Abstract
This chapter describes the conversion of a face-to-face reading clinic held on a university campus to one implemented fully online. Two faculty members, in different disciplines, worked collaboratively with a local elementary school principal to transition the program to the new format. Teacher candidates from several certification areas worked together in pairs to tutor a shared tutee. The transition to virtual instruction involved rethinking ways to prepare candidates to conduct assessments, plan and implement engaging instruction, and monitor progress in a virtual environment. This chapter will provide a description of this model, along with the logistical and pedagogical decisions made and the lessons learned along the way.
TopBackground
In order to serve all learners, teachers must be prepared to work together to provide intervention to students in need of additional support. Unfortunately, research to date indicates that they may be inadequately prepared to do so (Fowler et al., 2019; Hurlbut & Tunks, 2016), due in part to their lack of authentic classroom experiences. Teacher preparation programs must thus ensure that candidates gain the experience necessary to provide high-quality intervention, while simultaneously providing opportunities for them to acquire the competencies needed to support delivery of virtual instruction that this past year has taught us will be critical to their future success.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Reading Intervention: Supplemental instruction provided to students in need of additional reading support that typically includes more frequent progress monitoring and data-based decision making.
Collaboration: Two or more educators engaged in communication and shared decision-making as they work toward a mutual goal.
Virtual Instruction: Instruction provided using online formats.
Phonics Instruction: Teaching the correspondence between letters or groups of letters and their sounds in a prescribed sequence to enable students to pronounce written words.
University-Based Reading Clinic: A setting in which university students, usually those enrolled in an educator preparation program, tutor children and adolescents under the supervision of an instructor.
Guided Reading: Part of a balanced approach to reading instruction where the students read a text at their instruction reading level and the teacher supports decoding, fluency, and comprehension through the use of immediate prompting and teaching points.
Multi-Tiered Systems of Support/Response to Intervention: A tiered system designed to identify and support students with learning and behavior needs.