FINAL PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

Internship / Extended Student Journal 2017

Annotated and Reflective Diary
Date: Activity (Title in bold): Notes/pictures/hyperlinks and explanation/reflections
(Weekly entries)

Week 1 Pre-Testing: For my first block of time with my 4 students I decided to do a read up
26/7/17 & session just to get students familiar with the format the majority of our time together
27/717 would be spent in. This was also my first time meeting the students I would be working
with so I didnt want to do anything too strenuous. I worked with them in pairs as this
is how read up needs to be completed. I grabbed two students first and began by
introducing myself and playing a quick game of word tennis with them just to
loosen them up a little and show them that we would be having fun together.
After this we began with our read up session. These sessions take half an hour and
comprise of six 5 minute activities that are aimed at developing students reading
skills and literacy abilities. The program has been specifically designed by the schools
education support worker to target specific areas of improvement within the students.
The outline for each 30 minute can be seen in the document to the right.

The Oxford words, as well as the books used for guided reading are adjusted and varied
depending on the readiness level of the students, and all results recorded are recorded
separately for each individual student. As I hadnt done any pre-testing, nor gotten the
opportunity to talk to the teacher, Lisa, prior, I just did the activities with some basic,
simple words. After they had completed the read up session I got them to fill in a little
getting to know you sheet in which they got to write, draw and colour about themselves. I then
and then sent them back to the classroom and grabbed the other pair to work with,
repeating the same process.

One of the read up activities is guided reading with a reader a few levels higher than
their instructional level, so these differed between the pairs as I had already been
given their current instructional levels. Although I do have templates to record student
results on, I just made some notes in a notebook for this week as I wanted to
ensure the templates would filled in correctly once I had a better understanding of the
format. I later decided not to include the results collected in this read up session in the
templates as they werent accurate or well informed data, and more like a trial and
starting point.

Running Record: My next session with the students saw me complete a running
record with each of them. It is really important to continually and frequently monitor
students reading level to ensure they are working at the appropriate level of challenge,
as well as noting their strengths and weaknesses to best assist them in progressing. A large
reason we were assigned these particular students we are working with is because
they are currently not at benchmark. By the end of year 1 all students are expected
to be independently reading at least level 13 readers and each student that we are
working with have not currently met that expectation. This is something that we are
aiming to work towards so it is really important to closely monitor these students, as
well as completing things such as read up to assist in their development. Each running
record took about 10 15 minutes. These are completed individually so after each
running record I sent one student back to class and collected the next. After completing
all four I then independently went over the results. I recorded my observations and
wrote some constructive feedback and suggestions. I then calculated their scores
based on their results. All of them scored over 95 which means that the level they had
been tested on was too easy for them. Their instructional reader needs to between a
score of 90-95 to ensure they are being appropriately challenged. The levels that I
tested students on were the levels they had been
working on before the holidays, so they may have had some extra practice. As a result,
each student moved up to the next level of take home readers which was
excellent progress already. It also meant that next lesson I had to do another
 running record with each of them to ensure that these were the appropriate level of
challenge.

After completing these running records, I got the opportunity to talk to Lisa. I explained
what had happened and she was very pleased with the results. I then made copies
of the running records sheets to give to her for her own records so the results could
be filed and verified. I then got the opportunity to ask her about each of the students
oxford word list abilities. One of the activities in read up involves reading oxford words,
so this way my next read up session would be better tailored to suit each student as
the initial session I did I just started with words 1-25. I also asked whether she thought
phonological awareness was something that I needed to test for and spend time
improving but she told me that wasnt necessary for these students and that my time
would be better spent focusing on reading only.

Overall, Im happy with how this week went. It has been a little challenging as, quite
honestly, we havent received much training or guidance. I think my first session
wasnt as good as it could have been, but Ill allow myself that time as a getting to
you session and learn from it and get better. After my second session, Im feeling a lot
more confident in the direction I want to take as well as my knowledge of the students
so Im looking forward to moving forward from here.

