Does Using Visual Feedback Motivate Readers to Grow?

How can I help my 5th grade students become proficient readers before I send them off to middle school?  Will they be caught in the cycle of failure that students in long term interventions often experience?

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Motivating Struggling Readers Through Growth Mindset and Data Conversations

As an elementary school reading intervention teacher, I constantly rack my brain with ways to motivate my students (many of whom are Special Education students and English Learners) to improve their reading skills as quickly as possible. While they have always made gains, many times even dramatically, they realized that they were falling behind their peers and believed they would never catch up. I have always placed a tremendous pressure on myself to have them become proficient before they enter middle school and experience frustration, failure and hopelessness that older struggling readers inevitably face (Kos 1991).
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​How could I make it crystal clear to my students where exactly they were so that together we could figure out how to get them to where they needed to be? As I began to search for solutions, I was inspired by Carol Dweck and her concept of Growth Mindset as well as John Hattie's research about providing effective feedback to students.  I merged these two powerhouse strategies in combination with a digital graph to produce a tool that I hope will make a positive impact on my students!

Please click above to watch the 90 second video I created using iMovie which encapsulates the essence of my research and Capstone Project.

Mrs. Hand's Classroom, Room 11, Northwood Elementary School