Better Together: Fostering Student Success Through University-School Partnerships
Location
Session 3: Room 259, Session 2
Start Date
24-2-2023 12:25 PM
End Date
24-2-2023 12:50 PM
First Presenter's Brief Biography
Dr. Alexandra Berglund is an Assistant Professor of Reading, Literacy, and Language at Georgia College & State University. She teaches courses on foundations of literacy and language in early childhood and special education contexts, literacy strategy instruction, and reading assessment and interventions. Her research interests include Critical Disability Studies, family literacy practices, and representations of disability in children's and young adult literature.
Presentation Type
Concurrent Session
Abstract
“I do it. We do it. You do it.” As teacher educators, we repeatedly reinforce the power of these words to our teacher candidates. However, implementing gradual release of responsibility into our own special education teacher preparation programs transforms traditional education practices into experiential learning opportunities with boundless possibilities.
Conference Strands
Content Area Reading
Description
The gradual release of responsibility model of instruction is a familiar concept in education that has widespread beneficial applications within teacher preparation programs. This well-known approach to teaching is centered around the idea that a teacher will first model a skill or strategy (“I do it.”). Then, the teacher will allow students to practice with scaffolded support and guidance (“We do it.”). Finally, the teacher will release responsibility to the students to practice on their own (“You do it.”). In teacher preparation programs, this teaching practice would involve the sequencing of learning activities to gradually shift responsibility from the instructor to the teacher candidates and ultimately allows candidates to practice the newly acquired skills in authentic settings. This model is exemplified in [the presenters’] on-site Literacy Strategies course given to senior special education teacher candidates. Designed following the graduate release of responsibility model, this course is comprised of two different, yet interrelated, segments. First, evidence-based reading and writing strategies are initially taught in the lecture, classroom-based portion of the course through modeling (“I do it.”) and practicing (“We do it.”). The selection of these literacy strategies is grounded within the science of reading that seeks to promote the explicit and effective instruction of the five foundational concepts of reading, also known as the “Big 5”: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Further, the strategies are chosen to increase students’ motivation and engagement which, in turn, also strengthen their literacy skills, a correlation that is also emphasized by science of reading research. The segmented framework of this course allows the teacher candidates to then get needed, hands on experience and provide individual or small group interventions and instruction to students with disabilities. Enrolled in a local elementary school that partners with the presenters’ institution, participating students with disabilities receive 45 minutes of this individual or small group literacy strategy instruction from the special education teacher candidates. During this on-site portion of the course, the teacher candidates implement the instructional strategies that were first taught in their previous lecture. They carry out the final step of gradual release of responsibility (“You do it”). The results of this innovative course design have been two-fold. P-12 students drastically benefit from the needed individualized literacy strategy instruction. The results of a reading attitude survey given in Week 2 and again in Week 14 of the semester saw a 4% increase, a notable metric to achieve for students who have previously dramatically struggled with literacy skills. Simultaneously, the teacher candidates benefit from implementing various literacy strategies in an authentic context. The experiential learning that serves as the foundation of this course works to bridge the disconnect between what teacher candidates are taught in on-campus lectures and what they later implement in their practicum and student teaching placements and, ultimately, their careers across P-12 special education settings. In surveys collected at the close of the course, teacher candidates shared that they had more positive feelings about literacy strategies and felt more prepared to apply these strategies.
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Better Together: Fostering Student Success Through University-School Partnerships
Session 3: Room 259, Session 2
“I do it. We do it. You do it.” As teacher educators, we repeatedly reinforce the power of these words to our teacher candidates. However, implementing gradual release of responsibility into our own special education teacher preparation programs transforms traditional education practices into experiential learning opportunities with boundless possibilities.
