Stephanie Duggan
lower school Literacy Coach

Grades 1-6 reading specialist Stephanie Duggan looks for something special about each student she coaches and uses that personal interest to build confidence in their abilities. “I try to get to know them personally and make learning fun,” she says. “I try to find a hook.” For a first grader who was intensely interested in soccer, that hook was getting one-on-one time with the coach of the Middle School girls’ soccer team -- Mrs. Duggan. “We pass the soccer ball back and forth while we do flash cards. I do whatever it takes to get them engaged in learning. It takes creativity and it takes knowing the kid really well.”

Mrs. Duggan uses assessment tests to determine precisely where each child’s skill levels fall in the school’s Guided Reading Program. “All kids have to learn punctuation, grammar, comprehension and all those things, but their skills aren’t universal,” she says. “You have to adjust instruction to fit their needs.” The assessment tests given to the students are so specific that Mrs. Duggan can see how much each child understands about individual tasks inside each unit of the curriculum. That lets teachers adjust lesson plans to focus on what each child needs to learn or already knows. “The testing we do helps identify kids that would need more instruction or tailored instruction so that, if they have any gaps in achievement, they can be quickly caught up.” Some students who need extra help may work individually with Mrs. Duggan or in small groups, like a reading club.

Inspired by teachers who were kind, nurturing and warm, Mrs. Duggan focused her master’s degree on reading literacy because she saw so many children struggling to read. “It can make them overwhelmed and lost in the classroom and they can’t ask questions.” Summit’s Lower School teachers keep students from getting lost through individualized learning, adapting instruction to learning styles and using students’ personal interests for motivation, she says.