Empowered by Coaching: Mr. Venia's Journey as a Reading Teacher

Max Venia: Today when we go over our vowels, we're going to give their short sound first.

Narrator: Meet Max Venia, a dedicated teacher at Riverside Elementary in Toledo, Ohio. He spent last year igniting a love for science in fourth and fifth graders. This school year brought a new challenge for Mr. Venia. He was asked to step up and fill a staffing gap in second grade. One of the most significant parts of teaching second grade is helping young students learn to read.

Max Venia: We're over here four, so just write it next to sloth. Okay.

Narrator: A task that requires patience, creativity, and instructional expertise. But Mr. Venia's personal experience with learning to read was one of struggle and anxiety.

Max Venia: Being a struggling reader, reading was nowhere near my favorite thing to do. It was a struggle and a fight to read as a kid. So I grew up with a ADHD and dyslexia. Reading was definitely not my strong suit growing up, and I definitely did not like it at all, to say the least.

Narrator: Even though reading was tough for him, Mr. Venia is determined to give his students the support he wishes he had growing up.

Max Venia: Teaching has shifted my view on reading a lot actually. I think when we grow up and we learn how to read, we forget all that goes into it and the rules and all those things, and then coming back as a teacher, you have to almost reteach yourself the rules again.

Narrator: By using evidence-based tools provided by Riverside and guidance. From reading Coach Carla Stanford, Mr. Vinia is bringing structured literacy strategies into his classroom

Max Venia: 'th'.

Narrator: Before diving into teaching, Mr. Venia and Ms. Stanford get together to review student work and create tailored lesson plans.

Max Venia: Which is all really interesting that they added the beginning and end of the word.

Carla Stanford: I agree. The beginning and the end, so we can work on some phonemic awareness, like tapping on that.

Narrator: They then team up in the classroom with Ms. Stanford offering support to Mr. Venia throughout.

Max Venia: Give me a thumbs up.

Okay. Second grade. So Ms. Carla came back to join us again today, so we are going to get to co-teach again for you guys today. The really cool thing is, is that I actually get to learn while you guys get to learn. When she handed over the deck to me, that was a little nerve wracking. It was kind of like finally her passing off the baton to me, so that was a little, I could feel like my heart was racing. I was like, oh man, here we go. This is all me now. Don't mess it up. Don't mess it up. Don't mess it up. That's all I kept repeating to myself in my head. So the steps through dictation of saying the word, the kids repeating it, then tapping it, then writing it, then correcting it. I kept forgetting, tapping it in my head, even though I tap with my kids all the time. For some reason there was just, that was like, so I remember looking to her for help, like, ah, and then her being like to tap 'em out. "Thick."

Students: Thick.

Max Venia: Okay, tap it out, tappers up.

Mr. Venia and students: /th/, /ĭ/, k/. Thick.

Narrator: After their teaching time together, Mr. Venia and Ms. Stanford review the student's progress and map out next steps.

Carla Stanford: And that's kind of the tricky part. Like you're doing it, you're listening, you're watching, you're making sounds, but ... and when kids make mistakes, you take that moment, and we did that and corrected it.

Max Venia: Our coaching sessions were really insightful because after our first lesson that we taught, we kind of debriefed down and saw where some students were struggling, so we completely changed the lesson for day two. It's just interesting how they did the same mistake on each word, so putting in what it looks like in 'L' and for math, and then path, they also put the 'L'. I feel like there's so much more that I need to learn as a teacher, and she has really opened the door into reading for me. To get more comfortable with these strategies and implementing them in my classroom is just going to be repetition.

Carla Stanford: If you always run the lesson the same way, then they're like, oh, I know what Mr. V is doing, so now I can use all my energy on thinking about the pattern he's teaching me.

Max Venia: Path.

Students: Path.

Mr. Venia and students: /p/, /ă/, /th/. Path.

Max Venia: Okay.

Carla Stanford: Right here, spell out loud with Mr. V.

Mr. Venia and students: 'P', 'a', 't', 'h'.

Carla Stanford: And read it back. Good.

Mr. Venia and students: Path.

Max Venia: There we go.

Carla Stanford: You did a great job.

Max Venia: Oh, thanks.

Carla Stanford: And they did a great job. The first one, you gave them a little more scaffolding, and on the second one you kind of backed off, and that's exactly what you should do through the week, through the words. You give them a lot of help as they need it, and then as they don't need it, you give them the opportunity to really do the heavy lifting.

Max Venia: So teaching reading is never going to be perfect, and no one has ever done it perfectly. There are so many different strategies and styles that go into it and different rules, but I can say that now with Carla's help and the strategies that she's given me to add to my toolkit, I can be a better teacher for my students in teaching reading.

Carla Stanford: You have modeled what we all need to be as teachers, as constant learners, so thank you for that.

Max Venia: Yeah, thank you for coming in.

Carla Stanford: Okay, now I'm going to give you my hug.

Narrator: Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim and Donna Barksdale, the American Federation of Teachers, the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, and three anonymous donors. Special thanks to the Toledo Federation of Teachers, Riverside Elementary School, and Toledo Public Schools in Toledo, Ohio. If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to our YouTube channel @RUTeaching. Reading Universe is a service of WETA, Washington D.C., the Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book.

Max Venia: I'm Max Venia, and this is Reading Universe.