Abigail Palmer

May 1, 2018

Literacy Coaching Project

For the Literacy Coaching Project, I chose to work with Wesley, a first year teacher. He is a recent

college graduate and eager to share his knowledge. Wesley currently teaches 6th grade English in the

Kaimuki/ McKinley/Roosevelt complex. The school is a Title 1 school, with the majority of the students

receiving free and/or reduced lunch. Many students rely on the walking or taking the city bus to school. The

coaching area of instruction chosen for the coaching session was Level 1.

After talking with Wesley and asking “the question”, we decided to go the coaching conference

sessions route versus observation. He was very nervous when I discussed the observation, so we decided

that the coaching sessions would be more valuable for him. When sitting down and working with him, it

became very obvious that Wesley is a resister. Although he is struggling in the classroom and wanted to

work on this project with me, he was very resistant at first and extremely defensive. I used some of Toll’s

strategies to try to identify what he values and how we can strengthen our collaborative partnership to

diffuse his defensiveness. When we sat down and had our pre coaching conversation, he initially was

frustrated with the school wide system, and the influx of ELL and Special Education students that were in

his classes, with minimal support. Some other challenges he shared were not being able to cover all the

materials needed in the 45 minute block, not having a prep period and not having strategies/resources for

struggling learners. After reflecting on the needs, we determined the goal should be working on providing

strategies and resources for the struggling learners in his classroom. This would also help address his

frustrations with the influx of ELL and special education students and help give him more support. My plan

would include developing and providing those resources, coaching on how to use the resources, and working

with Wesley to plan some literacy lessons for a variety of leveled learners.
 For the coaching description and service, it was a combination of Bean’s Level 1 and 2. Focusing on

Level 1, I addressed the following: have a conversation with teacher to identify a literacy issue or needs, set

goals, and problem solve, develop and provide literacy materials for/with a teacher and Assist or Model

with assessing students in literacy. For Level 2, I addressed co-planning lessons with the teacher. The reason

why I combined developing and providing literacy materials from Level 1 and co-planning lessons with the

teacher from Level 2 was because I really wanted Wesley to benefit from learning how to take literacy

materials and resources and incorporate them in lesson plans. I felt that this would be extremely valuable for

him given the needs he discussed because it allows him to work on the foundational skills of how to

differentiate with a wide variety of learners in a safe environment. Wesley confided that his strength is

teaching to the high students. He attended Iolani High School and never struggled in school, so he says that

it is hard for him to relate and teach when students do not pick up the content right away. When addressing

adapting instruction, I guided Wesley through a few Orton Gillingham lessons. This is a great way to

differentiate for many learners and allows them to practice valuable skills through setting up stations. For

example, Wesley and I discussed his struggle with writing in his English class. He described his setting as

mainly general education, with some ELL and special education students. While some students can write

sentences, some struggle with basic decoding due to language barriers. I walked him through possible

stations, where ELL and special education students can practice sounding out and writing simple sentences

individually, in peer partners or in small groups. This can strengthen the culture, diversity and community

within the classroom. Each student from a different country brings unique experiences and those can be

used to make connections with the materials currently being learned in the classroom. For example, Wesley

has a student (which I have as well) from Marshall Islands. He speaks broken English and often taps and

hums, disrupting class. Wesley noted that he has trouble engaging this student with what they are currently

doing in writing, hence why the student starts tapping and humming. After reflecting on his struggles, I tried

to use culture and diversity to come up with a solution to make this student feel part of a caring literacy

community. I recommended that we use this student’s interests to help make connections with the writing

processes. Instead of having him write about a prompt already chosen for him, we can use his interests to

fuel his writing. For example, the student loves the Chicago Bulls sports team. We can have him do his
informational essay on tracking the sport’s team and therefore create a culture of diversity and hopefully

engagement for the student.

After discussing formative and summative literacy assessments, Wesley and I talked about strategies for

both. For formative assessments, I recommended that he use exit tickets and keep a journal log of student

progress when walking around the room while students work on assignments. Using exit tickets is a great

strategy to monitor formative data but also as a way to see a pattern of what students struggle with. For

example, if certain students are consistently not using correct punctuation, then that can help identify what

the teacher needs to work on next for instruction. For summative assessments, I recommended DIBELS

Oral Reading Fluency and DAZE passages. This is a good way to continue to progress monitor throughout

the year and see what concepts the students understand and what needs to be re-taught. After my Orton

Gillingham lesson demonstration, I shared my multisensory reading and writing curriculum with him. Orton

Gillingham has great strategies and games that can be incorporated through whole group, small group or

individual instruction. I showed Wesley how to create the games and how to identify which concepts

students need to work on. We also discussed ways that families can be more involved in the literacy journey.

I recommended that Wesley and I work together to create a “family night” for next year, where families will

come to our school and see different elements of literacy students are working on. For example, we can

have students showcase their essays, create and write their own skits to perform and do a poetry slam. The

families will be invited and then it can bring everyone together through literacy and even performing arts. By

doing this, it will show that we are a community and shaped like a triangle, the student, the parent and the

teacher all working together for the common goal of student success. This will help build connections

throughout the school year, especially if the event is held toward the beginning of the year.

