Case Report

Working with my struggling reader has been a wonderful learning experience. I have enjoyed watching my student grow as a reader. This student had a few different instructional needs. While meeting with the reader we focused on comprehension skills and different tools readers can use to help them comprehend the text they are reading. When I completed running records, I realized she used visual and structural cues while many times neglecting the meaning.  I also provided my student with a spelling inventory. Through this document I was able to see that my reader struggled with words containing long vowels.

During the time my student and I worked together my student made great strides. When my student and I first met, she had difficulty comprehending/retelling text. She would need to be provided with many prompts to help guide her. By the end of our time she was able to comprehend/retell text independently without any prompts. We also spent time on working with long vowel sounds. She still struggles with distinguishing words with long “O” and long “U” sounds. I would recommend that this student continues to work on words containing long vowels.  I would also suggest continuing to work on her comprehension skill. Even though she improved tremendously I think it would be beneficial to continue providing the student with different strategies that she can implement while reading. I recommend the parents of this student go online and find different games that focus on long vowel words. I would also recommend that her parents and her teacher visit fccr.org. This site will provide them with multiple resources for both reading comprehension and activities to strengthen her knowledge of long vowel words. I also recommend that a parent read to this student, or the parent and student read together. This will allow the student to continue to have rich discussions about the text she is being exposed to. Lastly, I recommend that the teacher allow the student a designated time during the day to read, once she is done reading have her write a quick paragraph about what is going on in her book. The teacher should allow her to use different resources that help get her thoughts (retelling the text) down on paper.

 I have learned a lot from this case study. This caused me to examine the meetings with my struggling reader very extensively. I had to administer multiple assessments to decide what I needed to focus on with my student. I have learned how to approach a student who is struggling in a certain area, and help build their confidence so they are excited about learning and working towards becoming a better reader. I also learned the importance and power of compliments and positive reinforcement. By providing compliments and positive reinforcements my student always had a positive attitude towards what we were doing in our lessons, even if she was struggling. I have learned the importance of incorporating interactive activities that help keep your student engaged and excited to learn. While meeting with my student I discovered multiple resources that helped her use questioning and visualizing strategies to help her comprehend and retell what she was reading. This experience has been life changing. There is nothing more rewarding than watching a student grow!

Running Records

 

 

 

First Running Record

I had my struggling reader preform a hot read for this running record. The text level is 5^th grade and it was from the book, Remember My Name by Sarah H Banks. She did very well only making one error and one self-correction at a different time. This amounted to an error rate of 1:100 an accuracy rate of 99% and a self-correction rate of 1:2. She also comprehended very well giving me a summary of that suited the text amount at 100 words. This level of reading I’m thinking is too easy for this student. However, because this is a hot read that is somewhat expected. For the one error she made the word was filtered but the student said fluttered, she was using the structural and visual cueing system while neglecting meaning. The word that she substituted did not hinder meaning but she still needs to connect the letter she sees to the sounds she produces.

 

Second Running Record: 6th Grade Form A

 

The text exert I provided my student with contained 310 words. The student had 4 errors but self-corrected often. This resulted in an error rate of 1:77 an accuracy rate of 99% and a self-correction rate of 1:3. This text is a good starting point for her, I believe it is somewhat challenging but in a good way that would encourage the reader to use the tools we have discussed and worked on through our meetings to help her comprehened the text she reads. My student had trouble comprehended the text even thought she did a nice job reading it. Again the student only used the visual cueing system that resulted in an error. She is still not checking for meaning while reading.  

Meeting Five

Today we started our session with a long “E” and long “I” word sort. My student completed this particular sort with major success. She was able to sort all the words into the correct categories.  After the word sort we focused our attention on the book Dinosaurs Before Dark. We looked at her predication paper she wrote during our last session. I asked her if there were any other predications she wanted to add, she said no. Before we started reading we discussed different strategies that readers use to help them comprehend the text they read. The strategy we mainly focused on was visualizing. We discussed the benefits of being able to visualize characters and events that occur in the text that we read. We also discussed the importance of being able to connect/understand the characters in the books that we read.  I then had her read me the first two chapters of Dinosaurs Before Dark. While she read the chapters there were a handful of times she self-corrected reading errors that she had made. While she read I encouraged her to use think alouds. At the beginning of the first chapter I contributed a few think alouds to help get her started.  When the reader finished the chapters I presented her with a character consideration sheet. This sheet asked question such as…

·         What does the character look like?

