Reading Professional Interviews

EDES 6359

Natalie Lozano

Loyola Marymount University

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Literacy coaches and specialists both have different, yet important jobs in helping all stakeholders

in a school build a culture of literacy. A literacy coach focuses on helping to support teachers in the

implementation of best practices through professional development opportunities and mentorship. A

literacy specialist works alongside teachers in working with students that are in need of extra support in

their reading skills. For this assignment, I interviewed both a reading coach and a reading specialist to

learn more about their roles and duties within the context of the school districts in which they serve.

Karisa Denis
Academic Excellence Specialist/Coach--Archdiocese of Los Angeles

1. How do you define your role?

“Every year there’s a focus. How are we going to improve what we do instructionally? So when a

leader has decided, ‘Our faculty needs to improve upon reading,’ we’re a support for helping not only to

learn about literacy and how to instruct in literacy--so building capacity is one way of putting it--as well

as capacity in terms of implementation. Like how do you bring theory and research into the classroom?

So in my role it’s to help provide that information and then to help support the implementation of it. In

my particular role it’s also the support in being a liaison in terms of the resources that are provided as part

of it. But the biggest resource to be honest is the capacity building because you can have all the resources

in the world, but if you don’t know what to do with them instructionally, if you don’t have core

instructional practices, if you don’t understand literacy especially vertically but also at your grade level

then that’s useless. And I think sometimes we think a program or resource can fix our problem, and the

beauty of Onward Readers in my role is it’s more than that with the capacity building piece and the

implementation of what’s best for the students in our classrooms.”

2. How did you transfer from classroom teacher to coach?

“For me it was a little challenging for me because I missed community. Like as a specialist/coach

it’s usually kind of smaller. You’re kind of doing your own thing a little bit more, and because my days
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are so different building community takes longer. You don’t see anyone as often as you would in a school

site, and I do value community a lot and the ability to collaborate. [Our team] it’s evolved and we have a

much larger group now so that’s not as hard anymore. I think two other things--I miss the kids.

Sometimes in my case I’m not a specialist where I’m going in and actually working with a child talking to

them other then the data collection so I do miss that interaction. And I almost feel like I lost a little bit of

my identity as a teacher because I wasn’t having that direct contact with students. As teachers we really

do identify a lot with it, and when I moved away from interacting with children I was missing that piece

of myself that I spent so long thinking about, worrying about, celebrating about--so it was just different to

shift. But in my case I felt very called to also work with adults, so it was just a different way of supporting

student learning. It’s not as direct, so that shift I felt called to it, but it doesn’t mean there wasn’t a little

grieving in the shift.”

3. How many years were you a classroom teacher before becoming a coach?

“Eleven years--I did three in fifth, five in second, and three in middle school. And in the middle

of all that I helped with some PD for TK.”

4. How has your role changed since you began working as a coach?

“My role just in context. Public schools most of the time have some sort of coach, that’s part of

their system. Catholic schools do not, it’s not normal. If you talk to other dioceses these positions don’t

exist (you’re lucky if there’s a director of excellence). So my role was super new when I took it. And

originally I was called an instructional coach. When I started it was a lot of PD, but not a ton of

workshops and we just started doing site visits. Though a lot of it was still kind of envisioning with the

leaders, really getting to know the schools, and just figuring out how to give a workshop with like 150

people. So that was my role in the first year, and we dabbled and tried a site visit. Last year it picked up,

and the role definitely changed where we were doing a little more workshops, but then we were doing

four site visits--trying to provide additional touch points with a higher frequency of accompaniment,
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being able to check-in and give support even more. This year, my role shifted in that we’re still doing a

lot of touch points and a lot of workshop creation (more than I’ve done in the past). And especially with

Onward Readers a lot more creation there, especially with resources as well or refinement of previous

resources. And just that a lot of my conversations are about literacy now, so that’s been the biggest shift.

My role evolved as the vision was evolving in its early stages, so as we saw the needs, my role evolved to

help meet those needs. ”

5. From your experiences as a teacher or coach, what are some of your favorite assessments to give
to identify problems in struggling readers?

