Use of a Metacognitive Tool to Facilitate Teacher Reflection in an Online Graduate Literacy Course

Reading Practicum Course Description

The online Reading Practicum course is situated in a state-approved, graduate-level Reading Endorsement program that is aligned with the International Literacy Association’s 2017 Standards for Literacy Professionals. In the Midwestern university where this course takes place, the K-12 Reading Endorsement may be added to an existing teaching license, thereby qualifying teachers as reading specialists in numerous school districts. The fully online Reading Endorsement program requires 16 hours of graduate coursework beyond the 12 hours of prerequisite courses in the teaching of reading required for initial licensure by the state. The state requirements also include 50 hours of field-based practicum experiences. Teachers in this program have two options for applying the courses to other graduate programs offered in the university: (a) Master of Science in Education with a literacy concentration, which involves an additional 12 hours of graduate coursework, and (b) Dyslexia Certificate, a university-issued certificate program that requires an additional six hours of graduate coursework.

The Reading Practicum course presents teachers with an introduction to the field of diagnosis and instructional intervention while extending knowledge of the reading process to make decisions about appropriate tools and strategies for assessment and instruction. The course is based on an interactive, social-constructivist view of the reading process. This view suggests that reading is the process of constructing meaning through the interaction among the reader, the text, and the context of the reading situation (Bloom, 1985). The objectives of the course are to (a) gather data on an individual student and design and implement an assessment-based instructional plan, and (b) integrate strategies to enhance student learning through diagnostic teaching.

The practicum course follows an introductory course focused on the foundations of literacy theory and research specific to assessment and evaluation of struggling readers. Building on this foundation in the practicum, teachers apply the theories to practice through design, implementation, and evaluation of one-to-one reading intervention with a struggling reader for 20 hours over 16 weeks. At the outset of the practicum, the teachers administer literacy diagnostic assessments to determine strengths and needs for improvement. Next, teachers complete 10 lesson plans that utilize a specific literacy lesson structure, Literacy Lesson Framework (Tancock, 1994), to guide their instruction. This framework is designed for one-to-one teaching with struggling readers. The lesson is divided into five components of literacy instruction, including familiar reading, guided reading, word work, writing, and book sharing to insure balanced instruction throughout the intervention (see Table 1). Teachers share lesson plans digitally with the instructor and with their colleagues throughout the term to receive feedback and support.