·         What would you do if you were the character?

·         What things does the character do?

·         Do you like the character? Why or why not?

·         Tell something important about the character.

The student expressed how much she liked this worksheet. I was thrilled to hear her say this because the worksheet required her to think back on what she had read and think back to the details of the text. She was able to complete the character worksheet without any problems. Once she finished she asked me if she could have another one for the other main character! Through this meeting I learned that it is a wonderful idea to implement new learning tools and/or new graphic organizers. By providing your students with different resources you are providing them with multiple opportunities to succeed.

Meeting Four

GV Daily Lesson Plan

Student Name: Alisha Sinclair                               Course Title; Semester: EDUC 324; Spring 2013

 

Title of Lesson: Describing Main Characters   Total Lesson Time: 30 minutes                      

Grade(s): 5^th Grade                                          Subject Area: Reading Comprehension          

 

This lesson is part of a unit over working with a struggling reader._____________________

 

Curriculum Standard(s):

Iowa Core/District/ National Key Ideas and Details •RL.3.3. Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.

 

Learning Objectives and How Assessed:

Learning Objective(s)	Assessment Plan
Student will be able to: 1. Read words with long “U” sounds and long “O” sounds. 2. Describe Annie and Jack, the two main characters out of the book Dinosaurs Before Dark by Mary Pope Osborne.	1. Student will complete word sort provided   2. Student will read the first two chapters from Dinosaurs Before Dark. The student will then complete a character visualization worksheet.

 

Content Outline of the Lesson:                                   Materials Needed:

What is the subject content or skill you will be teaching? I will be teaching character characteristics. By helping the student describe/visualize the characters, I’m hoping it will help with their comprehension skills.

Word Sort Dinosaurs Before Dark Character Consideration

 

Lesson Procedures:	Time	Differentiation (Adaptations for Diverse Learners, ELL, Gifted)
1. Activate Prior Knowledge/Introduction We will begin the session by working on a long vowel word sort. The word sort will contain words with long “O” and long “U” sounds. She will be able to begin this task immediately because we have worked with word sorts before.    2.Explicit/Direct Instruction Once we finish the word sort we will discuss her performance. We will go over where she placed the words and if they are sorted correctly. Once we have successfully completed this task, the student will read the first two chapters out of Dinosaurs Before Dark. While the student is reading we will stop and discuss what is happening in the text. I will help guide the discussion by providing prompts, such as think alouds and asking questions.   3. Guided Practice During the reading I will encourage the reader to provide at least two think alouds and one question. We will discuss how being able to visualize the characters in the book helps us as readers. We will talk about the different benefits of being able to visualize characters and events in text that we read. Such as it helps with comprehension.   4. Independent Practice The student will be asked to fill out a character visualization worksheet. If the child is having trouble I will prompt her by asking questions about the characters in the text. If more help is needed I will guide her through the worksheet.   5.Closure I will ask her what her thoughts are about the chapters we have read thus far. I will have her make a prediction of what she thinks is going to happen in the next chapter. The struggling reader will write this prediction down on lined paper. We will look at this prediction when we meet next.	5 min               9 min                       5-7 min                 8 min             3 min

 

References/Work Cited:

http://www.fcrr.org/

 

Reflection on Student Learning:

While completing the word sort the reader mixed up a few long “O” and long “U” words. While she sorted the words I observed her actions. Once she told me she was finished I had her explain how she sorted the words. Her answer was that she sorted the words by the vowel sound. Together we read through the words. While we read through the words I asked questions when we came to words that weren’t in the correct spot. Such as, how did we pronounce that word? Followed by, so what type of vowel sound does that word have? After we put all the words into the correct category and discussed why each word was either in the long “O” category or the long “U” category I had her complete a different long “O” long “U” word sort. She completed this word sort with a higher level of success. Once the second word sort was completed and discussed there wasn’t much time left in our session. To end our session I gave the reader the book Dinosaurs Before Dark. I had her explore the book for 30 seconds. I then asked her what she thought the book was going to be about. After we talked about her prediction I asked her what helped her make this prediction. She told me the cover of the book. I then had her write her prediction down. This way we can look at her prediction next time we meet and while we continue to read Dinosaurs Before Dark. Today I learned that lessons do not always go as planned. As a teacher, you need to be flexible, and you need to be able to tweak your lessons on the spot to best meet the needs of your students.

