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Analysis of Secondary Reading 1
Analysis of Secondary Reading Differentiation in an 8th Grade Student
Jamie Rester
Rochester College
Analysis of Secondary Reading 2
APPENDICES
Appendix A Parent Consent
Appendix B Bader Graded Word Lists
Bader Reading Passages
Appendix C Student Priorities and Interests
Inventory
Appendix D Oral Reading Miscues
Appendix E Student Work (Lessons 1-5)
Analysis of Secondary Reading 3
ANALYSIS OF SECONDARY READING DIFFERENTIATION IN AN 8TH GRADE
STUDENT
Overview of Case Study
This case study was conducted to assess, diagnose, and develop literacy skills by
implementing differentiated instruction. The study took place at the college that the researcher
attends in Rochester, Michigan. One of the faculty’s daughters was chosen for this case study, as
the researcher does not have any students of her own to work with. Assessments were conducted
on the student’s reading levels and interests, and lessons were implemented to improve her
literacy skills.
Researcher
The researcher is currently a student at Rochester College studying to get a bachelor’s in
Secondary Education with a focus in English Language Arts and a minor in Reading. She has
been in school for four years and has one year left of schooling before she starts her teaching
career. She would like to teach middle school in the future, not focusing on any particular grade.
Participant
Background
The participant, Peggy (all names are pseudonyms), is in 8th grade and attends a private
Christian school. The researcher got connected with her through a professor at Rochester College
who works with Peggy’s mother. Since the researcher does not have a classroom of her own, thet
wo meet at Rochester to tutor. Peggy is very involved in volleyball at her school and takes it very
seriously. She also enjoys shopping with her family with whom she is very close. Her sister is
Analysis of Secondary Reading 4
like a best friend to her as she is the only other sibling that Peggy has, and they are close in age.
She also talked about her church a lot, so it seems that she is very involved there. She is
especially open about her faith, and in general very talkative and upbeat.
As far as her reading ability, from what the researcher has gathered from her mother and
professor, she wants to please and perform for her audience. She reads fluently, but she
expressed to the researcher that motivation is difficult for her when it comes to subjects and
genres that she is not interested in (such as history). As one of her goals for this case study,
Peggy explained that she would like to be able to read a variety of texts in any subject and still
retain the content, not simply the texts that she finds interesting.
Setting
The tutoring took place at the Rochester College library since that is where researcher
attends and Peggy’s mother works there. The researcher and participant met at least once a week,
sometimes biweekly for about an hour each time.
Data Sources
The assessments were conducted all in the same day, in the same location. The researcher
led each assessment as the student answered questions and read the given material. The lessons
conducted were retrieved from Sustaining Strategic Readers by Valerie Ellery and Jennifer L.
Rosenbloom.
Analysis of Secondary Reading 5
Bader Graded Word Lists and Reading Passages– Appendix B
The Bader Graded Word Lists and Reading Passages were administered to find the
student’s instructional reading level using a combination of word recognition lists as well as
reading passages assessing comprehension. It was explained to the student before beginning the
tests that they were not graded, but simply used for data to find out where her reading level was
at and what she needed assistance with. It was also explained to the student that for the Word
Recognition Lists, she would simply need to read down the lists given and if she came across a
word she did not know, to try her best to pronounce it. Once she read down the first list, the
researcher went up a grade level since there were minimal mistakes made. This continued in this
fashion until the frustration level was reached.
Once a reading level was determined from the Word Recognition Lists, the Reading
Passages were administered with all oral, unprepared reading. For this, the student was asked a
prior knowledge question to analyze if enough background knowledge was present to understand
the text. If the answer was sufficient, the student would move on to reading the passage. During
the reading, the researcher would keep track of corrections and errors the student made. When
the student finished, the researcher asked comprehension questions with no prompts to assess
whether the student understood the text or not. Once this was done, the researcher either had the
student move up or down on the reading levels depending on how the student performed.
