A WELLINGTON MIDDLE SCHOOL CASE STUDY 1

A Wellington Middle School Case Study

Meg Strauss

Colorado State University

A WELLINGTON MIDDLE SCHOOL CASE STUDY 2

A Wellington Middle School Case Study

Part One: All Teachers Are Teachers of Reading

Over the past ten weeks, I was fortunate enough to observe, analyze, and learn about

various literary teaching strategies displayed at Wellington Middle School. Every few weeks, I

was placed in a new content area with a different teacher. These different content areas ranged

incredibly, as did the multiple styles of teaching. This wide spectrum truly illustrated the various

approaches a teacher can use while enhancing basic literacy skills. However, through all the

differences between the teachers, the conclusion I ultimately gathered from these ten weeks is

that all teachers, regardless of content area, are teachers of reading.

For instance, the first week of observation, I was placed in Mr. Shins English class.

During this time, Mr. Shin used the KWL literary strategy in order to help enhance his students

understanding of Night by Elie Wiesel. Since this novel took place over the time of the

Holocaust, Mr. Shin used the KWL to have students research important aspects of this time era.

He had the children identify what events they already knew that led to the Holocaust, as well as

what they would like to know about the events that led to the Holocaust. From there, the students

were asked to fill out the what I learned section of the KWL. In order to do this, students used

the internet to research two events that happened each year for five years before the genocide. By

the end of the class period, students had identified ten newly learned events that led to the

Holocaust. Since Mr. Shin is an English teacher, it is easy for one to label him as a teacher of

reading. However, in this certain activity, Mr. Shin was actually teaching history. By teaching

this history through the KWL chart, Mr. Shin greatly enhanced students overall understanding

of the reading; for they gained a fuller picture of the setting presented in the novel, which is truly

essential in fully comprehending the novel. Overall, by using this technique, Mr. Shin can easily
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be deemed a teacher of reading, because he greatly aided in the students understanding of the

text.

After Mr. Shins class, I was moved to Mrs. Bauldridges class, which is an integrated

service class aimed to help students with special needs. Mrs. Bauldridge informed me that the

three students within the class all struggled with reading and writing skills. This became more

evident as we started to read The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies, and I quickly began to

notice all three minds vividly start to wander. However, Mrs. Bauldridge noticed this too and

assigned the students to create a RAFT in order to bring back their attention onto to the novel, as

well as provide a more interactive way to help the students understand the text. Mrs. Bauldridge

gave the students character options, audience options, and format options. The students had to

pick their own topic. The student I personally worked with, Isiah, chose to be the protagonist of

the novel who was writing a strongly-worded email to his enemy. The enemy in the book won a

bet, and Isiah accused the enemy of cheating. Isiah had to explain why he was mad, come up

with a way to get revenge, and articulate the email in an angry tone. This overall greatly

increased Isiahs understanding of the novel, because he had to step into the role of the character

and truly think in a way that the character would. This also enhanced Isiahs literacy skills as he

had to write out and edit an email. Though this class was an integrated services class and not

an English class, Mrs. Bauldridge can still be deemed as a teacher of reading. She provided her

students with a literary strategy that helped them become truly engaged with the text,

consequently enabling a better connection between the students and the books characters.

Another week, I was placed into Mrs. Jordans science class. At first, I was very hesitant,

for I wondered how a science class could enhance literacy. My hesitation was quickly put to ease

as I realized I would be helping students write essays using the literary strategy claim, evidence,
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and reasoning. The students had to think of a scientific concept in which they agreed or

disagreed with. Some students were already writing their paragraphs; however, I helped students

Latisha and Kayden with their research. I helped them establish a claim as to whether or not they

agree with their research. Part of the assignment was to research pros and cons on their topic, so

the students were fully prepared to make their own opinion. Once they made that opinion, I had

them write it down on a planning sheet so they could better incorporate the claim in their

paragraphs. From there, I helped them find evidence to support that claim. Latisha and Kayden

both thought that stem cell research was useful, so I assisted them in finding examples to back up

their reasoning. Kayden had his own reasoning, for stem cell research could personally help his

medical condition. Although I did not directly help with writing, I still had both students write

down their claim, evidence, and reasoning, so when it came time to write their essays, it would

purely be a matter of plugging in information. By having her students use the claim, evidence,

and reasoning literary strategy in her science classroom, Mrs. Jordan became a literary teacher.

