Vanessa Hadley

18 February 2016
SED 328 01
McWilliams
Field Experience Journal #3
Another component of the field experience requirements for Reading to Learn is to
observe in a Special Education class, more specifically a lesson on either Literacy or Reading
lesson. Today I observed both at Hutchinson Elementary. Students rotate between three teachers
to receive explicit instruction in both reading skills and literacy skills.
The first piece of instruction I observed was reading and sounding out words. This
instruction is direct from the Reading Mastery program focusing on letter and sounds, blends,
and reading comprehension. I really liked the direct instruction when working with the sounds
because the instruction involved students speaking as a group and individually. Students would
sound out words together then one at a time. I really liked how the teacher would not move on
until all the students could sound each out word and fluently read it. The teacher also uses the
my turn, your turn strategy, which I love; she would model the sounds for the students then
they would follow her pointer finger for their turn. After sounding words, students read a small
two-page story. To work on comprehension skills, the teacher had students brainstorm what they
believe is going to happen in the book. After brainstorming, the students took turns reading a line
or two from the book then choral read with the teacher for the last few lines. At the end of the
book, the students were asked comprehension; the students understood the book and were able to
apply their knowledge into predicting what the image on the next page will be. I really liked how
the teacher capitalized on teachable moments by reviewing the difference between fiction and
non-fiction without varying off topic. Comprehension is a key component and it is critical that
students master it.
The next part of instruction I observed was focusing on word endings. This part of the
lesson was my favorite. The students begin every class with the alphabet song; however, instead
of saying the letters, students say the sounds. I really liked this strategy and plan to incorporate it
into my future classroom. After the song, the students focused on the letter of the day, which was
L. The teacher introduced the letter by reading a short story that involved mostly words with
the /l/ sound and would act like she was licking a lollipop to demonstrate the proper mouth
formation for the sound. Once the story was read, she gave each student a lollipop; however, the
only time they were able to lick it was when she re-read the story and they heard the /l/ sound.
This was my absolute favorite strategy from the whole day; the students paid full attention in
listening for the sounds so they were able to lick their lollipop and practice forming the proper
mouth shape without thinking about it. The teacher also placed a mirror in front of the students
for them to each see how his mouth was forming the proper /l/ sound. After the lollipop story, the
students focused on word building with consonant blends. The students worked with the teacher
to make both real and nonsense word words containing the blends. If the students would say a
word that would not work, the teacher explained to the students why it would not work. It is
crucial for teachers to explain why something does not work instead of just saying its wrong and
moving on. The last part of the lesson included students completing a worksheet that reviewed
the consonant blend sounds; the worksheet even encouraged students to work on their
handwriting skills. It is small lessons similar to this part of instruction that encourages students to
learn by tailoring instruction to be interesting.

The last part of large instruction that I observed was the Edmark Reading Program. This
is a word recongition program where students go lesson-by-lesson learning high-frequency
words that they need to know. The students come individually and only do one lesson per day.
The students read words then identify them, identify real word from nonsense words, and listen
to a word the teacher says and finds it. I was familiar with this program before today; last
semester I worked with first graders on a similar task focusing on their sight words. After each
lesson, the teacher marks how well the student did; if they had minimal to no mistakes they are
able to move on the next lesson otherwise they would have to repeat that lesson. The only aspect
that I did not like about this part of instruction was that when students were not being tested, they
were left doing worksheets on their own. I feel like this part of the lesson should involve coteaching so the group of students are not left without attention on them incase they need help.
The Edmark Reading Program is proving to be successful for these students and a program I
would highly recommend to teachers and schools.
Today was my first time observing in a Special Education Reading class. The three
teachers who teach at Hutchinson Elementary use successful programs and strategies to aid in
teaching their students. The students are very active in their learning and continually went to
keep learning and practicing their skills. After spending some time in the Special Education
classroom, I have new found strategies that not only could I include in a Special Education
classroom but also strategies I can include in my future classroom to help teach students at all
different levels.