Student Priorities and Interests – Appendix C
The Student Priorities and Interests Inventory is an account of the things that the
participant is interested in as well as her strengths and weaknesses in reading. Conducting this
was beneficial to the researcher because this gave her information to be able to more accurately
Analysis of Secondary Reading 6
choose reading material that would be advantageous to the student. This also aided in building
rapport with the student. The survey went through the participant’s priorities in reading, interests,
preferred work settings, and finally unfinished sentences which allowed the student to think
freely while finishing the ends of vague sentences about her life.
Oral Reading Miscues – Appendix D
The student’s miscues were tallied up and recorded in categories. For instance, the
student’s mispronunciations for the 7th grade level unprepared oral reading were tallied,
alongside with the substitutions for that text. The researcher also added Peggy’s self-corrections
to the columns in order to obtain more data. Once all of the scores were recorded, each score was
divided by the total number of miscues. This was also done with the self-corrections, which
provides more data into Peggy’s mindset as she reads.
Data Analysis and Findings
Peggy
Based on the findings from the researcher’s assessments of Peggy, motivation is key to
her. In the Student Priorities and Interests Inventory (See Appendix C), Peggy expressed
struggling with comprehension with texts that were of little interest to her. She explained how
she has a difficult time focusing and therefore understanding what a text says if she is not
personally interested in the topic. She also expressed a great interest in reading expository/non-
fiction books and magazines. Under the Unfinished Sentences portion of the Student Priorities
and Interests Inventory, she stated that should we like to be able to read and comprehend any
text, whether it particularly interests her or not.
Analysis of Secondary Reading 7
According to the Word Recognition test the researcher administered, Peggy’s
instructional level is at 7th grade. She started out at the 6th grade level with full accuracy, then
moved on to 7th grade with 90% accuracy, then 8th grade with 70%. The researcher also
administered the test one level up at the high school level where she reached 60% accuracy.
Based on the findings, the researcher has determined that Peggy’s independent level for word
recognition is at the 6th level, instructional at 7.5 since she only missed one word, and 8th for
frustration.
The results of Peggy’s Reading Passages were quite confusing; She started reading at the
8th grade level with a passage that shared her interests, but her accuracy was only 64%. She then
moved on to another passage in the same level and scored a 73% for comprehension. She
continued on to the 9-10th grade level and also scored a 73%. The researcher considered that the
first passage was possibly a fluke, and so she had Peggy read at the 7th grade level as a
comparison, to which she scored a 67% on comprehension. With this information, it seemed that
Peggy’s instructional level for comprehension was between 8 and 9-10th grade, and her
instructional for the words in context was 8th grade.
In the Oral Reading Miscues section (See Appendix D), the researcher has found that
Peggy had a fair amount of miscues, but also self-corrections, which tells the researcher that she
is spending most of her brain power on decoding words, while not leaving much room for
comprehension. This is imperative for understanding why Peggy’s comprehension may be so
low in certain passages. While this hinders her comprehension, she is very good at decoding
words as she reads.
Analysis of Secondary Reading 8
Lessons
Lesson One – “Passage Concept Impressions”
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.1
Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly
as well as inferences drawn from the text.
Summary
For the first lesson, the researcher chose a book from the library entitled Girls Play to
Win Volleyball by Chros McDougall (880L). This was chosen because the student expressed
interest in reading expository books, and she is also very involved in her school’s volleyball
team. The researcher explained that they would be working on predicting in this lesson, and
began by showing Peggy the cover of the book. The researcher asked if Peggy had any ideas
what the book could be about and who would be involved in it based on the cover, and Peggy
made very good insights saying, “I think that it will follow the Dallas volleyball team because
that is the team of the jersey the girl on the cover is wearing.” I explained that this was a very
good use of her background knowledge to infer and predict.