Mrs. Jordan incorporated literacy into strong scientific learning. In other words, students

essentially got the best of two worlds; for they were increasing their literary skills as well as

increasing their scientific knowledge. Most, just like I did, would assume that a science class

would not be an example of classroom in which literacy was taught. However, Mrs. Jordan

proved that even a content area such as science can still aide in literary enhancement.

In the last week of observation, I was sent to Mrs. Orswells English class. Just like with

Mr. Shinn, Mrs. Orswell can easily be labeled as a teacher of reading solely because she is an

English teacher. However, by using literary techniques, both English teachers went above and

beyond in ensuring that all students comprehended material. In Mrs. Orswells class, she used

the strategy of a character map. Students within the class were reading Al Capone Does My
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Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko. Mrs. Orswell had each student make a character map, and

provided the drawing of a tree as a universal class example. The group I was assigned to all drew

trees. As I read chapters from the book to the group, each student would have to draw a scene

that was present in the chapter on the chapters designated branch, list the setting in which this

scene took place, and attribute animals in which the characters displayed in the chapter resemble.

An example that Mrs. Orswell provided to the class illustrated a sneaky and not-so-likeable

character in the book as a snake. This strategy greatly enabled students understanding of the

novel. It gave students an outlet to indulge in their creativity while also aiding in their

comprehension of the novel. By doing this character map, students had to focus on important

scenes and settings, as well as form opinions and create labels for certain characters. Mrs.

Orswell is clearly a teacher of reading, but having her students do a character map in order to

increase knowledge of her text, this idea becomes all the more clear. Mrs. Orwell did not simply

read to her class. She used a creative way to help students better understand a text through art

and comparisons.

Overall, I observed classes ranging from English classes to a science class, as well as an

integrated service class. In all four classes, it became clear that in spite of their different teaching

methods and content areas, all of the teachers were teachers of reading. I went into this class

naively thinking that only English teachers were teachers of literacy; however, through my

observation at Wellington Middle School, I quickly became aware that all teachers, from Spanish

to science, history to Math, teach literacy. As journalist Rebecca Alber states, Content

is what we teach, but there is also the how, and this is where literacy instruction comes in. There

are an endless number of engaging, effective strategies to get students to think about, write

about, read about, and talk about the content you teach. The ultimate goal of literacy instruction
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is to build a student's comprehension, writing skills, and overall skills in communication (Alber,

2014). In all of the classes I observed, each teacher used engaging strategies to further increase

literary and reading comprehension.

The greatest aspect that I learned through observing Wellington Middle School is just

how important it is as a teacher to incorporate literacy in an engaging manner throughout all

content areas. Richard Vacca, author of Content Area Reading: Literacy and Learning Across

the Curriculum, states, "Adolescents entering the adult world in the 21st century will read and

write more than at any other time in human history. They will need advanced levels of literacy to

perform their jobs, run their households, act as citizens, and conduct their personal lives" (Vacca,

2002). Literacy is not an aspect that can simply be pushed to the side, considering that reading

and writing skills are essential in westernized living. Janet Seahorn, a Colorado State University

professor, once said, One must have a tenth grade reading level in order to understand a basic

healthcare form (Seahorn, 2016). Due to the fact that literacy plays such an important role in

our society, we as educators must do everything in our ability to ensure that students leave the

educational system as literate. By providing stimulating literary strategies throughout all content

areas, students will increase their literacy, as well as increase their chance of becoming a

successful and useful member of society.

