Reading
Hello. My name is Barbara Vague and it is my pleasure to be a reading specialist at The Madeleine School. I was a classroom teacher in the primary, intermediate and middle school levels over a 17 year span. I then returned to college to specialize in reading. I’ve been a reading specialist for the past 5 ½ years. I work with a team of devoted educators that make up our reading team; Gaila Savery, Christina Gladwin, Pam Harmon, and myself. We work with children of all ages.
Here is a list of tasks we do:
- Teach small, guided reading groups
- Tutor individual students
- Consult with teachers and support them in their mission of providing the best language arts instruction possible for their students
- Give large group instruction as requested
- Assess students in reading
- Conference with parents about their child’s progress in reading
- Provide instruction in spelling and writing as well as reading
- Use a variety of strategies to teach reading, such as Rigby Literacy and Orton Gillingham Instruction
- Make referrals, talk with, and write reports for professionals that are testing individual students
- Take seminars and read current research about best practices in the teaching of reading
- Celebrate the progress that each student makes in reading
- Appreciate that the students we teach have a lot to teach us
We work in various places throughout the building, but are centrally located at our shared office inside the library. I work Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. (I watch my granddaughter on Tuesdays!). I love experiencing student success and growth in reading, and being part of a fantastic team dedicated to helping students experience that success. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me.