Week 2 Running Records: Last lesson all of my students completed a running record. Each
31/7/17 & of them ended up with a score over 95 which means that the level they were tested on
4/8/17 was too easy for them and they were not being appropriately challenged. As a result,
this next session required me testing them again to find the level suitably matched
to their abilities. After talking to Lisa on Friday and showing them the students results,
she suggested testing the students two levels higher than they had just been tested
as they had scored so highly the next level up was unlikely to be challenging enough
for them. I obviously took her advice so I spent this session retesting all 4 of my
students. After testing them I calculated their new scores and they all fell between 90 -
95, meaning that these were the suitable levels to provide students with an
appropriate level of challenge. This was an excellent result as it means I do not need
to spend another session immediately retesting students and each student has already
moved up a reading level, suggesting that the program is already having an effect
and bringing them one step closer to reaching benchmark.

Read up: As I was up to date and on track with my running records I was able to
spend this session focusing on the read up program. I was excited to get back into this
as I had only done it once with the students so far and that was in the first session,
before I knew them as well as I do now and before I had any real ideas of their
capabilities. After observing them and working with them over the last few sessions, as
well as from talking to Lisa and getting more of an insight into their current readiness
levels, through test scores and progress updates, I felt more comfortable in
implementing the program as well as adjusting it slightly, where appropriate, to best
suit each student. For example, just making small changes like testing students on the
Oxford Sight Word numbers that they are up to. This was the first session in which we
recorded our results onto the templates. Students coloured in a number of boxes to
represent the number of words and sounds they got correct in the 2 minute allotted
time period. This will be done at the end of each session to keep track of their results
and so students can have a visual representation of their progress and how much
theyre improving, which will encourage them to continue and work hard to achieve.
Two of my four students were absent today so instead of completing the session in
pairs I took one student at a time and worked though the program with them one on
one. Although this wasnt ideal in terms of all students getting the practice and help
we are aiming for, it was nice, especially in this early stage, to get to work with two
of the students one on one, to give them a little more attention and observe more
closely their abilities and their strategies.

Week 3 Read Up: As my students only need to be tested on running records once every four
7/8/17 & weeks, my focus for the next number of sessions will be on the read up program and
11/8/17 helping these students to strengthen their knowledge of sounds and the Oxford word
list, which will, in turn, help improve their reading skills and help them move towards
the reading level they need to reach by the end of the year. Today 3 of my 4 students
were at school. Luckily the student who was away hadnt been away for any of the
 previous lessons so all students are about on the same level of practice. I, again, took
the student without a partner and worked with them one on one which allowed a more
focused session tailored exclusively to that students needs. I made a change today in
the set of Oxford words I was using to test the students with. After exploring the
resources available to us, I was able to locate a different set of words to use to test
students with. Rather than continuing to use the sets of 25 words that I had started
using, I moved on the using sets of 40 words. This, although a less
focused approach, allows students to increase their awareness and familiarity of a
larger number of words. I decided to do this as students are given 2 minutes to read
as many sight words as possible and my students were often getting through these
sets of 25 words with time left to spare. Rather than wasting this time, I decided to
give them more words so if they happen to get through the 25, they can continue their
practice. This will obviously make a bit of the change to the results collected, but this
has been noted and will be taken into consideration when looking at the data.

Read Up: Todays session was, again, focused on the read up program. All four of my
students were at school today which was great to be able to get them all back on track.
Today I made a change to the sound cards that were presented to students as I didnt
think the old ones were great. The sounds cards that had been used were hard to keep
track of, often got mixed up, and often included doubles which were a waste of time.
These new cards were easier to work with, however there were about 10 less than
the students were used to, so they finished quicker and the scores recorded on their
result sheets were lower. Im not sure if this was a good decision or not. I think when I
am next in again I will take another look at the resources available and see if there are
any better options, otherwise I may return to the ones that I had used previously,
because although they are a difficult to keep track of, there are enough of them to keep
the students practicing for their allotted 2 minutes. Although I am not too worried about
this as all 4 students that I am working with have a pretty strong knowledge of sounds
and are comfortable with them. Unlike the Oxford words, the sounds presented to
students stay the same throughout the program and do not get any harder, as there
arent harder sounds to learn.

