Abby Newkirk SPED Competency Note

Abby Newkirk spent three pull-out sessions with a group of 3 sixth grade students, who all have
Individualized Educational Plans (IEPs). These students all have IEP goals that include support for
reading decoding, reading comprehension, and reading fluency. They also all require help with
understanding the meanings of new and unfamiliar vocabulary that appear across all curriculum areas.
During the first session Abby observed the special educator conduct the small pull-out session. The
teacher demonstrated how to transition students to the new location, introduce the reading passage, go
over key vocabulary and ask enrichment questions related to previous connections and knowledge. A dry
erase board was used to write vocabulary. The selection was from a series of skill books entitled Reading
Comprehension in Varied Subject Matter by Jane Ervin.
During the second session Abby picked a selection about a Native American legend. She guided students
to read and discuss the About the Passage section and the Reasons for Reading. The literary term
legend was written on the board and the group discussed possible definitions and came to the conclusion
that it was a made up story handed down from earlier times (often by word of mouth) and possibly
accepted as true. The students were also individually called upon to read a sentence with a bold faced
word. (there were 6) Abby helped them at times with self-correction of decoding. They each came up
with a meaningful definition either through prior knowledge and/or sentence context. The passage that
Abby selected also developed analytical/abstract thinking because cold, hunger, old age and poverty
were represented as evil spirits or monsters that should be destroyed. During the rest of this 45 minute
session completed a Thinking it Over section and then answered multiple choice, with discussion after
each item. Questions included concepts such as main idea, true/false, number facts in order, and writers
style. This session was concluded due to time constraint.
During Abbys third session she resumed work on the previous article. Students were asked if anyone
could summarize the selection. They first completed matching of bold faced vocabulary. Students were
encouraged to try the matching without looking back to the story, but could do so if needed to use context
clues. The final activity was to write a paragraph response to the prompt: Choose an aspect of our lives
today (war, smoking, homelessness etc.) and tell why you think it should be done away with. Try to
include at least two of the new vocabulary words. Before beginning, Abby reviewed 6
th
grade paragraph
format with the students (topic sentence, at least 3 facts, and a concluding sentence. Two out of three
students needed more discussion and prompting questions before they could get started writing. Again
this session concluded due to time. Writing pieces will be continued in another pull-out session.
Abby had excellent rapport with the students. She asked open ended and thought provoking questions to
stimulate their thinking and foster brief discussions. Her previous work with these 3 students in ELA
class was also helpful with pace and encouragement in this type of small group setting.
Carol Boundy/Special Educator/Grade 6/Putnam Ave. Upper School/Cambridge, MA