Next, the researcher pulled a section of the text and plugged it into a word cloud in front
of the Peggy so that she could see the most frequently used words. Then the researcher drew a
line on the whiteboard and asked Peggy to decipher what she thought the book could be about
now that she had more information, and the researcher recorded her answers on the line. Peggy
said things like the Olympics and famous players, and the researcher asked why she thought that
at each prediction in order to get her to support her predictions with evidence. She would give
proper evidence like, “I see this team’s name here and this says Olympics.”
Analysis of Secondary Reading 9
After that, the researcher and Peggy both created a four-sentence story based on the
predictions that she had come up with as well as the information from the cover and the word
cloud. It was brought to Peggy’s attention that she could write it in the form of a narrative or an
expository text, however she thought the book was structured. When they were done writing,
both shared their short stories. Then the researcher asked Peggy to read the first chapter and skim
through the rest of the book by their next meeting in order to get a feel for the structure and
content of the book so that way they could discuss how accurate her predictions were. The
researcher also introduced the “Text-to-self, text-to-text, text-to-world” model to Peggy and gave
her a worksheet on it to fill out as she did her reading that week.
Reflection
The researcher chose this literacy strategy because in their last meeting, Peggy had
explained her desire to comprehend everything that she reads, even if it does not particularly
interest her. Because of this, the researcher thought it would be a good idea to do some
motivation strategies in order to get Peggy more involved and invested with the text, and thus
improve comprehension. The prediction and text application strategies are great for motivation,
and the researcher explained this to Peggy as the lesson went on. Peggy said herself that she
liked the predicting strategy and that she would try the text application while doing her reading
during the week. Next time they meet, the researcher will do an assessment on comprehension to
see if the motivation strategy was successful.
Rationale for Future Instruction
The assessment for the next lesson will consist of Peggy summarizing what she had read
while the researcher asks in-depth questions of the text in order to see if comprehension was
reached. They will continue to work on motivation strategies that improve comprehension since
Analysis of Secondary Reading 10
that is the main thing that Peggy needs to work on. In the next lesson, the researcher will tie in
the predicting and text application strategies as well as a new one in order to heighten
engagement with the text.
Lesson Two – “Main Idea Wheel”
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.2
Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text,
including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
Summary
For the second lesson, Peggy and the researcher reviewed much of what they had gone
over in the first lesson. It began by Peggy summarizing what she had read out of the text during
the week and assessing how accurate her predictions were from the first lesson. The researcher
asked questions as Peggy recounted what she had read in order to assess comprehension. Peggy
would explain, “The chapter talked about the fundamentals of volleyball,” and so the researcher
would ask, “Like what?” This was the summative assessment from the last lesson to see if the
predictions had any effect on Peggy’s comprehension.
Peggy also went over her text applications from the last lesson and explained how she
saw the text applying to her life. The researcher asked for further information on this segment as
well in order to assess comprehension of the text, as well as build rapport with the student and
learn about her life. The researcher then tied the two segments into the final segment by
explaining, “You assessed your own predictions by explaining if your main ideas that you had
come up with matched the main ideas of the book. We will now further dive into the main ideas
to see if we can really determine what they are. And just like how you gave support for how the
Analysis of Secondary Reading 11
book applied to your life by using text applications, we will use support for the main ideas that
we come up with.”
In order to introduce the topic of determining main ideas, the researcher drew three main
idea wheels on the board. She read portions of one of the chapters and did a Think Aloud as she
modeled how she came up with the main idea. Then, she looked through the chapter to find
evidence to support her main idea and utilized a Think Aloud to demonstrate the difference
between support and an interesting fact. Then, Peggy and the researcher took turns reading
another chapter and worked together to determine the main idea and support for that chapter. To
complete the model of the Gradual Release of Responsibility, the researcher had Peggy complete
the final main idea wheel on her own, based on the chapter that she had read. The researcher did
not assist since this was the summative assessment for the lesson, but rather encouraged Peggy to
use her resources of pictures, headings, subheadings, as well as her text applications.
