Personalized Curriculum through Reading Recovery

cc licensed ( BY NC ) flickr photo by Carlos Porto: http://flickr.com/photos/carlosporto/775089650/

I choose the early intervention program found on page 484. As indicated in the text, Reading Recovery programs are currently used extensively, among others. Early intervention in literacy is critical to help students not fall behind as they get older. One of the reasons I like the Reading Recovery program is the fact that it happens daily. Other programs I’ve seen only have students meeting with teachers once or twice per week. Daily reading with an expert is critical. I also like that Reading Recovery has students meeting individually with the RR teacher. This allows the teacher to focus on the individual students’ weaknesses and address them. Whether comprehension, fluidity, or any other literacy need, the teacher can work to help remedy the specific needs of the student.

In my district, there is a need for funding. As a curricular leader I would advocate for funding to expand the Reading Recovery program to all elementary schools. I would also ensure that there was a solid process in place to identify students that would benefit from such a program.

Co-Teaching

The co-teaching model can be beneficial for both teachers and learners. For teachers, it provides a second teacher in the classroom that can help provide individualized help to struggling learners or extra challenges to advanced learners. One question I have is whether the co-teaching model is only effective if the teacher is physically present. There have been some major advances in robotics and video technologies that make me wonder if a virtual teacher (a real teacher presented virtually) would provide the chance for co-teaching virtually. Imagine if you could centrally locate several teachers that specialized in a certain topic (let’s say literacy for example) who could then arrive virtually in one school in the early morning, another school later in the morning, and still other schools in the afternoon.

As a supervisor, I would want to see synergy between the co-teachers. I would want to make sure there wasn’t any “turf wars” between the teachers and would need to ensure that the teachers were united in the common goal of helping students succeed. To that end, I would want to talk regularly with and regularly observe the co-teachers. Perhaps I could do so virtually?