Teaching · Reading Intervention

Five minutes after the lesson.
One change for the next.

The best time to improve a lesson is right after teaching it. Mark fifteen statements across five areas of structured literacy teaching: explicit, cumulative, linking speech and print, diagnostic and paced. The checklist shows the share marked Yes for each lesson, the area that comes up most often and asks for one specific change to try next time.

$5one-time · every device you sign in on

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Reading Intervention toolkit, $49 for 42 items.

Reflections

The worked example is made up: three lessons with one group across two weeks, from a rushed lesson to a steady one. Saved on this device only.

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What you get

Teaching · Reading Intervention$5 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
A record per lesson: date, student or group code, concept, fifteen statements in five areas marked Yes, Not this time or Did not apply, and one change for next lesson. Works out the share marked Yes per area and overall, in date order, and the area most often marked Not this time; flags each statement marked Not this time, an area with nothing marked Yes and a missing next step.
Who it is for
Reading interventionists, special education teachers, tutors and teachers in training who teach structured literacy lessons.
Format
Browser checklist with a saved reflection per lesson. Prints one reflection, every reflection in a table or a blank checklist; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); exports and imports a file.
Access
$5 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Reading Intervention toolkit ($49) and the Teaching Suite pass ($199), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Reading Intervention space in Caveat Teaching.
Support
Questions about access, an order or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Reflect within a day of the lesson.
  2. Mark each statement honestly.
  3. Use Did not apply when a part was not planned.
  4. Write one change, not a list.
  5. Look at the trend every few weeks.

Reflect on a lesson

Five areas to look back on

Five areas to look back onExplicitModel firstStudents sayand write itCumulativeReview earlierconceptsOnly taughtpatternsLinkedSound, letterand writingtogetherRead it intextDiagnosticCorrect rightawayAsk, do nottellPacedEvery parthappensStudents dothe workFive areas to look back onExplicitModel firstStudents say and write itCumulativeReview earlier conceptsOnly taught patternsLinkedSound, letter and writing togetherRead it in textDiagnosticCorrect right awayAsk, do not tellPacedEvery part happensStudents do the work
A reflection is for the teacher. It is not an observation, an evaluation or a program fidelity measure.

For your own practice

These statements come from public descriptions of structured literacy teaching: explicit, systematic, cumulative and diagnostic instruction that links speech and print. They fit any program built on those principles but are not any program’s fidelity checklist; if your program has one, use it for that purpose. Caveat is not affiliated with any program publisher.

Why one change

Teachers who pick one specific change and try it in the next lesson are more likely to keep it than those who list everything that went wrong. The next reflection shows whether it worked.

Sources

  1. International Dyslexia Association. Knowledge and Practice Standards for Teachers of Reading (2018) (dyslexiaida.org).
  2. International Dyslexia Association. Structured literacy: an introductory guide (dyslexiaida.org).
  3. Archer, A. L., and Hughes, C. A. (2011). Explicit Instruction: Effective and Efficient Teaching. Guilford Press.
  4. Spear-Swerling, L. (2019). Structured literacy and typical literacy practices: understanding differences to create instructional opportunities. Teaching Exceptional Children, 51(3), 201–211.

The worked example is made up. This is a self-reflection aid for teachers, not an observation or evaluation tool. Nothing you type is sent to Caveat. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.