Part Two: Content-Specific Examples

Being in Wellington Middle School not only provided me with insight on how important

the idea of teaching literacy is and the notion that all teachers are teachers of reading, but through

my observation, I was also able to come up with specific strategies and lesson plans that I could

incorporate in my personal teaching to enhance literacy. As a future English teacher, I, like Mr.

Shinn and Mrs. Orswell, will undoubtedly be a teacher of reading. However, through the
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strategies used in the English classes I observed, I realize just how vital it to provide students

with engaging strategies in order to increase comprehension. These strategies will ultimately aide

in the enhancement of literacy within my English class.

One of my favorite strategies we learned about was the RAFT strategy. This strategy is

very easy to incorporate into my lesson plan as an English teacher. For instance, say I am having

my future class read The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. I can provide a list of characters to my

students so they can choose which character they would like to be, a list of characters they can

write to, and a list of overarching topics. I can then have my students pick what format they will

write their RAFT. I will have my students write individually, and once they are done, they will

peer edit a partners RAFT. Once all RAFTS are edited, each person, if they so desire, will

present their RAFT to the class. I feel as though the RAFT is an extremely creative way to

enable the understanding of a text; for it truly connects students to the characters of the book.

In Research-Based Strategies to Ignite Student Learning, author Judy Willis states,

Students pay greatest attention when they learn and enriched and carried sensory learning

environments with frequent opportunities to connect personally and interpersonally with the

material to feel that it is relevant to their lives (Willis, 2006). In my opinion, one of the greatest

strategies to enhance a students bond to a text is through making text-to-text, text-to-self, and

text-to-world connections. With my students, I can provide sticky notes to the class. While I am

reading out loud a chapter, I can have the students use the sticky notes to jot down connections

that they see. Each student will be required to come up with two text-to-text examples, two text-

to-self examples, and two text-to-world examples. At the end of the chapter, each student will

have to share to the class a text connection that they made. By doing this strategy, students will

identify how the reading relates back to their personal lives, and in return will feel more engaged
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with the text. This will consequently produce an enhancement of literacy because students will

begin to notice the importance literature can play within their lives.

Another method for improving literacy that I observed is questioning techniques. This

strategy focuses on the idea of having students come up with their own questions in order to

further along their comprehension of a text. For a lesson, I can have my students get into groups

of two. I will provide a color-themed handout that explains each level of questions: green

questions will be the easiest level and will consist purely of fact collection, red questions will

be the middle level and will relate questions back to the students, and the yellow questions will

be the hardest level and students will have to use facts in the book and relate it back to others. I

will assign a chapter of book. One student will read one page, and the other student will ask a

question. They will switch roles after every page. By the end of the class, each group will have

asked six questions total, two from each level. After groups have finished, I will have each pair

present their questions the class. Students homework will then be to answer one of their level

three questions or red questions in a short paragraph. By doing this, students will become more

engaged in their reading by creating questions on an intellectual level.

A final strategy I can use in my future teaching plans is the KWL strategy. In Content

Area Reading: Teaching and Learning in an Age of Multiple Literacies, author Maureen

McLaughlin states, KWL supports multiple reading comprehension strategies. Its purposes

include activating student prior knowledge about a topic, setting purposes for reading, and

confirming, revising, or expanding original understandings of a topic (McLaughlin, 2010). For

an English class, I can use a KWL to support comprehension skills. So many novels are based on

historical content, and a KWL is a great way to comprehend the history behind a certain book.

For instance, if I am having my class read

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Adler, R. (2015, January 15). How Important is Teaching Literacy in All Content Areas?
Retrieved April 25, 2016, from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/literacy-instruction-across-
curriculum-importance

Seahorn, J. (2016, March 1). Literary and the Learner. Lecture presented at Lecture Week Seven
in Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado.
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Vacca, R. T., & Vacca, J. A. (2002). Content Area Reading: Literacy and Learning Across the
Curriculum. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.