Meeting Three

In my third meeting with my struggling reader I focused the instruction around questioning skills you can use to help retell a story/text. This particular student struggles to retell text she has read recently. I started the lesson by asking the reader why is it important to use questioning while reading text. The students’ response was that she didn’t know. Together we discussed that sufficient readers use questioning to help them comprehend the text. The student and I also talked about how questioning can be used as a tool to help a reader retell a story.

I began my lesson by providing my student with some questions she should keep in mind while reading. I told her these are questions she can think about when she is trying to retell a passage or text she has read.  The questions were…

·         How does the story begin?

·         Where does the story occur?

·         Who are the main characters? Which was most important?

·         What is one important problem in the story?

·         What important things are happening in the story?

·         What’s the order of events?

·         How is the problem solved? How does the story end?

Together we discussed how these questions can help a reader retell a passage they have read. I provided the student with a print out that contained the questions above so she could use it as a resource until she became familiar and comfortable with them.   I then introduced The Curious Garden by Peter Brown. While reading the texted I implemented the questions we previously discussed through guided practice and think alouds. I then released the student to take over the questioning and think alouds, while the text was being read we would also stop and talk about the content. When we finished the book I used a Fiction Retelling Scoring Form to check my readers’ comprehension of the book. Before having her retell the story I reminded her to keep in mind the questions we discussed earlier. The reader scored a seventeen out of twenty-one on the scoring form. This puts her under the skilled level. I found this interesting because it is usually like pulling teeth to get her to retell a text or passage. I believe by providing the student with information, guided examples, and the right tools the student was able to successfully retell The Curious Garden.

Meeting Two

 





This afternoon’s lesson with my struggling reader went smoothly. She was enthusiastic and anxious to get started. We started of the lesson by discussing her knowledge/experience with word sorts.

She had experience with word sorts in the past so we did not need to spend a good amount of time discussing the details. She quickly got to work. The student did well on this activity. I’m curious to how she would have performed if I would have also given her some words that contained short vowel sounds.  

Once she had completed the word sort, together we discussed vowels and how vowels have different sounds. After we had a rich conversation over this topic I introduced the Show Me game. I explained how the game worked and I demonstrated the process. I found this game to be rather challenging for her. I could tell she was becoming frustrated.  I told her she was doing an excellent job, I then asked her if she was ready to move on. She decided she wanted to move forward in the lesson.

To end the lesson I had her write 1 thing she learned. Instead of having her write 3 words that contain long vowel sounds I had her write 1. She informed me that she enjoyed both activities even though the spelling game was challenging for her. The next time we meet, we are going to pick out a book and start reading. I’m excited to apply strategies I have learned to help her better comprehend what she is reading.

 

GV Daily Lesson Plan

Student Name: Alisha Sinclair                               Course Title; Semester: EDUC 324, SP2013    

 

Title of Lesson: Word Sort & Spelling             Total Lesson Time: 25 minutes                      

Grade(s): 5^th                                                    Subject Area: Reading and word study           

 

This lesson is part of a unit over working with a struggling reader____________________________

 

Curriculum Standard(s):

Iowa Core/District/ National Phonics and Word Recognition  •RF.5.3. Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words. ◦Use combined knowledge of all letter-sound correspondences, syllabication patterns, and morphology (e.g., roots and affixes) to read accurately unfamiliar multisyllabic words in context and out of context.

 

Learning Objectives and How Assessed:

Learning Objective(s)	Assessment Plan
Student will be able to: 1. Accurately decode long vowel sounds.   2. Accurately spell words with long vowels.	1. Student will perform a long/short vowel word sort.   2. Student will play Show Me. They will also write down three words that contain long vowels.

