loudon County follows Jan Richardsons Next Step in Guided Reading
as a guide for instruction. Mrs. Rogan has done some very helpful

trainings for my company. In these trainings she has introduced us to

Jan Richardsons books. They are very helpful when it comes to guiding
teachers on how to work in small reading groups and with all grade
levels.

I asked Mrs. Rogan if she could provide some specific

examples of how she works with her groups. A first grade

at a DRA Level 8 would look like this:

Brief re-read of a familiar text
Sight Word Review (specifically based o their level 8/E)
with, was, all-each student writes their words on a white

board and I check them off on a chart.

Intro to new book or re-read-may include picture wak, new

or tricky vocab, etc.

Running Record-I administer a running record to determine
the students instructional level (this is an informal

assessment) on one student in each group, each day.

During Reading- I am prompting students: Does this look
right?, Does it sound right? or Does it make sense?
(Ive simplified this, but we use other decoding strategies

that I prompt for too-this is the simple version!)

After Reading: I teach one new sight word each day (again
based on level). I model the words and then students
practice writing it in different ways and making it with
magnet letters

Word Work: At this level it might be picture sorts with

blends (fl, fr, etc.), making words with magnet letters
(skin, skip, trip, trap, clap, clip), or working with Sound

boxes.
Writing: At this level I would be supporting students to
write beginning, middle, and end.

As you can see Mrs. Rogan was very informative, I almost feel
like I was observing her work in a reading group in person! I
asked Mrs. Rogan how she knows her methods are working. I
informally assess the students throughout the year, then I can
tailor my techniques to their specific needs. Also, in the spring,
the DRA is administered again. This tells us the overall progress
the students have made throughout the year. I also asked if
there was usually a very measurable difference between
students abilities in the fall and in the spring. Every student is
different obviously, but yes there is always some marked
improvement in childrens abilities from the fall DRA. These
results are what keep me going year after year!
Mrs. Rogans passion for what she teaches shines through
when you hear her speak about what she does. She has an equal
love for teaching, reading and children. Ive seen her methods
used many times but never with such passion. Our center has
been fortunate enough to see Mrs. Rogan in action working with
some of our preschoolers. She comes in with her Reading Bag

of Tricks and the students light up. She also takes her students
individual learning styles into account. If you have a student
that is very active, you need to plan for that. For example, Ill do
something like take a large, clear shower curtain and tape off
sound boxes, then have the children run or jump from one sound
to another when I make that sound. This gets that active child
engaged in a way that wouldnt happen by having him sit behind
a desk the entire session.
In conclusion, Ive learned so much about the world of
teaching children to read from Mrs. Rogan. Before this interview I
didnt know how children were assessed, and subsequently how
they were taught if they needed extra help after the assessment.
I really admire her teaching methods as well. Its easy to take a
book and teach from it. Its not so easy to take individual learning
needs into account and tailor your instruction to those needs.
This takes a lot of extra time and effort that some teachers are
unwilling to do. Mrs. Rogans students are a very lucky group of
emergent readers!