Let me explain my title. I teach teenagers English at a secondary school. In short, regular classes. The weakest-progress students are pulled out from these regular classes to form a class of their own. They typically have dyslexia and/or language disorders. I teach them English too, but my role is more of a literacy coach because I am tasked to teach them foundational literacy skills.
So, for these weakest-progress students, I am both their English Teacher and Literacy Coach. This throws me off array because I wear both hats at once and feel conflicted about which role to pursue at any one time. Though I admit that last year, I just focused on preparing them for the Mid-Year Exams because I didn’t know any better.
Now that I have had more time to assimilate into my unique identity, think the most important thing I should do is to clarify these two roles. Because if I’m unclear about my place in the classroom, I would always be sacrificing the forest for the trees. I need to ensure that the seedlings will blossom to form part of the vast canopy in the forest.
Wouldn’t you know? I just learnt how to create a table in Markdown yesterday! Let me apply what I learnt.
| Literacy Coach | English Teacher |
|---|---|
| 1. Follows Scope & Sequence. e.g., magic e rule | Follows Table of Specification |
| 2. Uses assistive technology | Uses gamification to instill good learning habits |
| 3. Getting students to learn Dolch Word List | Clarifying common misconceptions for high-frequency words |
| 4. Focuses on syllabication (decoding & blending) | Work on Work Attack Strategies (deducing meaning of unfamiliar words) |
| 5. Get students to apply immediately after “I Do” | Use Gradual Release of Responsibility (I Do, We Do, You Do) |