Rebekah Young

Coaching Session #3 – Commit to Change

Coachee: Bekah Young

Date/Time: October 9, 2026, 12:45 p.m.

Next Coaching Date/Time: October 20, 2026, 12:45 p.m.

Overarching goal: Four 2nd and 3rd grade students being served in the resource room will receive extra support for a series of sounds in words (CVC, consonant blends, digraphs, and long vowel/silent e words). In addition to the tactile and kinesthetic materials used with the curriculum, the students will “touch and say” when using letters to sound out words in lessons. The students’ progress will be monitoring using the PSI associated with the curriculum.  The dates for achieving progress toward goal are as follows:

CVC words by October 9, 2026 (25% of the way toward overall goal)

Consonant blends by October 27, 2026 (50% of the way toward overall goal)

Digraphs by November 10, 2026 (75% of the way toward overall goal)

Long vowel/silent e words by December 4, 2026 (100% toward overall goal)

Reviewing the Video: The video demonstrated two small groups of students (the four students that are a part of the goal-setting process) using trays with magnetic letters to form C/a/V words. Bekah demonstrated finding the letters and touching and saying before the students manipulated the letters. Throughout both small group sessions, Bekah’s is very consistent with what she says to the students using language familiar to the students as well as providing repetition for the students. The male student in the first group did not respond as well to touching and saying the letters. It is difficult to hear whether or not he knows the sounds. The other three students are clear when they spell, touch, and say. Touching the letters (and Bekah has them form the letters which is good practice) is good for students with small motor coordination issues, so eventually we need the male student to comply with instructions.

Questions to consider: What would happen if you used each of the words in a sentence. One of the words the students sounded out was “vat.” I imagine most of them do not know what the word means. Even if you are using nonsense words, you can make a point of saying it’s a nonsense word and then reinforcing with a rhyming real word. Example: “yat” Yat is a nonsense word; it rhymes with sat.

Based on our reflections, is there anything we need to change about the overarching goal? No, Bekah feels like the students are right on track for the goals we have set.

What is working for your students? Repetition and constant exposure are critical for the four students. The touch and say process is helping them internalize the short vowel sounds they are learning.

What is challenging for you or for your students? Bekah is continuing to get comfortable with the tools and resources she is using to provide cohesive lessons for the students. She has moved away from a strictly scripted lesson as demonstrated in the video, and she confirmed that she was much more confident in delivering the lessons. For her male student, he is not yet touching and saying consistently. Bekah did confirm that he sees an OT for small motor activities, so the touch and say will be important to reinforce for him. He is able to read short vowel words when they are in context (better than when only the words are assessed). This is positive for this student. Bekah also noted that she is working with the classroom teacher to modify his spelling list so that he can be successful. He will be working on five words, and they are going to incorporate words he is learning to spell in the resource room.

Have you determined any progress toward goal during the past week? Yes! Assessment for short vowel words (including real and nonsense words) was completed on October 7, 2026. The results were as follows:

A (male)            7/10 on NWF                9/10 on words in sentences

F                          10/10 on NWF              10/10 on words in sentences

G                         10/10 on NWF              10/10 on words in sentences

B                          10/10 on NWF              10/10 on words in sentences

Are you confident that students will make the improvement we are striving for by mid-December? Bekah believes so. The goals we have set may be challenging for student A. We will modify the goal for him mid-November if we determine that he is not making adequate progress.

Do we need to change anything about the goal at this time? No.

Working on Next Steps

Parent-teacher conferences are next week.

Keep working on steps toward goal that you want to meet by mid-October.

Create video for this goal of your teaching and student learning.