“I love ​Words Their Way,​ I love the inventory. I appreciate fluency a lot, especially when I was

dealing with not just the little ones, but the older kids. It tells you a lot, and I think a lot of teachers don’t

realize give them a fluency assessment and it will tell you a lot. Kind of working back fluency, any kind

of running record. At Mother of Sorrows we also used the Gates MacGinitie assessment, and we used to

give students assessments coming in as a placement assessment. We used school wide diagnostic

assessments, and that’s what we based entrance off of, and I really appreciated that. So we used the

Gates-MacGinitie, and we gave the ​Words Their Way ​[spelling] inventory. There’s also the CORE

multiple measures reading assessment book. It gives you a lot of different tools to diagnose different

things. I appreciate their phonics survey as well. I’ve even in the past used the San Diego Quick in the

early years.”

6. What do you see is the biggest issue students are having when it comes to reading?

“I think what I’m noticing is a lack of deeper relevance for the tasks that they do--that

metacognition piece. I notice that metacognition is not being taught as explicit as it could be. They [the

students] don’t always know what the skill looks like as mastery, and even the, ‘Why is this important?’

piece, ‘Why are we learning this?’ The biggest problem that I’m seeing is that students are viewing

reading as a chore or as a burden because they’re not good at it. So just a greater love for reading, a

greater understanding of why we need it and the urgency to really get it. And also being able to talk about
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literacy and talk about their learning. If they knew just how powerful literacy could be, truly, maybe

they’d be a little less discouraged.”

Professor Andrea Steinfeld

Intervention Coordinator--LAUSD

1. How did you transition from a classroom teacher to a specialist?

“I taught from 1986-1996. An early literacy cadre formed in LAUSD, and my principal at the

time recommended me for it. I was a pull-out reading teacher at my first school. Then I was a literacy

coach and helped teacher adopt, ​Open Court​. I didn’t get hired back because of funding.”

2. How do you manage your classroom when you meet with students on a limited basis?

“I don’t work with students directly. My role has shifted, and I oversee all 385 students in

intervention. Intervention takes place during four different blocks. I go into each class and help make sure

that all small groups are running effectively, and make sure that all students are getting what they need in

intervention (the lowest skill deficit).”

3. Can you describe the support you get from the administration at your school?

“I receive really great support from my administration. I am very close with them, and I feel

comfortable sharing issues that I am having or observing with regards to teachers.”

4. Can you give some examples of your work in this new role as an intervention coordinator?

“I went into a kindergarten class and helped assess students. I wanted to make sure that the

teachers were assessing correctly. I had a meeting with a second grader that has severe emotional

problems. I circled around the second and third grade classrooms to make sure that the assistants are

doing what’s expected of them. I also help coordinate intervention using the DIELS assessment. For

intensive kids, they need to be assessed every three weeks. Students that are not intensive need to be

assessed every four weeks. I would like to do more with the data in order to see who’s making progress,

who’s not, and what can we do to fix that.”

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5. What reading materials do you use?

“In kindergarten we use Heggerty Phonemic Awareness, Explode the Code, the Montessori

application, and ​Benchmark g​ uided reading. In first grade we use recipe for reading, talking letters,

Explode the Code, Heggerty, and reader’s theater (for high students). In second grade, we use Explode the

Code, and guided reading. In third grade we incorporate fluency practice and ​Benchmark​ guided reading.

In fourth and fifth grade we use implement guided reading, Explode the Code, and word sorts. I picked

each of these programs, and I think they are all beneficial to students”

6. What is your role in a SST meeting?

“I run the meeting and input documentation into Mysis. I then follow the students, and print the

form. The form then goes to the parent, teacher, and in their cumulative file. I always conclude with a

follow-up with the classroom teacher.”

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Ho do you define your role?

