McDaniel College Reading Clinic assists elementary students virtually while preparing graduate students for future
Seven teachers have all returned to the classroom themselves to earn their master’s degrees from McDaniel’s Reading Specialist: Literacy Leadership program and feel the virtual McDaniel College Reading Clinic experience has the added benefit of helping them prepare for the possibility of remote teaching this fall. The McDaniel Reading Clinic is a comprehensive four-week summer school program providing reading and writing assistance to elementary school-aged students as a required component to earn their master’s degrees.
The McDaniel College Reading Clinic has served hundreds of children with their literacy needs for more than three decades. But this summer, the program adapted its learning opportunities with elementary students to a new virtual environment.
Graduate students, also known as clinicians, in McDaniel’s Reading Specialist: Literacy Leadership program are involved with the Reading Clinic, a comprehensive four-week summer school program providing reading and writing assistance to elementary school-aged students as a required component to earn their master’s degrees. The McDaniel Reading Clinic is usually conducted in person, but due to COVID-19, seven clinicians are assisting three students each through a variety of online platforms.
The clinicians are all teachers who have returned to the classroom themselves to earn their master’s degrees from McDaniel.
Nicole Selmer, a kindergarten teacher in Carroll County Public Schools (CCPS) at Taneytown Elementary School, is assisting two rising first-grade students and a fifth-grade student at schools where she lives in Adams County, Pa.
Nicole Selmer, a kindergarten teacher in Carroll County Public Schools (CCPS) at Taneytown Elementary School, works with her student named Samuel during the virtual Reading Clinic.
Selmer learned of the students’ needs through unique connections. One of the students was taught by her sister, a kindergarten teacher at Upper Adams School District’s Biglerville Elementary School. The second rising first-grade student is related to Selmer through a cousin, while the rising fifth-grader was taught by Selmer in preschool.
“Finding activities, writing prompts, and text for the students to read is based off their interest and experiences,” added Selmer. “This helps keep the students engaged in the learning and interested in wanting to read. Having prior knowledge on a topic or story helps them connect to the text and think about the story line.”
All three of Selmer’s students are working on writing research projects with topics they selected. From creating books that incorporate drawings, diagrams, captions and sentences to pulling together a Google presentation, students are researching the facts behind their topics, which range from rattlesnakes and great white sharks to sunflowers.
Chelsie McCoy, a fourth-grade teacher at Cedarmere Elementary School in Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS), said she found out what her students are interested in when they selected their topics for the writing research projects. One of McCoy’s students chose to do her project on stones, rocks and gems because she collects them.
“This online experience has allowed us to really zone in on what each student needs are and meet them where they are at,” said Brittany Grove, a kindergarten teacher at West Manheim Elementary School in Hanover, Pa.
“I think this program is amazing,” McCoy said. “Being in clinical is really hard, but I literally am learning everything I gathered from the courses in the Reading Specialist program.”
Brittany Grove, a kindergarten teacher at West Manheim Elementary School in Hanover, Pa., has been working with three students every day for an hour using the video conferencing software, Zoom. This platform was utilized in the spring at her district, so it was already familiar to the students and families participating.
“This online experience has allowed us to really zone in on what each student needs are and meet them where they are at,” said Grove.
Delivering the Reading Clinic virtually has allowed the clinicians to have multiple team seminars and resources at their fingertips, said Mel Rhoads, adjunct professor for the McDaniel College Reading Clinic and reading specialist at Carroll County Public Schools’ Mechanicsville Elementary School.
Brittany Tyler, clinic mentor, and Mel Rhoads, adjunct professor for the McDaniel College Reading Clinic and reading specialist at Carroll County Public Schools’ Mechanicsville Elementary School, virtually meet with McDaniel Reading Specialist students.
“The virtual situation was quite overwhelming to start,” Rhoads said. “However, due to the structure that we planned out — we have found that it has enabled us to know each student and clinician on a deeper level.”
Graduate students record every lesson, which gives the program facilitators and clinicians the opportunity to review and reflect their daily instruction multiple times, Rhoads said.
“Due to the group’s incredibly positive professional disposition, they are truly optimizing this experience,” Rhoads added. “I am highly impressed with the knowledge they have gained throughout McDaniel’s program and their deep understanding of teaching multiple levels of students’ reading and writing. It is an honor to guide and support this group of highly motivated instructors.”
This experience also has the added benefit of helping the clinicians prepare for the possibility of remote teaching this fall.
Kelsey Hoffman, a fifth-grade teacher at Southern Elementary School in York County, Pa., said the program has been “great practice for what I could possibly have to do one day.”
“It has given me great practice with virtual teaching, and I will definitely be taking some newly learned things back to school with me in the fall,” added Hoffman.
Other graduate students participating in the McDaniel Reading Clinic include:
- Heather Davis-Park, a fifth-grade teacher at Mechanicsville Elementary School in Carroll County Public Schools
- Jennifer Pratt, a second-grade teacher at Carrolltowne Elementary School in Carroll County Public Schools
- Tara Wood, a fifth-grade teacher at Littlestown Area School District’s Alloway Creek Elementary
Seven teachers have all returned to the classroom themselves to earn their master’s degrees from McDaniel’s Reading Specialist: Literacy Leadership program.
