1. Mini Grant The Listening Program
Written, researched and implemented by Megan McKee and Rachel Conley

2. Overview
In September we implemented The Listening Program at Winnebago
It is a very specific auditory program that moves sequentially
We were looking for improved Phonemic Awareness since sounds must first be heard before they can be replicated in reading and writing
Prior research suggested that this program is successful in improving reading scores and organizational abilities as well as phonemic awareness

3. The “How”
We identified students that would be in second and third grade and were significantly below level in reading achievement
If a student ended the 1st grade year with a DRA score of 8 or below they were selected
If a student ended the 2nd grade with a DRA score of 18 or below they were selected

4. The “how” cont…
After identification a participation agreement letter was sent for parents to sign and those students continued with the program.
A schedule for use of the program was created with teacher and media specialist input.
The station for the program was set up in the Media Center.

5. The “how” cont…
It was anticipated that after taught, students could maintain a routine of:
Filling in the date
Checking themselves off for attendance
Finding the correct module on ipod after direct instruction
Arriving and returning in a timely manner to and from the station

6. The “how” cont…
Megan and I directly instructed participating students on how to use the ipod based program
Megan taught the students once
I taught the students again
I re-taught several groups who struggled in the first weeks of implementation
A visual guide was created to walk students through steps and was left at the station
After several weeks a reminder pamphlet was created and distributed reminding students of expectations and responsibilities.

7. reflection
Working on a schedule for the students was difficult due to other services provided and the fact that they needed reteach time for other specific skills.
During the first couple of weeks Megan and I ran back and forth to check on station and found they needed much redirection.
Checking on students was unmanageable running a self-contained class and not having this built in to resource teacher’s daily responsibilities.

8. reflection
During the first few weeks where we had written into the implementation that we would check on groups we found that they were not on the correct modules or their at their assigned times. This was a problem because:
The program is designed to be listened to in a specific order
The program is designed to be listened to daily
Essentially the integrity of the program’s implementation is affected. This is our biggest conern!

9. results

10. results

11. Results Phonemic awareness inventory
By Subject=promising
Student D was in a group that had the most problem maintaining attendance and folder upkeep.
Student C was in a group that was consistently at the station when checked
Students A and B were in a group that had moderate attendance
By Skill
Promising
Despite concern for integrity, results were promising

12. Results dibels progress monitoring & written expression
It was informally noted that during implementation there were slightly fewer ‘reds’ than after February (end of program implementation).
It was informally noted by our ELL teacher that there was some improved organizational skills related to writing with participating students, however this was not assessed for and in the future could be.

13. Steps forward
Consider that with greater integrity of implementation that we would see a more solid increase in phonemic awareness skills.
Consider using the program in just one grade level, specifically 2nd grade as 3rd is pushing the limit for the ability to increase phonemic awareness developmentally.
Consider a re-implementation within one grade level with greater integrity (monitored by in class teacher).

14. Steps forward cont…
Consider a re-implementation within one class with greater integrity (maintained by teacher) and allowing for other class/es to be used for control.
Consider a re-implementation within one second and third grade class allowing for controls in each.

15. Steps forward cont… Or, my personal favorites:
Consider re-implementation with resource teacher who has the duty embedded in daily duties to ensure greater integrity by:
Hosting the program in resource room where resource teacher collects (or otherwise ensures attendance) students and monitoring so that they are on correct module.
Having station set up within regular classroom but the resource teacher checks to make sure they are on it at said time (diffusing an addition to reg teacher workload since it is doubtful we could get that teacher/s a part day sub on day a week to otherwise compensate reg teacher, estimated cost: 3,000, yeah, already thought and dismissed that idea).

16. Done!