 

Content Outline of the Lesson:                                   Materials Needed:

What is the subject content or skill you will be teaching?  Spelling

Show Me Game Long Vowel Word Sort Paper

 

Lesson Procedures:	Time	Differentiation (Adaptations for Diverse Learners, ELL, Gifted)
1. Activate Prior Knowledge/Introduction We will begin the session by working on a long/short vowel word sort. I will begin by asking the student if she has ever worked with a word sort before. If she has we will be able to begin immediately. If she has had little or no experience with a word sort I will take a moment to demonstrate and explain how it works.   2.Explicit/Direct Instruction Once we finish the word sort we will discuss vowels. I will ask her if she knows how many letters in our alphabet are vowels. We will discuss that five of the twenty-six alphabet letters are vowels: A,E,I,O, and U. The letter Y is sometimes considered a sixths vowel because it can sound like other vowels. This will lead our discussion into the direction that unlike consonants, each of the vowel letters has more than one type of sound or can even be silent with no sound at all. I will inform her we will be focusing on long vowels. Together we will discuss long vowels. ·          Long vowels make the same sounds in a word as they do when pronounced alone. Each vowel has a few unique rules, but generally, they all make a long sound when they are the last letter of a word. I will give a few examples and as for her to provide a few examples (examples: she, go; exceptions: to, bite).  If a word has two vowels next to each other, the first vowel usually is pronounced long. I will again give an example and have her provide one (examples: sail, bean, soap, juice).   3. Guided Practice I will introduce Show Me. Show Me is a long vowel game. The student will get a pocket and an assortment of letter cards to lay out on the desk. I will call a word such as go. The student will insert the correct letters to spell the word and then close up their pocket. When “show me” is announced the student will open her pocket.  The focus of this game is to encourage practice. I will participate for a few rounds. Until I feel my student understands the game.   4. Independent Practice I will provide words to the student and she will spell the words independently.   5.Closure The student will write down one thing she learned. I will also have her write down three words that have a long vowel. We will also discuss what she liked about our meeting and if there is anything she would like to do differently.	5                 5-7                                                       2-3                       5-7       2-3

 

References/Work Cited:

http://www.ehow.com/info_8635683_long-vowel-activities.html http://www.abcfastphonics.com/long-short-vowels.html

 

Reflection on Student Learning:

I think the lesson went well. I decided to do a word sort and a spelling game. These two activities really engaged my student and provided her a hands-on opportunity working with words that contain long vowels. Even though the student enjoyed the two activities she did struggle with the spelling game. If I were to do this lesson again I would only incorporate one activity into the lesson. Next time, I will focus on reading a book that the student and I will pick out together.

 





Word Sort
 

Meeting One

During my first visit with my struggling reader I had her take an interest inventory and a spelling inventory. She also read a short book of choice. By having my student complete the interest inventory I was able to learn more about her. Through this inventory I discovered that she enjoys reading books at school during free time. However, when she is at home she feels okay about reading. She informed me that she does not read at home. This student does not like reading in a group or out loud. She would prefer to read independently. The type of books she enjoys reading are ones that are action packed/ adventurous. One thing I found interesting is that she likes to work on puzzles when she is by herself. I'm hoping I will be able to create a lesson that incorporates some type of puzzle activity. I learned that her favorite subject in school is math. Knowing this I may try and find some books that incorporate math.




Interest Inventory

After she completed the interest inventory we moved on to the spelling inventory. By observing her I could clearly see that she struggles with spelling. Once I checked her test I discovered she starts struggling with the common long vowels. By incorporating word sorts and other activities I'm hoping I can help strengthen her ability to spell. By increasing her spelling ability I believe this will also help her reading.

Lastly, the student read me a short book of her choice. Once she finished I asked her if she could tell me what the story was about. She then looked at me with a blank stare. I'm not sure if she was confused or if she did not know how to begin. To help guide her I started asking questions about the text. Once I did this she was able to tell me what the text was about. She just needed the extra prompt. While listening to her read I also noticed that she mixed up words that looked similar. This is one thing we are going to work in our future meetings.