Summary

Mini Case Study

Recap:

            This semester I was given the opportunity to tutor a struggling reader from a local elementary school twice a week for three weeks. I was assigned a third grader named McKenzie. Before meeting with McKenzie for the first time, I was told that she was a level “I” reader. Level I is considered to be a second grade reading level. For our first meeting I gave her the Elementary Spelling Inventory in order to determine where she needed the most help. From the results of that test I determined that she needed help with words that use a within word pattern. To address this need we did a closed, open and blind word sort using “ou”, “ow” and “o”. I also determined that McKenzie needed to work on her fluency. I determined this by listening to her read the first and second times working with her. We worked on her fluency by doing reader’s theater so we could practice our expression while reading. Another area of need for McKenzie was reading comprehension. I determined her need for this by giving two running records. After each running record, I would ask her to retell me the story and she struggled to remember what she was reading. To work with her on this I went over two comprehension strategies with her; making connections and thinking aloud.

Next Steps:

            If I were McKenzie’s teacher, I would continue to work on fluency with her. To work on fluency she can introduce more reader’s theater to her and even have her do one with a student who demonstrates good fluency in order for McKenzie to hear what it sounds like. She can also practice fluency by doing a choral reading, echo reading or using joke books. These should be done with a student who demonstrates good fluency or the teacher if she is available. McKenzie’s teacher also should work with her on comprehension. She can do this by introducing the other reading comprehension strategies to her (questioning, summarizing, inferencing). At home, one thing McKenzie’s parents can do to help improve her reading is read out loud to her. Every night her parents should read her a few of her favorite books. Being exposed to reading and hearing what a good reader sounds like, will help to improve McKenzie’s reading because she will model what she hears. Another way McKenzie’s parents can help to improve her reading is by providing her with books and encouraging her to read at home. One of the problems why McKenzie might be a struggling reader is because she does not have books to read outside of school and has never practiced reading outside of the school day. By buying books or checking some out from the library, McKenzie will have books to practice reading. If McKenzie’s parents set aside time every night for McKenzie to read to herself or read to them, this will help improve her fluency because she is getting more exposure to reading.

What I learned:

            I feel really lucky to have gotten the opportunity to tutor a struggling reader. Throughout the semester we have been learning about how to teach reading, reading comprehension strategies, word sorts, writing development and so much more. By working with this student I was able to apply what I have been learning in class to a real situation. I learned what a big difference it is learning about it versus applying what I’ve learned to a real student who needs to learn what I know. It was awesome to be able to practice teaching what we have been talking about in class. I learned that literacy instruction is a well thought out process. It is more than just reading to students. I learned with struggling readers specifically, how to determine their exact needs and what things can be done to help them meet their needs. All the big things can be broken down into little things. It is such a cool feeling to see learning taking place and the improvement students make even after working with them for a short period of time. Through this experience I learned how to be a teacher. I learned how to ask questions or give prompts to students who are struggling with a word instead of just telling it to them. In order to write the objectives my student was to repeat and understand, I had to phrase them in a way that would make sense to 3^rd grader. I learned that it is not enough to just know the information; I also have to know how to teach it to a child in a way that is beneficial to them.

Lesson 5- Closed Word Wort, Reader's Theater and Running Record

Lesson 5

Emily Bowers

April 11, 2016

Objective: Good readers can use what they know about spelling patterns to sort words that have “au”, “aw” and “a”. Good readers can read with expression by using appropriate tone, rate, and volume.

Assessments: Closed word sort, reader’s theater script

Procedures:

1.      Explain to student that they will be reading a book to you. Also mention that while you are reading you are going to listen and make notes.

2.      Next introduce the new word sort to the students explaining why they are no longer working with the words they have been. After, give student the new categories to sort the words into and allow time to sort all words. Then talk about how they sorted them and why. Address any words that were put in the wrong category.

3.      Explain to student that next we are going to practice reading with expression by reading from a script and acting out characters in a story.

4.      Read through script once without expression. Read 2-3 more times, practicing better expression each time by reading with appropriate tone, rate and volume.

5.      If time is leftover, have student read from a book and practice using expression while reading a book.

Closure: “Today you moved on to sorting more challenging words that use different spelling patterns than the other words we have been working with. We worked with “au”, “aw” and “o”. This is important because good readers can use what they know about spelling patterns to identify what to use each of those vowel sets. Today we also practiced reading with expression by reading from a script and using appropriate tone, rate and volume. This is important because good readers can fluently and that includes reading with expression.”

