In this educator spotlight, Jennifer McCafferty, a Title 1 Reading Tutor at Fairview Park Schools in Ohio, discusses the use of SIPPS® routines to build engagement and confidence with her second-grade class. She also shares how SIPPS has allowed her to focus even more on instructional content and her students’ progress.
Thanks for taking the time to talk with us, Jennifer!
Tell us a little about yourself, your school/district, and the students that you serve.
I am a Title 1 Reading Tutor for Fairview City Schools in Ohio, and I work with second grade students. I have taught a variety of age levels over the past 13 years.
I enjoy fostering a love for learning and do my best to make learning fun for my students! I believe that it is important for students to find books that interest them so that they are more motivated to read.
In my spare time, I enjoy reading, walking in the Metroparks, watching movies, and spending time with my husband and three dogs.
I enjoy fostering a love for learning and do my best to make learning fun for my students!
What is the most rewarding part of being an educator for you?
The most rewarding part of being an educator is seeing my students enjoy school. Whether it is through engaging in learning activities, making new friends, or being excited for school events. I also enjoy seeing them make progress in areas where they previously struggled.
Through the SIPPS curriculum, my students are improving their ability to read and write sight words correctly. They are also becoming more confident readers after doing repeated readings of the decodable stories at the end of the lessons.
How long have you been implementing SIPPS? Tell us a little about your implementation.
I have been teaching SIPPS for about five months. The routines in the SIPPS curriculum are predictable, so after a few lessons, the students automatically knew what to do and did not need a lot of instructions. If a routine changes, my students notice and ask me why we aren’t doing what we usually do.
I have been teaching SIPPS for about five months. The routines in the SIPPS curriculum are predictable, so after a few lessons, the students automatically knew what to do and did not need a lot of instructions.
What do you appreciate about SIPPS?
I really like how SIPPS has the students participate in a variety of learning activities in a short period of time. This seems to keep the students more engaged as well as make the learning time go faster.
If a student struggles with one component of the lesson, they are able to have the opportunity to excel in another component. A lot of times the students are surprised when class is over because the time goes by so quickly!
If a student struggles with one component of the lesson, they are able to have the opportunity to excel in another component.
How has SIPPS affected or changed your own teaching and learning?
I feel that SIPPS allows me to work on different components of reading within one lesson. In the past, I spent too much time focusing on one or two components which resulted in others not being taught as consistently.
Since the lessons are already written, you have more time to focus on the content that you are teaching and the students’ progress, instead of spending time writing lessons.
Since the lessons are already written, you have more time to focus on the content that you are teaching and the students’ progress instead of spending time writing lessons.
What advice or insights would you share with an educator who is new to SIPPS?
In the beginning, it can be a little difficult to get used to the flow of the lessons and teaching the components of the lessons the correct way. Once you get into the routines, the curriculum is easy to teach.
Concepts that we have previously learned are reviewed frequently so teachers do not forget to review them. The stories at the end of the lessons contain words that the students have previously learned so that they can receive additional practice.
I feel that these stories provide students with more valuable learning opportunities than they would have if I selected stories for us to read at the end of class. The mastery tests and stories are valuable resources that I can copy and send home so that the parents can review what their child struggled with in class.
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How the Read2Succeed Tutoring Program Supports Its Youngest Readers with SIPPS