The Language and Literacy Spectrum - Vol 35 - Issue 1 - Article 6 - June 2025 - Implementing a Blended Literacy Learning Intervention to Increase Engagement

Oct 15, 2026

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Blended literacy learning intervention designed to increase engagement of sixth-grade Academic Intervention Services (AIS) students in an American middle school setting where students showed off-task behavior, incomplete or haphazard assignments, and declining performance on literacy assessments. The study combined a flipped-classroom approach with youth-selected multimodal reading, using teacher-created instructional videos and peer collaborative analysis of curricular texts in class. Initial flipped-video implementation was only partially successful because many students did not engage with videos at home or found them uninteresting, prompting redesign toward greater autonomy and multimodal reading choices.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages27

Reading Time1 h 8 min

AccessFree to download

Purpose and Problem of Practice

Flipped Classroom-Based Intervention

Youth-Selected Multimodal Reading

Early Results and Student Feedback

The Language and Literacy Spectrum | Volume 35 Issue 1 | Article 6 | | --- | --- | | June 2025
“It’s Like Everything Changed:” Implementing a Blended Learning Intervention to Increase Engagement
Michael J. Hockwater
University of South Carolina, [michaelhockwater@gmail.com](michaelhockwater@gmail.com)
Follow this and additional works at: [https://digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu/lls](https://digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu/lls)
Part of the Language and Literacy Education Commons | Literacy | Recommended Citation Hockwater, Michael J. (2025) "“It’s Like Everything Changed:” Implementing a Blended Literacy Learning Intervention to Increase Engagement," The Language and Literacy Spectrum: Vol. 35: Iss. 1, Article 6. Available at: [https://digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu/lls/vol35/iss1/6](https://digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu/lls/vol35/iss1/6) This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the SUNY Cortland Literacy Department at Digital Commons at Buffalo State. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Language and Literacy Spectrum by an authorized editor of Digital Commons at Buffalo State. For more information, please contact [digitalcommons@buffalostate.edu](digitalcommons@buffalostate.edu). “Are you paying attention, friends?” It was early in the school year, and Ihadjust finished delivering direct instruction on poetic devices when I looked around the room and saw a collection of blank stares, furrowed brows, and moving lips. “Can anyone remind me what a metaphor is?” As I walked around the room, I saw students’ eyes dart down to the floor and up to the ceiling. I did not see anyone raising their hand. “Isn’t it when someone compares something to something else, or something?” Claire said from the back of the room. “No, wait. Isn’t that ahyperbole?” I raised my wrist to check my watch. How long had I been talking for? Ten minutes? Was anyone paying attention? I did not have time to repeat myself again. What was I supposed to do? Purpose and Problem of Practice The purpose of this article is to describe the development and implementation of a blended literacy learning intervention that integrated aspects of the flipped classroom model and youth-selected multimodal reading, intended to support my sixth-grade Academic Intervention Services (AIS) students at a public middle school in Western New York. The problem of practice was that my sixth-grade AISELA students at Wyndemere Middle School (WMS) [pseudonym] were not engaged in their literacy learning during AIS ELA class. Rather than actively participate in literacy events, such as read alouds, guided reading, and class discussion, my students chose to not complete assignments or complete assignments haphazardly. Further, many students opted to talk over me and with each other during direct instruction and exhibited off-task behavior when working in groups. My students’ lack of engagement and learning began to impact their grades in their core reading and writing classes, as well as their performance on district literacy assessments such as Measures of Academic progress (MAP) and individually administered Developmental Reading Assessments (DRAs) . This isnot an isolated problem of practice only unique to my AIS ELA classroom; in fact, unsatisfactory student engagement is a common problem of practice across American education, with Alley (2019) estimating that as much as 40% of students in schools are actively disengaged. However, when framing the problem of practice, it is important to take an asset-based perspective, recognizing that my students were not solely to blame for their lack of engagement. As their teacher, it is ultimately me who sets the tone, standards, and expectations for classroom interactions. I knew that I needed to do better. In an effort to increase my students’ engagement in my AIS ELA class and positively impact their literacy learning, I conducted an action research study focused on designing and impl

FAQs

What problem of practice does the article address?

Sixth-grade AIS ELA students were not engaged during literacy learning and often skipped work or completed it poorly, with off-task behavior during instruction and group work. This disengagement affected grades and performance on literacy assessments.

How does the blended intervention work in the study?

The approach blends flipped-classroom elements and in-class collaborative practice. Students watched teacher-created videos at home, then worked with peers in class to read and analyze teacher-assigned curricular texts.

Why was the flipped classroom component only partially successful?

Many students did not consistently engage with the instructional videos at home and reported the videos were boring. Students described either already knowing the content or finding the explanations and voice unengaging.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by Ezra