The next steps for the post coaching session consisted of Wesley and I reflecting on what was implemented

and what we will continue to do. We discussed continuing to go over the resources, focusing on learning

one new resource a week. That will give Wesley time to learn about the new resource, practice it with me,

and then test it out in his classroom. We decided to give ourselves the goal of utilizing one new resource a

week so that Wesley would not get overwhelmed with information overload. The process of assisting
another teacher in identifying, planning and implementing a development plan was a big challenge and one

that I am grateful for. Working with Wesley showed me firsthand how to work with resistant teachers, and

how incorporating Toll’s strategies can bring positivity and change to resisters.

Reflecting on the coaching session, Wesley’s raw honesty about how he was feeling allowed for us to

pinpoint exactly which areas to work on. It was clear to me that this was bothering him the most, and I

wanted to find a solution for him. The initial “question” and coaching conversation went very smoothly. We

were able to identify what was happening and from there, discuss tangible goals. The most challenging part

of this experience was trusting in myself. I knew I had all of the tools and resources to accomplish this

project, but believing in myself was the hardest part. At first, I was very intimidated by Wesley’s resistance.

He was very vocal about his concerns, but as soon as we started to discuss why this could be happening, he

immediately got defensive and insisted on making excuses. Reflecting on Toll’s strategies, I was able to

diffuse some of his tension and ensure him that what he was feeling was normal, and that together, we

would come up with a solution. By taking the time to focus on just listening, I believe it helped me gain his

trust. I listened to him discuss the problems he was having with differentiation and even though it was hard

not to jump in with solutions, I was able to remain resilient and practice the importance of listening. It was

very helpful to remember Kistler’s recommendations for adult learners and incorporate some of the

strategies to help Wesley feel more at ease. Instead of me being the “expert”, we focused on collaboration

and I asked him his opinions and we developed our goals and lesson plans together, as a team. One of the

best things I learned from this experience is that I do have what it takes to be a literacy coach. I really

started to see in this project my passion for working with teachers and how having that collaboration

process will help benefit student growth and learning. My beliefs about coaching have grown immensely this

past semester. After focusing and reflecting on several readings, I strongly believe that now I have gained an

appreciation and understanding for the role of a literacy coach. Coaching is not something you learn

overnight. Coaching is something that you continue to learn, even when you are in the role of a literacy

specialist. The ability to continue to be teachable, resilient and open minded are qualities that I believe a

literacy coach should embody. Initially, I believed coaching to be completely black and white. The coach
gives the directions; the teachers use the feedback and do what the coach recommends. Now I realize that

coaching is very fluid and involves equal amounts of participation and collaboration from the coach and the

teachers. It is not about the coach being the expert; it is about two adults getting together, brainstorming

ideas and implementing solutions to help student achievement. The literacy coach may have the majority of

the resources, but the best part about the process is teacher involvement and the partnership and

development of the resources together to best fit student needs. As I continue to grow, I would still like to

know how to make the role of the literacy coach role more approachable to teachers who might not

understand what the goal of having one is. Reflecting on my coaching interactions with my coaching

partner, we share very similar values and beliefs. Both of us focus on ensuring students have multiple

opportunities for success and that learning should be fun. We differ in our approaches to making this

happen, but with the recommendations of using multisensory to help students connect with literature,

Wesley is starting to embrace that strategy. Overall, this experience has helped me learn the value of

collaboration and working alongside resistant teachers.

 Appendices

Figure 1: Pre-Assessment Sample. This is a sample of the DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency assessment. I showed
Wesley how to administer this to his students and how it is scored to track progress.

Figure 2: Games and Instruction. This is a sample of how to introduce a phoneme students are struggling with and
how to turn it in to a lesson and incorporate a game. I showed him student work samples and how he can use and
incorporate these strategies and games in his own classroom.
 ’

Figure 3: Stations and Instruction. This is a sample that I showed Wesley and suggested he try when we set up
stations in his classroom. This allows for the students to work on different phonemes, but also incorporates pictures
to help practice the skills. Students can work in stations and rotate, focusing on different vocabulary that might be
in a text they are reading.
Figure 4: Phonogram Pyramids. This game is great to help students isolate and locate different sounds to form a
word. Very easy game to set up and the students love sounding out to see where the word fits in the pyramid.

Figure 5: Shaving Cream and Picture Station. I showed Wesley how to set up a station that will help students
understand and break apart phonemes but also have lots of fun. For this station, students receive a
worksheet with a list of words (see above). The great part about this is the pictures, which really benefits
struggling learners and those with language barriers. The fun part about this station is… shaving cream!
After the students complete the worksheet, they work in pairs. One student has the list of words, and the
other has the shaving cream. The teacher will take a little bit of shaving cream and put it on the desk. The
student with the list will give clues about the word (this is why having the pictures is a great help) and the
student with the shaving cream will try to guess the word, but by writing it in the shaving cream. By
assuming the role of the teacher, the student with the list practices using descriptive language to describe the
word without saying it. The student with the shaving cream benefits by trying to remember and identify the
word by spelling it out phonetically.
Orton Gillingham Lesson
Figure 6: Orton Gillingham Lesson. This is a sample of the Orton Gillingham lessons.

Additional Lesson
Figure 7: Lower Level Lesson. This is an adapted version of one of the lessons used with lower level students.
 Phonogram Introduction Lesson

Figure 8: Phonogram Introduction. This is a sample of the phonogram introduction lesson. This can also be used as
a rotating station with a teacher. Example- Station 1, learn Phonogram with teacher. Station 2-Word list practice,
Station 3-Phonogram pyramids with the new phonogram learned, Station 4- Shaving cream with partner.
 References

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