Reflection
The researcher chose to continue with the same book as the last lesson because of the
prediction and text application strategies that Peggy had already done with it, and so sticking
with the book would mean being able to follow up with the student and really diving in to what
she read. The researcher chose this lesson in order to focus on comprehension for the student,
which was achieved. Through all of the assessments performed, Peggy did very well.
Remembering what she had read at first proved to be a bit difficult for her since she had not
looked at the book in several days, but once she got talking about it, she seemed to remember
much more. When asked comprehension questions, she was able to come up with sufficient
answers for each and did very well on her own main idea wheel.
Analysis of Secondary Reading 12
Rationale for Future Instruction
At the end of the lesson, the researcher asked Peggy what she thought about the book and
discovered that not only did she enjoy the expository text, but that she also likes nonfiction
narrative literature and just recently got a book that she would like to read. The researcher
thought that going through this new book would be a great idea and so she is planning to work
with this in order to increase motivation and comprehension in Peggy. Conducting a strategy to
look at the book before reading it would be best for this so that they can each take time during
the week to read it.
Lesson Three – “Reflect on Questions”
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.1
Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly
as well as inferences drawn from the text.
Summary
For the third lesson, Peggy and the researcher went over the QAR version of questioning.
The researcher had planned to utilize a book that Peggy had bought the other day in order to
increase interest in the topic. However, Peggy had left her book at school and so was not able to
read through it for the lesson. The researcher improvised and got a book from one of her
professors – a biography about Lois Lowry (840L). The researcher was not certain how Peggy
would react to this, since she had not expressed biographies as an interest of hers. However,
Peggy announced that, “As long as it’s not a fairy tale,” she was okay with it.
Once the new book was established, the researcher introduced the topic of questioning by
explaining that it comes in different levels. She explained the different levels of the QAR (Right
Analysis of Secondary Reading 13
There, Think and Search, Author and Me, On my Own) and wrote the definitions and examples
on the white board. She left it there in order that Peggy may be able to reference it while utilizing
the questions. Then, the researcher had Peggy pick a different page for each question in order to
give her choice to increase motivation, and both Peggy and the researcher came up with
questions for each. When they were finished, they answered each other’s questions aloud. While
Peggy answered, the researcher listened for comprehension of the topic, and while the researcher
answered, she utilized the Think Aloud strategy in order to model for Peggy how to question.
When they were finished with this, the researcher switched up the strategy by having
both of them first come up with an answer, and then give it to the other to determine what the
question might be. The researcher had determined to only use the first two strategies in the QAR
(Right there and Think and Search) for this portion of the lesson since she supposed that it would
be more difficult, but she observed Peggy to be catching on very quickly. Because of this, she
changed the strategies to Think and Search and Author and Me since those proved to be more
challenging. Peggy expressed that this portion was much more difficult, but she did well. She
utilized the board to look back at what each strategy entailed, and even when she did not get the
“correct question” for the Author and Me, the researcher explained that since it was a matter of
inferring, there could be multiple answers. The researcher clarified that even though Peggy did
not think of the question that the researcher wrote the answer for, she did a very good job at
providing evidence for her question, and so the researcher would accept that answer.
Reflection
The researcher assessed Peggy by her answers given on the QAR sheet and determined
that she caught on very quickly to the questioning strategy. Since both of them came up with
questions for one another, the researcher would observe Peggy as both of them wrote, and
Analysis of Secondary Reading 14
perceived that Peggy finished her questions much more quickly than the researcher on more than
one occasion, and that her questions were still satisfactory. Also, the topic of the new book ended
up being beneficial in that the researcher had wanted to incorporate a topic that Peggy was not
particularly interested in order to work on her comprehension even when she was not very
engaged. This book provided the perfect opportunity for this and it appeared that her
comprehension was still there.
