One student's learning strategy success

Rosa was in third grade when I first met her.  English was her second language, she was language impaired, and she had a specific learning disability in reading.  Although I was not her teacher, I was one of three teachers instructing small groups within the same room. On most days, Rosa would enter the room, sit at her desk, begin her work, interact with her teacher, and then the tears would flow.  I wondered how that moment in time impacted the rest of her day, her week, and ultimately her year.   

Fast forward to Rosa’s fifth-grade year. This was the year that Rosa became one of my students for reading, and our school system started to provide professional development in SIM Learning Strategies. Wondering how Rosa would respond to strategy instruction, we began with the LINCS Vocabulary Strategy using vocabulary from her general education classroom and then expanded to include vocabulary from the books we were reading in class. She was proud of her LINCS cards and often took them to class to show her classmates. Not only was Rosa remembering the vocabulary for her content classes, her confidence was spiking.  The  card pictured below was completed independently!

The Word Mapping Strategy was next for Rosa.  Although she quickly learned to use the resources, predicting the meaning of the words was difficult for her.  This was partly due to her language impairment and partly due to her need to be correct, but either way there were no tears shed when she was incorrect.  (A huge milestone for her!)  Her scores increased on her weekly progress monitoring reading probes from the 45th to the 58th percentile. She volunteered to read during small group instruction and in her general education classroom. Rosa celebrated a successful fifth-grade year!  

Her success continued into her sixth- grade year. The year started with a quick review of the LINCS and Word Mapping Strategies.  Her classroom teacher had also learned the LINCS Vocabulary and Word Mapping Strategies, so Rosa was prompted in the general education classroom, too. Fundamentals in Sentence Writing and Self-Questioning were the next two strategies that I taught to Rosa. She began to excel in sentence writing. She wanted immediate feedback on her sentences and often pleaded to complete one more learning sheet during class to demonstrate mastery. She created movements to accompany the action, linking, and helping verbs. Students in her group looked to her for assistance. Rosa was an emerging leader!  

Self-Questioning was Rosa’s final strategy.  Again, she “owned” the strategy.  When given a passage or short story to read, she would tell her classmates that she was going to use “ASK IT.”  Being able to discuss and explain what has been read is critical for student success in the upper elementary grades.  Her ability to ask questions increased from 40% to 80%.  Her comprehension increased from 50% to 86%.  Rosa graduated from elementary school equipped with confidence and the belief that she could learn given the right tools and a community to support her.  

 Jerri Neduchal, Education Consultant, Bell Isle, FL &

Amy Miller, Elementary School Teacher, Murfreesboro, TN