Week 4 Read Up: Todays session focused, again, on the read up program. Today one of my
14/8/17 & students was away so I did my first session with a single individual student. I
18/8/17 had a look around at the resources available for me to use and there wasnt a whole
lot in regards to sounds Iards. As Ive mentioned before, there are only a
limited number of sounds that need to be known and need to be tested. There is quite
a good set available for use, however it is a singular set and more often than not there
is more than one of us student teachers in the room working at the same time, so they
cant be relied on or guaranteed to use. However, there are not too many other sets
available so Ive decided Im just going to use the good set when it is there and if it is
not Ill use one of the other sets. There is not too much difference in the sets apart
from the number of cards in each, some have 40 while others have 36, although all of
these students have a strong knowledge of their sounds by now, so it does not make
too much difference to their results, nor does it hinder their progress in any way.
The program ran smoothly and each of my students is progressing really well. Their
knowledge of the Oxford sight words is improving and they are getting much more
comfortable and fluent in their reading. I am extremely happy with how things are going
so far and looking forward to seeing how they keep progressing.

Read Up: Today the same student was away, so I, again, did my first session
individually. Initially I had thought that if one of my students was away I would just grab
another child from their class to fill their spot, as the program is designed to run in
pairs, but Ive found that working with a student one on one really allows me to focus
all my energy of them and gain a better understanding of not only where their abilities
lie, but also their processes and strategies for working through problems they may
face. It has been especially good in that the student who has received the most one on
one time, purely because their partner is the one who has been absent the most, is an
extremely bright student who is simply not meeting benchmark as they do not get the
support they need from home to flourish, particularly time to practice reading. It has
been great getting to spend that focused time with this student and give them the
attention they dont often get, and it has really done wonders to not only boost their
confidence, but to get them enjoying reading and looking forward to this time to do so.
It has been a really positive experience for me, and Id like to think for them too.
 Having said that, I have been able to form a really good bond with all my students and
Im at the point where I think I know them all pretty well and have been able to make
slight adjustments to the program to suit each of them, as well as being able to give
them individualised feedback, encouragement and advice according to what I have
observed. Overall, todays session went well and each student is progressing.

Week 5 Read Up: Today two of my students were away. As the students that were away were
21/8/17 from the two different partnerships, one from each, I decided to run two one on one
24/8/17 sessions with the students that were here. I considered combining the sessions into
one and just pairing up the two students that were here, but there is a bit of a gap
between their abilities so it wouldnt be completely fair, plus, as I mentioned above, I
have really seen a huge benefit it getting that focused one on one time with students
when possible. It was great getting to work with these students one on one, not only to
be able to focus on them a little bit more intensely, but also just to be able to slow
things down and take our time, talking things through a bit more. As mentioned before,
were only allowed 30 minutes with each pair of students at a time so when both
students are there it can be a bit of a push to get things done thoroughly. The program
can be completed easily enough in 30 minutes, but it doesnt allow for a whole lot of
discussion or reflection, so its nice to get that opportunity on some occasions. Todays
session went well and both students who were present were very focused and
recorded very good results. Their reading and fluency is improving each session,
especially as they are getting the opportunity to re-read a text multiple times so they
are really able to grow confident with it.

Read Up: Today all my students were finally at school so it was nice to get back into
the swing of things. I went in on Thursday this week instead of Friday as I had a prior
engagement on Friday that I couldnt get out of. We had to relocate todays session
due to a confidential testing going on in the space we usually occupy so we had to
make do with an empty classroom which was much noisier and more distracting than
the closed room we usually get the luxury of. The students tried hard today although it
was not their best effort. Two of the students have missed a few sessions so thats
always going to affect their abilities. The less practice they get, the less familiar they
are with the words and sounds, the lower the score theyre going to record, so I made
sure to remind them that theyd missed a few sessions and thats why their scores had
fallen behind a bit, as well as reminding them how important coming to school is,
although, to be fair, the student who has missed a number of sessions had been
legitimately ill. We were also doing the session on a different day and in a different
place, and things like this do need to be considered when looking at results. Ive
noticed in general that how a student does in these sessions really depends on what
kind of day theyre having. On a number of occasions one of my students has recorded
perfect scores on their sounds and in their sight words only to record poorer scores the
next session. Although they have proven they have the knowledge to get all the
answers right, if they are distracted or hungry, or tired, or a whole number of different
things, this can, and I presume has, had an effect on their results. This is how I explain
the inconsistencies in their results. Although generally they all produce really good
results in each session, the little differences that occur can be put down to personal
things, as they are at such a vulnerable age where even the tiniest thing can have
a massive effect on their concentration levels.

