Mrs. Shields' Literacy Blog: About Me

I'm a System 44, Title 1 reading teacher, and Literacy Coordinator at Lincoln Elementary. I received my Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of Iowa and my Master of Arts in Reading from Northeast Missouri State University.

As an educator, I seek to discover what learning challenges a student has, figure out how to teach to their strengths to decrease those challenges and help the student succeed as an individual.

Prior to being a System 44 and Title 1 reading teacher I taught Reading Recovery and guided reading at Stewart Elementary, helped organize our elementary literacy series study, and helped teachers adjust to the new reading series.

Other teaching experience includes schools in Nashville, Tennessee, Evansville, Indiana, and Eldon, Missouri.

My first teaching job was 6th-8th grade remedial reading at Davis County Middle School in Iowa.

I love teaching and often think I have the best career. I look forward to coming to work and think about teaching when I'm away from school.

Aside from teaching I like to read, play golf with my husband, sew and create craft projects. I especially like to read memoirs and do punch needle embroidery.

I believe parents want the best for their kids.

I believe learners will strive to reach the high expectations set before them.

I believe education includes nurturing emotional, intellectual, social, and physical development. As much as education is about learning, content is equally important to learn to be a productive person in society. The goal of education is to help students develop to their fullest potential.

I believe student ownership is critical to learning.

I believe kindness does matter.

"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless." – Mother Teresa

Assessment Calendar for System 44 Students

Scholastic Reading Inventory

Every student at Lincoln will take the SRI three times during the school year. System 44 students will take the test during class time. Other students will take it during SuccessMaker.

Basic Reading Inventory

Students will be given this assessment at the beginning of the school year to help me determine . This test includes leveled word lists, leveled reading passages, and comprehension questions. The test is given one-on-one. It's a great opportunity for me to hear each of my student's oral reading, listen to smoothness, and rate.

Mid-Year Assessment

When students complete Series 14 they'll take the mid-year assessment. Since there are 25 series in System 44 this assessment might be more appropriately called the mid-program assessment. Some students haven't taken it yet while others will take it before the end of the school year.

End-of-Year Assessment

When students complete the final series of System 44, Series 25, they'll take the end-of-year assessment.

Fluency Friday

On Fridays students reread text from the Decodable Digest. A student partner times their reading twice and gives feedback on how the reading sounded. Spring oral reading fluency norms for 4th grade are 113-133 words correct per minute, 5th grade 129-149 words correct per minute, and 6th grade 140-160 words correct per minute.

When students finish the software they'll wrap up their time in System 44 and transition back to the regular LARS classroom. During the transition phase they'll take the Scholastic Reading Inventory, Scholastic Phonics Inventory, and the end-of-year assessment to measure phonics and reading growth. They'll usually join a guided reading group with Mrs. Steinhart during their transition.