Rationale for Future Instruction
Since Peggy did so well with the questioning strategy, the researcher will not be having
her go over another. Instead, they will focus more on previewing the book that Peggy had
originally wanted to do for this lesson. Peggy had expressed interest in the predicting strategies,
so the researcher would like to stick to strategies surrounding that in order to further
comprehension and motivation for the student.
Lesson Four – “Read and Say”
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.3
Analyze how a text makes connections among and distinctions between individuals, ideas, or
events (e.g., through comparisons, analogies, or categories).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.2
Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text,
including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
Summary
For this lesson, the researcher began with an Anticipation Guide to get the student in the
right mindset to begin her reading. The text was a book that Peggy had brought herself – it was a
Analysis of Secondary Reading 15
nonfiction narrative based on her interests called Braced by Alyson Gerber (640L). The book
centered around a girl with Scoliosis, so the researcher prepped the Anticipation Guide with
statements centered around that in order to assess prior knowledge about the topic and also to
give the student a purpose while she reads. During the reading in the lesson, the researcher would
often have Peggy stop and continue to fill out the Guide as she obtained more information.
Peggy and the researcher then took turns reading out loud through the first chapter of the
book together. Each would read a couple of pages and then stop to write on a poster that the
researcher had brought in. They would write/draw either a prediction, summary, question, or text
application when they switched off reading. This engaged Peggy in the reading and heightened
comprehension. They read through the first chapter in this manner, and then decided that Peggy
would read at least another chapter for homework so that they could discuss it at their next
meeting. Peggy was to also take home the Anticipation Guide and fill it out as she read.
Reflection
During the reading, Peggy would often get so excited about writing on the poster that she
asked to write one or more statements even when it was not her turn to. Some of her
statements/questions were fairly obvious (ex. In a paragraph on how much the main character did
not like her doctor, Peggy’s question was, “Why does she not like her doctor?”), but the
researcher was not concerned with this, because even basic statements and questions such as this
showed that Peggy was comprehending the text and getting engaged with it. The researcher had
Peggy write statements after she read instead of after the researcher read in order to encourage
comprehension of the material while she read it, since often times Peggy focuses on decoding
rather than comprehension while she reads. She did well with comprehension even when she
read during this lesson, and the researcher believes that this was the best lesson so far.
Analysis of Secondary Reading 16
Rationale for Future Instruction
Giving the student choice on what category she wanted to write about as well as letting
her pick the text really seemed to engage her and get her interested in the topic. Because of this,
they will continue to use the same book for the next lesson. They will go over the Anticipation
Guide and see if any of Peggy’s preconceived notions about Scoliosis were correct or not. They
will also focus on comprehension in order to continue to increase motivation.
Lesson Five – “Authentic Questions (Three R’s)”
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.1
Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly
as well as inferences drawn from the text.
Summary
To begin the lesson, the researcher had the student summarize what she had read thus far
by using the “Somebody Wanted But So” strategy. The researcher would have liked to go over
the anticipation guide from the last lesson to see if Peggy had added anything to it while she read
on her own, but Peggy had not brought it with her. Instead, the researcher did an informal, oral
assessment of the anticipation guide.
After that, the researcher introduced the lesson by explaining what the “Three R’s” were,
- Record, React, and Reflect. The researcher explained that they would take turns reading
sections of the text, and then stop to record an inferring question from what they had just read,
and then the other would give their initial reaction to the question. When they finished reading,
they would reflect on the questions with more knowledge of the text and either change or support
their original answers. This was all recorded on the white board in order to increase student
Analysis of Secondary Reading 17
engagement because Peggy had explained to the researcher how much she loved to write on the
white board.
This lesson was chosen because from the last lesson, the researcher had observed that
Peggy excelled at summarizing, predicting, applying, and asking questions, so the researcher
wanted to take one of these areas a step further. Using the “Somebody Wanted But So” format
for summarizing challenged Peggy in that she had to explain what she read using only that
format. The lesson on questioning also challenged her in that she had expressed how difficult
inferring questions were. Not only did she have to come up with inferring questions and thus use
higher order thinking skills than simply a “think and search” answer, but she also had to answer
the researcher’s inferring questions. This way, Peggy had to utilize two different strategies while
tying in what she had learned before about the different levels of questioning.