Week 6 Read Up: Today I did another read up session with my students. I have found a
28/8/17 consistent set of sound cards that I have been working with so this has made it
easier to keep a clear record of student progress. All of the students have shown a
great improvement in their sound recall and have become a lot more confident in their
knowledge of phonetics as well as improved their skills in using sounds to decode
words which has become evident when tracking their Oxford word recall results which
is very encouraging,

The students had a student free day this Friday so I was only able to visit the school
once this week. Although this is not ideal, I am happy with how the students are
progressing and growing and I am very confident in their abilities.

Week 7 This Monday was a public holiday, so I was unfortunately unable to go into the school
8/9/17 again.
 Running Records: Today I did a running record with each of my students. I had
talked to Lisa a few weeks earlier and asked when I should be conducting these and
she suggested around every four weeks, so I was due to do another one. One of my
students was away so I did running records with the other three students and I will do
his next session. The results that I recorded were good. One student scored a 95,
which is right on the cusp of being the right level of challenge and being not challenging
enough, but after talking to Lisa, we decided that was the level they would stay working
at as their fluency wasnt as strong as their accuracy. Another student scored
a 94 which means that the level they were tested on was the suitable level for them so
they will continue working at that level. The third student scored a 96, which would
suggest that this was not challenging enough and that they were ready to be tested on
the next level, however talking to Lisa forced me to reconsider. After having a
discussion with Lisa, she voiced her doubt of this students capability in moving
forward on to the next level, so we decided that next session I would re-test them on
the same level but on a different book from the other box to check whether their initial
test was accurate or a fluke like Lisa seemed to think. Its been really good getting the
opportunity to talk to Lisa about these things because not only does she have much
more experience in these practices than I do, but she also knows the students and
their abilities much more than I do, so getting her opinion and input is really helpful and
means a lot.

Week 8 Read Up: Today I was going to do a running record with the student who was away
11/9/17 & yesterday, however, they were away again today, so unfortunately that wasnt possible.
15/9/17 Instead I ran the regular read up sessions with the other three students. By this point
all of the students have developed a very strong understanding of their sounds and
are each recording full marks in this area each session which is great to see. They are
also recalling both their words and sounds at a much quicker pace as a result of their
continued practice. Theyve been recording more time remaining when recalling their
sounds and working faster to get through more of their Oxford words. This is
showcasing a development in the automaticity of their skills which is something that
was definitely an aim beginning this project, so Im very happy about this.

Read Up: Today one of my students was away again. This is the same student who
has been away for many previous sessions. In fact, at this point, theyve missed as
many sessions as theyve been to. This is unfortunate as their absences and lack of
practice have had a direct impact on their results, with them recording less progress
than the other students. However, apart from that, this was a very successful session.
Two of my students progressed on to the next level of Oxford words after scoring a
perfect 40 out of 40 for the two previous sessions. Its great that they are still working
hard and that this is reflected in their progress. I was going to complete a running
record with my student who has been absent for the last few lessons, but Lisa
suggested I not do this as they were still sick and probably wouldnt record a great
result. This particular student is quite sensitive and doesnt like to make mistakes
so we were a little worried that id they didnt do very well it would knock their
confidence and discourage them a little, so we decided against it.

Week 9 Read Up: Today I was unable to conduct my session. I went into school with the
18/917 & intention of running the session as I usually would, however, all the year 1 students
22/9/17 had an incursion at the school that they had to attend to. I decided to let the students
just go on with this rather than take them from it. As I was also unwell, I just decided to
return home. However, I did get an opportunity to quickly speak to Lisa and she did
inform me that all my students had successfully made it to benchmark, which was an
amazing thing to hear and something that we had worked very hard to achieve.

