Jimmy Kilpatrick
EducationNews.org

1. What have you learned from this project?

During the INSPIRE project I have learned that with intense, research based and  age-appropriate literacy instruction my students can make significant progress within a school year.

2. Research consistently supports "reflection" as critical for effective teaching and growth as a teacher. How has this project assisted you in gaining new knowledge and skills?

Working with the consultants has immensely increased my repertoire of teaching skills.

Not only has it been beneficial to watch their demonstrations, but it has also been helpful to collaborate on improving my classroom environment.

3. At what point did you make a fundamental shift in your teaching belief system based on the new information and experiences from INSPIRED?

Early on in my experience with the project I observed activities that were easy to implement into my lessons. Consequently my students really responded to the activities and I saw noticeable improvement on their test scores.

4. Name the ideas or strategies from INSPIRED that have had the greatest impact on the way you interact with your children?

Restructuring my schedule and my classroom environment have made me feel more effective as a teacher.  Implementing literacy in an age-appropriate manner into every aspect of our day make for a truly fun and meaning experience for my little learners.  Also simple activities like sentence building with blocks,  drawing pictures with dry erase markers and asking the children what starts like horse when there is a house drawn (then they get to erase the house) and other simple games have had a great impact on learning.

5. What accommodations do you make for children needing additional assistance?

Small groups have really helped with those students who need additional help.  The consultants give us ideas for small group work that correlates with the lesson they teach.  Also we have been able to use funds from the grant to purchase educational games to use with our students.

6. Have you identified different strands of instruction as "most difficult to teach or implement?" Does having input in your own professional development produce greater "ownership" results? How have the consultants modeled for you and provide on-going follow through? How has "reflecting" on your learning and teaching experiences benefited you?

I think that rhyming is a difficult skill to teach to second language learners.  They are just learning English and to ask them to hear similarities and differences between words takes more time than native English speaker.  The consultants provide current researched based strategies to foster learning and give teachers ideas to develop our own strategies to meet our learners' needs.  The consultants demonstrate a lesson and sit with us one on one to touch base about what we saw and how to adapt it to fit our learner's needs.  Reflecting has allowed me to question my existing beliefs and ideas and expand them.

7.

What would you say to people who think it is not "developmentally appropriate" to teach language arts skills to young children in pre-school?

There is no better time according to research to teach language arts skills to young children if is done in an age-appropriate environment.  Children can learn about the importance of writing, reading and speaking through play, short instruction and a print-rich environment.

8. Do you think the work you have done this year will still affect the kids when they get into kindergarten and first grade?

I think I have helped to lay a good foundation for my students.  Most can identify most of their letters and sounds, beginning sounds in words, rhyming words and parts of books.  There oral language has increased anywhere from 1 to 3 years according to the PPVT.

9. How has the clear articulation of the research base (scientifically-based reading research) for the strategy modeled improved your instructional model?

I have taught Kindergarten and Pre-K for twelve years so I was aware of many of the skills that my students needed to know.  Being made aware of the research just reiterated what I already knew about early literacy.

10. What impact have the connections and extensions across classroom centers played in the wonderful progress of your children?

Having writing and literacy in every center makes play more literate and meaningful.  It opened up more dialogue for my students and helped me keep centers theme-related.

11. Have you made any changes to your classroom environment? If so what kind of differences has this change made for your children? What are you now observing that you didn't see prior to your change? 

I completely changed my environment to coincide with the ELLCO standards.  I am really pleased with the results.  My classroom flows better and the children adapted well to the change.  In every center, children use writing boxes that include notepads, colorful pens and pencils, flashcards, etc.  I had to make more boxes because they became so popular!

12. Do you believe assessment of young children's literacy knowledge and skills inform your instruction? If yes, how? If no, why not?

Assessment is always helpful in driving better instruction.  I am better able to meet the needs of my learners if I know what skills they need help with.  It is challenging to assess students while they are in the classroom.  The grant provides us with substitutes so that we can expedite assessing in a quiet manner.  Teachers and students are very fortunate to be involved with INSPIRED.  Every early childhood program should have the opportunity to have such a well rounded literacy experience.

Additional articles on the INSPIRE Project

INSPIRED -- A PROJECT INSPIRED BY NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND

"Sage on the Stage" The importance of teaching training, mentoring and follow-up

About Getting INSPIRED: An Interview with Cathy Davis