Notes
V Step –
Karen introduced herself and readily gave significant information about her circumstances and perspectives regarding the coursework and her capacities to fulfill the process. Karen is currently working three jobs and is attending to her mother who is hospitalized. Her enrollment in the course was a ”spur of the moment decision” and she si not invested at this time. Karen is not sure if she will retire from teaching at the end of this school year, so she is contemplating the possibility of dropping out of the course. After much discussion, Karen agreed to work with me on the first two modules. We reviewed the course requirements, visited the course website and reviewed expected performance outcomes. We reviewed the organizational features of the module content and activities. We discussed that she will most likely need to complete all module components since she does not expect to meet the pretest mastery percentages. I assured her that she can reach out to me throughout module completion (i.e., not wait for our next meeting when she is overwhelmed). My aim is to see that she doesn’t quit and that she has support. She is stressed and visibly emotional due to the challenges she faces at this time.
Karen has taught math, reading, and now social studies to grade 6 students. She is using TCI units and lessons as her curriculum. We reviewed the skill acquisition components used in that program and discussed how she could enhance some of the instructional strategies to support her application of learning. She indicated that the school is now using Fastbridge assessments but “no one knows how to use them” as she indicates professional development was insufficient.
E Step –
Karen identifies reading comprehension and vocabulary development in her problem of practice. We discussed that she could work on strategies to support each area through use of the TCI reading materials and activities. Since TCI units have core vocabulary identified in the teaching plan, Karen will focus on mastery of those terms to support comprehension. Therefore, she will pretest students in one class on the core vocabulary for the next four units to set a baseline. We will address student outcomes through her use of explicit teaching methods and cumulative development of vocabulary over the four units. We will set a DREAM goal at our next meeting. Karen indicated that she will contact me about any questions or needs as she begins to work on Module 1 and Module 2.