Today was my last day working with McKenzie. We did another closed word sort today, but with different words. Today we focused on words that have "au", "aw", and "o". She was able to identify the different patterns the words had and sort them right away. After sorting them I asked her to read them for me and that is where she struggled, their were many words she did not know how to pronounce. We then talked about the sound that the vowels made with the words we were working with. Once she was able to identify the sound, she easily could put the words together by sounding out the first and last letter along with using the middle sound we talked about. Next, we did a running record. The first running record I gave her two weeks ago on a level M reading level told me that that level of text was slightly too hard for her because she only had a 90% accuracy rate. Today I went down a level and had her read a level J. She had a 90% accuracy with this one. After the running record, we read from a script because I was working with her on using expression. The first time we read through the script she did not use very good expression. We read through the script multiple times, switching parts and she improved on her expression every time. We talked about what it meant to read with expression and how she could improve.

This is the running record sheet that I did while she was reading. Like I said before, I decided to do a level down from the level she did last time because her score for the reading level M told me that was an instructional level text. Instructional level texts means that their are many words she doesn't know and would need help reading and comprehending what the text is saying. I wanted to see what her "easy" reading level would be at so I chose a level J text. This time she had a 95%  accuracy rate with only 5 errors in 100 words read. Most of the errors she made this time fit the meaning and syntax, but were not visual. This tells me that she is comprehending what is going on because she would substitute words that make sense with the story, but they did not look anything like the actual word. She was able to retell this story easily.

Today I learned the importance of explaining why. Before starting the word sort, we did not talk about the sound that the different categories made. McKenzie knew how to sort the words because she could see the "au", "aw" and "o" in the words that matched the different categories, but when asked to pronounce the words, she struggled. She knew how to pronounce some words, but would get caught up in unfamiliar words that were in the same category because she did not apply what she knew about the sound in the other words to this unfamiliar word. We talked through this, but as a teacher I would have liked to have made that more clear to her or explain it better. so that she would know any word with "aw" makes the same sound as it does in another word with "aw" in it. I also learned how important it is show good modeling. During readers theater the first time McKenzie hardly used any expression, but I did. The second time she was reading the part, she read it with expression, how I did. Students pick up on so much of what teachers do and say along with how we do and say it. 

Lesson 4- Close Reading

Emily Bowers

Lesson Plan 4- Close reading

Objective: Good readers can use what they know about spelling patterns to write and sort words that have “oa”, “ow”, and “ou”. Good readers can read the same text multiple times for different purposes.

Assessment: Discussion, underlining unknown words, circling phrases that stick out, word sort

Procedures:

1. State the purpose for this reading and instruct students to make appropriate marks on their paper as it relates to their purpose for reading. Ex.)  Underline unknown words or phrases, circle parts that stick out

                2. Ask student questions that correspond with each reading and discuss answers.

                3. Repeat steps 1 and 2, two more times.

Opening:

“Today we are going to work more with the words we have been using the past couple times we have met. This time I am going to read you the words and you are going to write them down and sort however you would like. After, we are going to read a poem out of the book Falling Up by Shel Silverstein. You may have heard of this author before. The poem is called Crazy Dream. You are going to read it three different times. Each time you read it I will tell you the purpose before you read. After you read it each time, we will talk about some questions and discuss the poem.”

Reading 1:

Purpose: Read to comprehend what the text is saying. Read to be able to retell what the poem is about.

Questions: What is the main idea of this poem? What message is the author trying to share about teachers?

Reading 2:

Purpose: Read to understand how the text said the message or main idea.

Questions: How does the author’s choice of words and tone of the language make their point of view on teachers stick out? Who is narrating this poem?

Reading 3:

Purpose: Read to understand what the text means and the value of this poem.

Questions: How did the author use pictures to help engage you what was happening in the poem? How did the pictures help you to understand what was happening in the poem? Have you read anything similar to this before? How was it similar to something else you have read? Can you relate to the how the character in this poem feels about teachers?

Closing:

 “Good readers use what they know about spelling patterns to write and sort words. This is important because today you wrote and sorted the words that I read to you. Today you also learned how to read the same text multiple times for different purposes. Before reading you were told the purpose for reading and this helped you to think about specific things during your reading. We read for summarizing the text, understanding how words help to shape the message, and to understand what the text meant or was trying to say about how the narrator feels about teachers.”

Prompts to try:

Did that sound right?

Can you reread that?

Did that make sense?

What letter/sound does it start with?

Today my objectives for McKenzie were: "Good readers can use what they know about spelling patterns to write and sort words that have 'oa', 'ow', and 'ou'. "Good readers can read the same text multiple times for different purposes".

