ROGERS — Two teachers at Reagan Elementary School have taken on the task of helping every teacher at the school become a better teacher.

Fifth-grade teacher Debbie Moore and fourthgrade teacher Amy Gautier are the schools SIOP coaches, which means they're training the teachers in the techniques used in Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol; called "Sigh-op."

SIOP was developed to help English Language Learners, Moore said, but really all students are English Language Learners. Reading and vocabulary can be improved constantly, through an entire lifetime.

"It's just good teaching," she said.

They're not sure why the strategies have such a complicated name. The observation part of the name probably has to do with teachers showing, as well as telling students. Good teachers know that when a student hears and sees the lesson, it's twice as good, Moore said.

Or maybe, observation refers to teachers observing their own lesson and checking to see if they're using all the strategies, Gautier speculated.

They agreed that the word "Sheltered" in the title probably refers to every classroom being a safe place where learning is possible.

But whatever the title means, it covers eight components each with multiple features.

For example one component is "Building Background," Moore said.

There is some background information that's vital for all students to share, Gautier explained. For instance science teachers may have to explain the term hypothesis before they begin an experiment.

Good teaching starts with something the student knows and builds on that, Moore added, so you have to know how much your students know.

SIOP trained teachers always start a lesson by clearly stating the objective of the lesson, Moore said. In fact, it's usually written on the board. It's good for the students to know what they're supposed to take away from the lesson and it reminds the teachers to stay focused on their primary objectives. At the end of the lesson, teachers restate the objective to check and see if it's been met.

Gautier often sees teachers using the same technique when they present to other teachers. She can tell who has had the SIOP training.

Last year everyone at Reagan read and discussed the SIOP training book. They used one Monday afternoon meeting each month on the project. This year the coaches expect to dig deeper and spend their time discussing each component at length.

Teachers have responded well to the training, Moore said. Teachers who have been using similar techniques are glad to have the reinforcement and almost everyone picks up a few tips, she said.

The SIOP study will continue for at least three years, the coaches said.

Scholars, Pages 9 on 09/16/2009

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