-support to principals and teachers

-principals in leaderships

Every year there’s a focus; not only learn

-Building capacity & capacity into implementation

-support bringing theory into practice

-liason for resources

-capacity building

-CIP

-Academic Excellence Specialist

-presentations & PDs

-sustainability

1. Describe your typical day.

-3 types of days

-Office: collaboration as a team, researching (for wokshops, strengthening own capacities to help support

principals), planning, & learning

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-Site-Visit Days: go to sites, accompany principles in leading learning, coaching conversations,

collaborative conversations around focus of school, planning/brainstorming, support leader wherever

they’re at, walk-throughs to help collect classroom data,

-Workshop Days: facilitating large group professional developments

2. How did you transition from being a classroom teacher to coach?

-missed community; doing your own thing a little bit more; builiding a community takes longer; value

community a lot

-specialist team

-miss the kids, not going in and working with children

Miss interaction, lost identity as a teacher w/o direct contact with students

Feel guilty when you get teacher discount

Felt very called to work with adults

Different way of supporting student learning

When you move to the central office its a little indimidating

Moving to different spaces, going to other people’s schools I want to honor that

Eleven years in the classroom

3 5th

5 second

3 middle school

PD for TK

3. How has your role changed since you began in your position?

-super new when she took it

Originailly an instructional coah

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Not a ton of PD

Just started doing site visits

A lot of envisioning & getting to know the schools

Learning how to give a workshop

Trying to provide additional touch points (higher frequency of accompaniment)

Team expanded

A lot of workshop creation

OR specifically creation in terms of resources

A lot of conversations about literacy now

Birth of new position (as we saw the needs)

4. How did you decide what materials to use for OR?

Google drive: previously created resources; refined based on trends of previous years; teach a little bit

more on how to strengthen capacity of teachers; sustainable improvement;

Text books: originally journeys, research done from Mother of Sorrows, Reading First article, over the

year evolved, shifted because of CCSS, Benchmark Advance (better support teaching of standards),

engaging in very rich, complex texts, EVERYTHING RESEARCH BASED

5. How often do you give feedback/collaborate with teachers & principals?

-Workshops: presenting content, checking in, building shared understanding & language, making sure

things are clear, possible next steps, clarifying & checking-in

-Site Visits: a lot of listening, what are your successes & challenges, focus a lot on the learning, what are

they able to communicate, evidence from classrooms (not always what the teacher doing), go into

classrooms to collect data, rooted in PLC type conversations, what were the trends in data, data driven

conversations, ease anxiety, patience is important (know when to give information)

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Encourage enough for growth

Look at relatity,data, reflect on it, empowering the principal, what do you want to do next?

After determining next, what can I do? Checking-in, sending articles, resources, PD, myself as a resource

6. How do you manage coaching at multiple different schools?

-11 schools

-first year providing intensive supports

Provide PD that’s most helpful

What information to give

Learning the personalities of all schools

Providing enough to move forward with

The amount of implementation we can exeperience at once

Scheduleing can be tricky for site visits (create learning journey)

Zoom calls

Clarification & simplification

7. What are your favorite literacy assessments for struggling students?

-Words Their Way

-Fluency/Running Record

-Gates Magintie (School wide diagnostic assessment)

-CORE reading assessments (tools to diagnose specific things; phonics survey)

-San Diego Quizk

-Good places to start

8. What is the biggest issue you consistently see students having with reading?

-Lack of deeper relevance for tasks that they do

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-Metacognition

-Students don’t always know what the skills looks like in mastery

-Why is this important to learn; lack of passion (view reading as a chore)

-Urgency to get it & talk about literacy & learning

-Know objective, filling out something their teacher made them do,

-Depth of culture for learning,

-Knew how powerful literacy could be, they may be a little more engage

-DEPTH WITH SKILLS

-Critical thinking

Provide a lot of rationale, incoproate mission & calling, draw on our Catholic faith a lot, learning to try to

find the belifs that unite us, tapping into the why,

Proactively, provide opportunities to connect with colleagues, providing meaningful tasks, adult learning

theories,

Reactive when things happen in the moment, redirect, thank you for asking the question, check-in later

on, put things on posters (are we providing enough voice), adjust accordingly, release the pressure,

address to whole group if you see trends,

Negativity comes from a place where there is not an opportunity for voice

9. What are some things you wish you knew before becoming a coach?

-wish could have taken a class on adult learning theories

-experience in young adult ministry helped

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-had to learn how to write more, pointers on how to communicate, how to handle challenging

conversations,

-how to communicate with adults, what limits are, how much to encourage

-could have encouraged more