Thursday, January 13, 2022 Volume 16 Issue 15
Meet Reading Interventionist, Alison Miller !
Hello Thurgood Marshall Families,
My name is Alison Miller, over the past 12 years, I’ve had a couple roles at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School. My teaching career started in Washington, D.C. where I taught 3rd and 4th grade. In 2010, I moved across the country and started working at Thurgood Marshall as a 4th grade teacher. Now I am one of the school's reading interventionists. I love teaching students how to read, develop a love for reading, and use what they read to learn more about what interests them. I am passionate about the research around learning to read, the brain, and how we can use this information to teach students to read.
Research suggests that 35-40% of students will learn to read relatively easily, or even effortlessly, with broad instruction.
This means that most students will require explicit and systematic instruction to learn how to read. Given this research, we use a curriculum called Systematic Instruction in Phonological Awareness, Phonics, and Sight Words (SIPPS) to teach our kindergarten, first, and second graders how to read.
SIPPS is important because it provides a clear progression that teaches foundational skills. When students participate in these types of lessons, they learn that words are made up of sounds, that letters represent sounds, and that there is a relationship between letters and the sounds they represent. Students learn to use this knowledge to decode effectively and efficiently so that they can read fluently and make sense of what they read.
SIPPS is best taught in small groups, so our reading intervention program is a true team effort! Classroom teachers, reading interventionists, our English Language teacher, and literacy tutors all work together to teach small groups, analyze data, use the data to make instructional decisions, and work with students at their level so that they can become strong, confident readers.
I am grateful to be part of the Thurgood Marshall community, and it is an honor to get to work with all our readers!
Help Those Experiencing Homelessness
Girl Scout Troop 41427 is collecting needed items and cash donations to help people experiencing homelessness in our community. The troop will be making care packages for the nonprofit, Seattle Homeless Outreach (https://seattlehomeless.org/get-involved/).
Please contact Troop Leader Maria Monroe-DeVita (mariamd677@gmail.com or 206-384-7372) to arrange donation drop off or a pick-up of items, or if you would like to make a monetary donation to purchase these items
