Using Padlet and S.M.A.R.T. Goals to Enhance Reciprocal Teaching Strategy: Success for English Learners
Authors
Victoria Seeger
Northwest Missouri State University
Sara Worsfold
Kansas City Public Schools, Missouri
Keywords:
Reciprocal Teaching Strategy, English learners, Padlet, S.M.A.R.T. Goals, teacher research
Abstract
A teacher-researcher spent the year in Slovakia teaching English to high school students. Reciprocal Teaching Strategy (RTS) was implemented to engage the students in discussing their reading. RTS is a research-based, highly effective strategy encouraging students to participate at a higher level of thinking. It is aimed at increasing students’ overall comprehension of the text being read but also challenging the reader to construct deeper inferences, arguments and ideas. When the students used the strategy while reading a text, they also had the luxury of working independently to become more metacognitively aware while also leaning on peers to challenge thinking and clarify any confusing parts. To increase engagement for RTS, Padlet, a web-based tool, was used for the students to write about their RTS roles, goals, and quality of responses to peers. Because Padlet lends itself well to shorter responses, the ELL students viewed the writing as less threatening while we, as facilitators and researchers, could respond to their writing with probing questions, praise points and teach points. Students set S.M.A.R.T. goals to improve the quality of work in the RTS groups.
Author Biographies
Victoria Seeger, Northwest Missouri State University
Victoria (Vicki) Seeger is an Associate Professor at Northwest Missouri State University in the School of Education. She is Coordinator for the Completion Program at Northwest-Kansas City. She teaches students in the elementary education teacher preparation program and the Grow Your Own Program, an initiative between Northwest Missouri State University and the North Kansas City School District. She teaches graduate students in the Curriculum and Instruction Master’s Degree Program and the Reading Graduate Program. Dr. Seeger is on the Executive Board of the Kansas Association of Teachers of English. She reviews manuscripts for The Reading Teacher. Her research, publication, and presentation interests center around collaboration with school districts for field experiences in diverse urban settings, the work surrounding a redesigned teacher preparation program, and effective practices in social studies methods coursework. Her work in the area of literacy includes strategies that focus on collaborative discussions and retrospective miscue analysis. She lives in Lawrence. As corresponding author, she can be reached at vseeger@nwmissouri.edu.
Sara Worsfold, Kansas City Public Schools, Missouri
Sara Worsfold is an educator with a Bachelor of Science in Elementary K-6, concentrating on language arts and a Master’s Degree in Reading K-12. She has completed a nontraditional path by spending her first few years teaching at Horace Mann Laboratory School on the campus of Northwest Missouri State University, completing a Fulbright Scholarship through teaching and conducting research in Slovakia, and is currently teaching university aged women in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The research conducted in Slovakia for this study has been continued with her English learners in Cambodia. Her passion, research and education style focus on global education and effective strategies to incorporate a more global mindset into the classroom. She is from Nebraska and temporarily lives in Cambodia. In the fall she will be teaching 5th grade at Faxon Elementary School in Kansas City, Missouri.
