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Reflecting on Our Practice: SIPPS

Whew…the end of the 2013-2014 school year is in sight! Time for us all to catch our breath and celebrate all that our students have accomplished this year. This is also a time for reflection on our teaching and a time for thinking ahead towards the new school year. Because, we all know, teaching is a full-year commitment that goes well beyond our contracted student time.

So as we reflect on our year of SIPPS instruction and begin to plan for next year, I want to share some considerations and reflective questions to help guide our thinking. There are three broad elements essential to SIPPS implementation including assessment, instruction, and reading practice. For each of these areas, I have listed indicators of strong implementation taken from the handout found on the CCC Learning Hub. After considering each of these indicators relative to your personal use of the SIPPS program, I have provided some reflective questions to take our thinking just a bit deeper. I hope you find these indicators and questions helpful as you reflect on this past school year.

Indicators of Strong SIPPS Implementation Reflective Questions
Assessment
  • Placement test is initially given to group students
  • Mastery tests are administered as outlined in the teacher’s manual
  • Reteaching occurs when necessary
  • Data is used to support instructional decision making
  • How did in-lesson observations of your students’ learning inform your instructional decision making?
  • How did your mastery test data inform your instructional decision making?
  • How did additional reading data, beyond SIPPS program assessments, inform your instructional decision making?
Instruction
  • Students consistently experience all components of each lesson
  • Instructional routines are used as outlined and as intended
  • Verbal and visual prompts are used for both routines and corrections
  • Students respond chorally during instruction and corrections
  • Teacher uses extended wait time
  • Students are “doing the cognitive work”
  • How did the routines and correction procedures support your students’ growth?
  • How did your support within routines change as your students’ skills improved?
Reading Practice
  • Provide ample time for reading both within the SIPPS lesson and beyond
  • Provide appropriately leveled texts to support IDR (Individualized Daily Reading)
  • Listen in as students read
  • Monitor for accuracy/rate and conference regularly with students about their reading
  • How did you manage the fluency practice within the SIPPS lessons?
  • How did you plan for or support IDR?
  • How did you engage students in reading across the day to ensure adequate time for reading practice?

Thinking Ahead to Next Year!

Now that you have had the chance to really reflect on your SIPPS implementation for the current school year, below are some guiding questions to help you begin to think about strengthening your implementation for the new year.

  • What current SIPPS data is important to support planning and instruction for the 2014-2015 school year?
  • How will your school collect, organize and share reading data for the upcoming school year?
  • What areas of your SIPPS implementation are going well and do you plan to continue for next year?
  • What aspect of your SIPPS implementation do you plan to tighten for the 2014-2015 school year?

Check out this additional reading from Ann Leon.

The SIPPS Tip series will resume at the start of the 2014-2015 school year. Which tips were the most helpful? What recommendations do you have future tips?