Notes
Matthew Ricketts Coaching Meeting 9.23.26
Matthew Ricketts and I met for her second coaching meeting on Wednesday, September 23, 2026 at 9:20AM.
Reflection on this week’s readings
One of the concerns that Matt shared at our first meeting was the workload of the class. As he reflected on the week, he indicated that he was getting into the rhythm of taking the class, while still prioritizing his family and his classroom of students. He then shared a magnificent way in which he had used the information he is learning in the class to craft a meaningful classroom activity. The activity was based on a key-take away from the week’s reading which emphasized the role of oral language as it relates to comprehension. He said he watched the videos of the teachers modeling an oral language strategy were lower elementary teachers so he needed to develop an activity that would be more appropriate for his 4th grade classroom. In his class they are studying figurative language and especially the figurative heart and the literal heart. One of the books provided by the district for this study is a picture book titled, “Circulatory stories.” Instead of just doing a read aloud with the book, Matt took the students through the pages of the story before they read it and have them predict, through looking at the pictures, what they believed the story would be about. As a result of the activity, Matt felt as though the students were able to make more predictions and connections, thus enhancing the comprehension of the book.
Focus of Inquiry
At our first meeting, Matt indicated that he had some students who were struggling with fluency and that might be his focus. However, since that time, the students across the grade level have been tested, and based on assessment results, have been divided into intervention groups based on their needs. There is a fluency group that includes the students who were concerning to Matt. He will be taking a group who will be working on silent W sounds, such as in the word wreck. Groups are fluid and change every 2-3 weeks based on assessment data. While Matt will use some of the strategies learned in this course to work with his small group, he would like to pursue a broader focus of inquiry, perhaps in the area of comprehension, specifically focusing on Wit and Wisdom question sets.
DREAM GOAL
At this point, Matt is not ready to identify a goal for this semester’s work. I shared with him the elements of the Dream Goal along with a sample goal.
Next Meeting
Our next meeting will be held on October 2 at 9:20 AM.