To teach the first objective, I did a blind sort with McKenzie using the same words we used with the closed and open sort. I read her the words and she had to write them down and also put them in categories that she chose. To teach the second objective, I had McKenzie read a poem called "Crazy Dream" by Shel Silverstein. I explained to her that the first time she read it she was reading it comprehend what they text was saying. After reading it, I had her retell what happened in the poem, She then read it a second time. The second time I told her to read it in order to comprehend how the text said the message or main idea. After she read I asked her questions like "How does the author's choice of words and tone of the language make their point of view on teachers stick out?". The third she read the poem, I had her read in order to comprehend what the text means and the value of the poem. After reading, I asked her questions like "How did the author use pictures to help engage you in what was happening in the poem?" After the third reading, we went through everything we did that day and I had her tell me what she learned.

McKenzie did really awesome with the word sort today. Before even giving her one word, she remembered what the sorting patterns  were that she used last time and started writing them on the top of her paper. Once I started reading words to her she easily put them under the correct category and needed little assistance from me. After reading her all the words, she also easily told me how she sorted them and why. She spelled all the words correctly and now I know I can move on to a harder set of words for next time. The close reading did not go as well as the word sort did. The first time she read, she was able to retell what happened with some prompting from me. The second time she read, she struggled with answering the questions I asked her. I think this is because she is a struggling reader and it took her a while to get all the way through the poem. The questions I was asking may have been a little too hard for her as well. The third time we read the poem she answered the questions about the pictures well, but struggled with the other questions i asked her. At the end she was able to state what she learned doing the word sort, but needed prompting stating what she learned with the close reading.

Today I learned that, as a teacher, it is important to state the objective to the student. I did not do a very good job at explaining to McKenzie what the purpose of the close reading was and this was evident at the end when she struggled to tell me what she learned or what the purpose was. I also learned the importance of choosing material the is appropriate for the student. The questions I had planned to ask McKenzie after each reading were a little deep for her to understand what I was asking. I think I am getting better at using prompts when she comes across a word she does not know and also using academic vocabulary.

Lesson 3- Open Word Sort and Making Connections

Emily Bowers

April 3, 2016

Lesson Plan 3

Objective: Good readers can use what they know about spelling patterns to sort a pile of words into different categories where all words in each pile follow a pattern. Good readers can connect to a text they are reading by thinking how it relates to their life or something they have read before.

Assessment: Open word sort, making connections graphic organizer

Procedures:

1.      Opening-“Last time I was here you sorted these words under the different categories I gave to you. Good readers can use what they know about spelling patterns to sort words into different categories that they come up with. Today you are going to sort them in a different way that makes sense to you. You are going to come up with the different categories.”

2.      Give student the envelope with the word sort words in it. Give them time to sort the words. After they sort the words, talk with them about how they sorted the words and why.

3.      “Good readers can connect to a text they are reading by thinking how it relates to their life or something they have read before. Next, I am going to read you a story called The Wednesday Surprise by Eve Bunting. While I am reading think about what this reminds you of.” Model a connection for them at the start of the book.

4.      After finishing the book, have student fill out making connections graphic organizer. Talk about it after they complete it.

Closure: “Today you sorted words into categories that you came up with. This is important because good readers can use what they know about spelling patterns to sort words into categories that they come up with. We ended today by reading a story and making connections to it. This is also important because good readers connect to the text they are reading to help them comprehend what is happening in the story better.”

For today's lesson one objective was "Good readers can use what they know about spelling patterns to sort a pile of words into different categories where all the words in each pile follow a pattern". To address this objective, I used the words from word sort that I gave McKenzie last time. Before even telling her what we were going to do, she asked if we were going to sort words again today. I could tell that she was excited to do this. This time I told her to sort the words however she wanted. She did a really awesome job at this. She sorted all the "oa" words into one pile, all the "ow" words into another pile and all the "oi" words into a third pile. She also told me what she was doing and why, while she was doing it.

Another objective I had for today was "good readers can connect to a text they are reading by thinking how it relates to their life or something they have read". We did this by reading a story called The Wednesday Surprise. McKenzie loved this story and was even doing a think aloud like we practiced last time. It is cool to see that she is not only learning, but using what I am teaching her. After reading the story, I had her do a graphic organizer on making connections where she had to draw a picture and write about something that happened in the story and then draw another picture and write about what happened in her life that is similar to the book. Struggling readers often struggle with comprehension so I wanted to do something with her that would improve her reading.

Most teachers do not get the one-on-one time with students that I am getting with McKenzie. It is a really awesome opportunity to have because I can really focus on her needs and see her grow each time we work. It's nice to be able to put to use and practice what we are learning about in most of my classes. From working with McKenzie, I am more aware of the academic vocabulary I use and know. In class we mainly talk about how we would teach certain things to students, but now I am able to actually teach a student and practice how we talked about doing it in class. I am getting more comfortable and confident when I am teaching McKenzie. I am also better able to help her when she comes across a word she doesn't know without just telling her what it is because I know what key things to say that will help her figure out what the word is.