EDUC 596

Practicum Plan

Laurie Wangerin

Laurie Wangerin
1926 Ledgeview Road
De Pere, WI 54115
(920)819-4541
ljwangerin@gmail.com
Reading Interventionist
Oconto Elementary School
Oconto, WI 54153
Background:
I was hired as a Reading Interventionist at Oconto Elementary School
(OES) in August 2013. I was emergency licensed and began taking
classes immediately to gain certification. My first year at OES, I
worked with Kindergarten and First Grade students that were having
difficulty in literacy. We were a targeted Title I school.
In the fall of 2014, I completed my 316 and started working towards
my Masters and 17. My second year, OES went from a targeted Title I
school to school-wide
Title I. My role as an interventionist began to change and I began to
service Kindergarten through Fourth Grade students that were having
difficulty in literacy. Our district hired a Literacy Consultant to help with
the transition into a Balanced Literacy approach in the classrooms.
With this, I began to take on a leadership role and updated the
bookroom with new Guided Reading materials. In my evaluation, the
principal complimented me on my efforts in hopes that I would
continue to take on more of a leadership role in the future.
This school year, I have started the year taking on numerous
leadership roles at OES. Along with my responsibilities working with
Kindergarten through Fourth Grade students and assisting the teachers
with transitioning the classroom to a Balanced Literacy approach, I am
now the Assessment Coordinator for our school, a leader on the RtI
team, a mentor to one of the two new reading interventionists, and I
am the Family/Community Involvement Chairman. At the same time
that I am doing my reading specialist practicum work, I am also doing a
research review on the effects of literacy centers during kindergarten
intervention block on student reading achievement.
Goals:
For this school year, my PPG (Professional Practice Goal) is to take on
more of a leadership role in my school. It is perfect timing as I have

EDUC 596

Practicum Plan

Laurie Wangerin

the reading specialist practicum to help guide and reinforce my

leadership role within the school.
The additional leadership roles I am taking on this year are: (a)
Assessment Coordinator for PALS, AIMSWeb and Fountas and Pinnell
Benchmark Assessments, (b) Mentor for new Reading Interventionist,
(c) Family/Community Engagement Committee Chair, and (d) Staff
Development.
September 22, 2015 - Pre-visit meeting with Tom Lueschow
During the initial meeting, Tom and I discussed the numerous roles I
will be taking on this year.
We discussed my role in Family/Community Engagement and that I
have a Family Learning Night coming up at the end of October. He
shared with me a video The Power of Reading to Your Child? that was
made by WSRAs Families & Literacy Committee. I will be utilizing this
video and sharing it with our parents during our Family Learning Night.
October 19, 2015 Observation and meeting with Tom
Lueschow
Tom came to my school and was able to observe me teaching two
groups of LLI for Second Grade Students. Tom was able to interact with
my students as well to see the challenges we face in our district.
We discussed the challenges of finding a good progress monitoring tool
as we have AIMSWeb and I do not believe it is a good measure of
academic success.
We also reviewed the various goals that I am working toward for this
school year and practicum.
Midterm Practicum Reflection:
It has been a very busy school year and I believe that I have taken on
more responsibility and become more of a leader in my school.
As the new Assessment Coordinator in my school, I wanted to make
things easier for the teachers and all their expectations. We do not
have a budget for substitute teachers to help during the Fountas and
Pinnell Benchmark Assessments, so my Title team decided to offer to
assist in the classroom during grade level intervention block so the
teacher could complete the assessment in a timely manner. During

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Practicum Plan

Laurie Wangerin

the PALS assessment window, a First Grade and Kindergarten teacher

were unable to be here, so I completed the assessments for them.
Next year, we have an option to continue PALS for find a different
screener. I will be attending a PALS Symposium and a CESA 8
Intervention Fair to see what I can learn.
With two new reading interventionists, I have become the leader of our
Title team. I have enjoyed mentoring one of the new reading
interventionist. She is a seasoned teacher but does not have her
reading license yet. I have been working closely with her daily. Since I
was in her position just a few years ago, it was easy to walk her
through the various steps of applying for an emergency license,
sharing the various programs we use and get her signed up for proper
training. We have explored other options for interventions and I am
enjoying working with her.
Due to budget cuts, our Family Involvement Coordinator position was
cut, putting the responsibility on the teachers to volunteer and
coordinate activities throughout the year. I signed up for the
committee and by default, I became the chair. We had less than three
weeks to coordinate the new Family Learning Night, formally Open
House. There was a lot of resistance from the teachers for many
reasons (i.e. not happy about the elimination of the paid position; in
the past, being on the committee meant just reporting updates to the
team; now expected to do extra work and there is no time; and do not
believe it is the teachers responsibility). The principal requested that
each neighborhood featured either Math or Literacy Activities that the
students shared with their parents. There was also a Community Fair
featuring resources available in the community. The Title team
partnered with CESA 8 and highlighted the video Tom gave me. CESA
8 liked the video better than the PowerPoint they had originally
planned to share. The Junior Class sold food and beverages as a
fundraiser for their Junior Prom and PTO sold popcorn and chips.
Myself and one other teacher coordinated this event, as the other
committee members were too busy. The evening was a success with
very positive comments from the parents. It is now time to start
planning for Read Across America/Dr. Seuss Week. I am hoping to
gain more support from the teachers since we have more time.
In the past, we had various staff members share their knowledge and
talents with each other. This disappeared with the new principal. I
have been informed that next semester that we will be establishing a
form of PLCs. Until then, I have offered opportunities after school to
help with establishing Progress Monitoring in AIMSWeb. I have also
sent out a survey to see if there is any interest in a book study on The
Daily Five which is being completed as we speak. I am hoping to be

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Practicum Plan

Laurie Wangerin

able to have the book study in January, with the possibility to also have
one on CAF after.
I will be attending the PALS Symposium and the CESA 8 Intervention
Fair in the month of November. I have hopes to be able to explore
other intervention opportunities as well as gathering information about
other assessment and progress monitoring tools.