Read Up: All four of my students were finally here again today and it was really good
to be able to work with them all again. Again, it has become clear that the more a
student is away the more their results are affected. The one students I am working with
who has been away far more frequently than the rest scored lower results than the
other students. Not by too much, and not to an alarming degree, but if anything has
become clear to me throughout this program, its that frequent and consistent practice,
as well as exposure is crucial in maintaining results. If a student misses a session their
familiarity and confidence with the tasks lessen and their results suffer. As a whole
though the students are doing really well and Im glad to see them still making progress
 after all this time.

Week 10 Read Up: Today was my lest session with my students for the term. I would usually go
25/9/17 in on Friday but the school has a pupil free day so that wont be possible. Today, three
of my four students were at school. This was great as it means I got to see them once
more before they go on holidays and spend two weeks apart. Although, it would have
been great for them all to be there, the one student that was away is the student who
has been away the least and the student who has shown the most progress, so the
absence will affect them the least. All three students recorded very good results today,
with each of them getting all their sounds right and only making a few mistakes with
their Oxford words. Overall, I have noticed a large improvement in the speed and
automaticity of their Oxford words. This has become apparent when they have
progressed to a new Oxford word level. Although in their first few attempts the number
of words they correctly recognise is lower, this of course being because the words are
more difficult and less familiar, they have been able to work their way through the
words at a much faster pace, which I attribute to their familiarisation with their sounds.
I anticipate that the results each student records in the next session will be lower than
what they recorded today, as a result of the two week break, but I very much believe
that with the progress we have made it will be very easy to get them back up to speed
and that they will continue their growth and progress.

Overall I think this undertaking this project has been a huge success in benefiting me and the school
with great opportunities to improve student learning. Ive really enjoyed getting the opportunity to
work with younger, year 1 students, especially after spending my 10 week placement with year 6s.
Ive also really valued the opportunity of getting to work with a few select students in small groups.
This has allowed me to really focus my teaching, getting to know these students and planning my
activities specifically with their abilities in mind. It has also been helpful in getting experience working
with students who sit below the average standard that is expected of them and what kind of things
can be done to help encourage their learning. I think this project has been largely beneficial to the
school, their teachers and their students. We were specifically allocated this project as this was an
area that the school wanted to target and best improve. Their aim was to improve the literacy results
of underachieving students in the lower primary level, and this is exactly what we were able to
achieve. All four of the students that I was assigned, all of whom were specifically allocated to me by
the school, with my support and assistance were able to meet or exceed benchmark, the minimum
standard expected by DECD for students at their specific age level. Before my assistance none of
these students were at benchmark and some were anticipated not to reach it, but with my bi weekly
intervention I was able to make a real difference to these students. Not only has this assisted the
school in helping their students to achieve more desirable results, it also relieved the teachers of
having to place so much of a large focus on these students and stress about the possibility of them
not meeting benchmark. Most importantly though, it has helped the students massively in not only
developing their confidence, but also strengthening their knowledge. This has not only helped them
in the classroom this year, but it will greatly assist them with their work now and will continue to for
years to come, as well as equipping them with vital skills they need and can utilise greatly in the
future. Although the project is not over, the results are expected to continue along the same lines as
these bi weekly will continue for the next 6 weeks. This will allow the students to keep practicing and
developing the skills they have been taught. In the upcoming weeks I anticipate that their progress
will continue to grow and I expect each of them to move on to the next level of Oxford words, as well
as progressing one reading level. Overall, this project has allowed me the opportunity to practice my
skills in developing relationships with students of all ages, as well as giving me the chance to
practice my skills of intervention, working specifically with underperforming students, experiences
that will greatly benefit me in the future and assist in my career. This project has also helped to
develop stronger and more knowledgeable learners that will continue to grow and prosper
throughout their schooling career. It has also taught the students the importance of hard work and
practice in growth, and given them the confidence to continue reading going forward. I am very
grateful to have had the opportunity to complete this project and think it has been a success in many
ways.

The images seen on the document to the right are the records the students filled in each session,
charting their progress, as well as the notes I made each session to keep track of student progress