Heather Williams

by Vicki Seeger

Session Time: 01/28/2026 4:05 pm | Phase: Verify Perspective, Examine Influence | Session Length: 0:30

Goals

24 students will engage in whole group instruction for analyzing the vocabulary within question sets prior to taking them so that students understand what the questions are asking. The students will be responsible for selecting the vocabulary words that are difficult for them. Heather will use whole group instruction, student selection of vocabulary words, and frontloading meaning of the words as strategies for building these skills with the students. The monthly goals are stated below.
Stage: Starting Point

Goal Information

Date: February 16, 2026

Attainment Scale:
Starting Point:

The results for three question sets are as follows:
Question Set #5 - 1 Not meeting approaching expectations; 12 meeting expectations; 10 exceeding expectations.
Question Set #6 - 8 Not meeting approaching expectations; 8 meeting expectations; 8 exceeding expectations.
Question Set #7 - 3 Not meeting approaching expectations; 13 meeting expectations; 9 exceeding expectations.
Question Set #5 - Class average is 73%
Question Set #6 - Class average is 60%
Question Set #7 - Class average is 78%


Midpoint:

Students will be taking 10-11 question sets before the end of the academic year. The midpoint goal will be for students to achieve 85% by April 15. The question sets themselves will be used as the data source to determine if the strategies are working.


Target Goal:

Students will be taking 10-11 question sets before the end of the academic year. The initial goal will be for students to achieve 80% by March 17, 85% by April 15, and 90% by May 15. The question sets themselves will be used as the data source to determine if the strategies are working.


Notes

Coach Log Note 1:

Coaching Session #1 – Verifying Perspectives

  1. This or That

Movie first or book first?

Fiction or non-fiction?

Handwritten notes or emails to a close friend?

  1. Learning about your background

Who or what influenced you to become a teacher?

What experiences have you had as a teacher including districts, schools, grade levels?

  1. Examining your professional beliefs

What is something you strongly believe in when it comes to educating children?

What do you consider to be the single most important literacy strategy you use in your classroom?

What do you want to gain from coaching related to literacy practices?

How are the district’s curriculum materials helping or challenging for your students?

What is a goal we can work on this week?

  1. Work for next coaching session

Narrated tour of your classroom

Survey to the 5th grade students about their performance on question sets

Ideas for goals based on challenges in the classroom and problems of practice from your Canvas course

  • The Foundations of the Science of Reading
  • Assessments
  • Oral Language
  • Phonological & Phonemic Awareness
  • Phonics (Encoding and Decoding)
  • Fluency

Write down the challenges you might face in working on implementing your goals

Read the materials in Module 2. We will discuss those materials looking specifically at the comprehension elements of the module.

Coachee Note 1:

Heather and I used the session to get to know one another. We began with This or That, then transitioned to learning about Heather’s background in teaching. She has been teaching for 27 years and has taught 1st, 3rd, and 5th grades. She is currently teaching 5th grade for three years. We examined her professional beliefs and discussed what would be completed for the next coaching session on February 2. Heather will complete a survey with her 5th grade students to gain their perspective on why they are performing poorly on question sets that are part of the reading program the district uses. There will be no video associated with this survey in order to gain candid views of the 5th grade students about their performance. We will discuss the elements in Module 2 at our next coaching session and take a deeper dive into goals after discussing the comprehension materials in that module.

We discussed the current curriculum materials the district is using and what is challenging for the students and for instruction. The 95% and Wit & Wisdom programs. The programs are lacking supplemental materials and the reading resources are challenging. She has to supplement for grammar, independent reading and writing. She believes there is no authentic writing currently occurring. The writing that is associated with the programs she has to use is a lot for the students to complete and is not authentic writing (like what would be accomplished in Writer’s Workshop).

Currently, she has 25 5th grade students in her classroom.

Heather’s background in 1st grade helps her understand the foundational skills that students need for upper elementary grades.