Reflection
It took the student some time with each question to think of one, but most of her
questions included the right thinking for drawing inferences. For one question, the researcher
asked Peggy, “Do you think that the main character really does not want a colorful back brace, or
do you think she is trying to rebel since she does not want to get one?” Peggy responded with, “I
think it is a sign of rebellion because she obviously doesn’t like the brace, and I think she is
about my age, and I know that none of my friends would want something like that to be plain if
they were given the chance to pick colors.” The researcher exclaimed, “That is a great inference!
You used knowledge of the text, combined with your background knowledge of girls your age,
to draw a conclusion.” Peggy also seemed to enjoy using the whiteboard as well as the content in
the book because every so often she would stop and ask questions or make text-to-self
applications pertaining to the book without being prompted.
Analysis of Secondary Reading 18
Rationale for Future Instruction
Since the end of their sessions, the researcher has contacted Peggy’s mother and given
her advice for future instruction for her as she enters high school. The researcher recommended
that her mother continue to have her read regularly, but also to periodically ask Peggy about
what she is reading and how it connects to her life. The researcher hopes that this will instill a
love for reading in her that sustains her even when the text is not appealing to her. The researcher
also mentioned that the medium of the strategy seemed to be important to Peggy – in several of
their lessons, her engagement seemed to increase when she wrote on the whiteboard or poster
board. Because of this, the researcher suggested that her mother invest in a note taking strategy
that would interest Peggy (such as a small whiteboard or a recording device) so that she could
use this for note taking for school. This also would increase motivation and interest in the
student.
Summary
Overall, the time spent with Peggy was valuable to both her and the researcher. Going
into the sessions, the researcher’s main goal was for Peggy to develop a love of reading and to
comprehend each text that she came across, whether applicable to her or not. Unfortunately, this
does not happen in five sessions. This is a skill that must be worked on over time, and the
researcher hopes that as Peggy continues to work on this, her love for reading will grow.
During their sessions, Peggy showed immense promise as a reader, however, she also
seemed to want to impress the researcher with her ability and by always having the correct
answer. While this is not a bad desire, it can often get in the way of really understanding the
material. For Peggy, it caused her to omit and substitute many words as she read which faltered
Analysis of Secondary Reading 19
her comprehension. It also affected how she read in that she focused more on decoding than she
did comprehending the passages. This is why the researcher concentrated much of their time on
comprehension and motivation. While this cannot be completely achieved in five sessions, the
researcher does believe that a seed was planted in the student and that it will grow into a love for
reading.
Peggy seemed to be very engaged during many of their sessions and often asked
questions and related the material to her own life, which shows evidence of the motivation that
the researcher was attempting to instill being implanted into Peggy’s life. The researcher is
honored to have gotten the chance to work with Peggy as it also benefitted her and her studies.
She was glad to have gotten to interact with a student in the grade level that she is hoping to
teach someday and believes that this experience will impact her future classroom teaching.
Analysis of Secondary Reading 20
References
Bader, L. A., & Pearce, D. L. (2013). Bader reading and language inventory. Boston: Pearson.
Ellery, V., & Rosenboom, J. L. (2011). Sustaining strategic readers: techniques for supporting
content literacy in grades 6-12. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
Gerber, A. (2017). Braced. New York, NY: Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic
Inc.
Lowry, L. (2017). Looking back: a book of memories. Place of publication not identified:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
McDougall, C. (2011). Girls play to win volleyball. Chicago: Norwood House Press.
Analysis of Secondary Reading 21
Appendix A
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Appendix B
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Appendix C
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Appendix D
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Appendix E
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