Improving literacy skills one step at a time…
Jolene Roseth's Goal Reflection Essay
In 2010, after 9 years of teaching, getting married, and two kids later, I decided it was time to head back to the classroom and pursue goals that were close to my heart. Throughout my many years of teaching it became clear to me that Literacy Education is where I wanted to focus my master’s degree. It was a big decision for me, and an even bigger decision for my family. I was working full time, my husband was working towards obtaining tenure, and I had two active boys involved in a variety of activities. Together we decided I should forge ahead and begin the process of learning literacy intervention strategies that would ultimately help my students become better readers.
As I applied for the Master of Arts in Education (MAED) online program, my first goal was to learn how to be a “student” again, and then determine how to do this through an online forum. Fifteen years earlier when I graduated from college there were no online programs. I believe I have navigated the waters slowly though successfully. I have become my own little “expert” with using technology, and feel I have skills to offer and have overcome fears associated with becoming a “student” later in life.
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My ultimate goal for graduate school was to learn about literacy assessment tools such as Aimsweb and Dibels. I had hoped to learn more about the validity, reliability, and sensitivity of these measures, as well as how to connect these results to intervention strategies. Through my master’s courses I hoped to learn more about how curriculum-based measures relate to reading comprehension and fluency. Though many of my classes did not focus on the nuts and bolts of these specific assessment tools, assessment was thoroughly discussed as a way to measure and guide instruction. I found great value in understanding how literacy can be a complicated task, with multi-faceted reasons for struggling readers and strategies for helping these learners. I began to understand that there are multiple reasons for why students have difficulty learning to read. Understanding how motivation, classroom organization and management, along with how children’s self-perceptions affect their learning helped me to view reading, and learning in general, differently. I learned a plethora of strategies that I began using in my classroom to build children’s self-esteem, organization, and love for learning. I learned how to incorporate technology into many aspects of my day and to capitalize on the variety of ways kids learn.
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I've realized through the course of getting my masters degree that my goals have changed. I no longer need or want to learn about the research behind the Aimsweb and Dibels measures, but rather I want to simply grow my abilities for assessing, analyzing, and adjusting my curriculum to reach each child. Having a large "tool box" of assessments and strategies, I can adapt my teaching to meet the needs of all my students. I can motivate resistant learners by using a variety of technology in the classroom.
As I began this school year, I had one parent approach me and say, “My child can’t read yet, and I hear, you are the literacy expert.” To hear those words, and the confidence that this parent had for my abilities, and the comments shared by previous parents, helps me to realize that my graduate classes have prepared me well. Putting all these things together has helped me become a literacy teacher that has a variety of background understanding, assessment tools, and strategies for helping children improve their reading. Understanding each child, with their strengths and weaknesses, is essential for building the right program designed for each specific child to help them feel good about themselves and ultimately give them the confidence they need to become readers.