Literacy Case-Study: TyreseJessica Constantine

Practicum Supervisor: ToniAnn BaroneReport Date:12/13/14

Literacy Profile-Introduction

Student Name: Tyrese Grade: 6 School District: District 25 School: East West School of International StudiesDOB: March 19th, 2003 Age:11 Former ELL: NO Date of Report: Novemeber 2014IEP: Yes NYS Common Core ELA Test: Approximately 2NYS Common Core Math Test: Approximately 2

Reason for Referral: Tyrese is a young boy whose passion is basketball. His passion runs so

deep that he indeed plays basketball on a daily basis, selects readings on basketball, and watches

any television station covering something basketball related. It is his future goal to become an

“NBA Superstar.” He is the youngest of three siblings who are currently attending East-West

School of International Studies. He enjoys the school and loves reviewing the day and week

events with his Literacy Lab tutor. Both parents are involved in his education encouraging him to

read and practice writing at home. He expressed that his mother supports learning at home and

helps to keep him active. Overall, Tyrese has a positive outlook on reading, writing, listening,

and speaking.

This student has been experiencing difficulty in his comprehension and writing abilities.

The school has recommended that this child needs the Literacy Lab program due to language

construction deficits and lack of citations in written responses. Both parent and teacher agree that

a literacy intervention could be beneficial to this student’s academic progress. According to

Tyrese, his resource room teacher helps to set literacy goals with him, and currently, he is

working on reading longer passages and citing evidence to support thinking. This student has a

positive outlook on class and has a friendly demeanor. Written classwork assignments vary in

effort, for he supplies simple answers instead of forming coherent sentences or paragraphs. This

student doesn't always explain inferences, if they are made. He struggles to express himself

correctly while writing.

Candidate’s Name: Jessica Constantine Supervisor’s Name:-ToniAnn Barone

Beliefs and Principles

Tyrese is a sixth grade African American male reading on a Teacher’s College Running

Records level Q. According to the Words Their Way Spelling inventory, his word knowledge is

in the Early Syllables and Affixes stage of development, a stage when learners should begin

noticing patterns between words and readers should read with fluency and expression and form

written responses which are sophisticated and well-developed. Although the student is reading

fluently and comprehending text, as highlighted through his oral responses, his written responses

lack concrete key details and explanations.

Weaknesses which need to be addressed are vocabulary development, paragraph and

genre-writing, and transitional words and phrases. All three areas of focus support the

development of a literate student. At the level R passage, Student A summarized the story in only

two sentences and missed key details from the middle of the passage. Also, the only two

transitional words utilized in any of his written responses were “and” and “after that.” In his

interest inventory writing prompt, “What was the best part of your Summer Vacation? Please

explain what you enjoyed about that part of your summer. Be as detailed as possible”, Student A

only wrote one sentence, and did not explain why the event was the best, nor did he follow a

good paragraph structure. It was only when he was verbally prompted to add more information

that Student A added the second sentence to expand his answer. Vocabulary intervention and

strategies will benefit Student A for it will continue to expand and impact the student’s

comprehension of text and will allow for Student A to include more elaborate vocabulary in his

written responses. Writing is an essential skill which when mastered aides in both postsecondary

education and employment opportunities.

The importance of writing at the middle school level has recently become a nationwide

focus with the implementation of the Common Core State Standards. Instructors must

incorporate strategies at all levels of instruction to help students push past basic writing skills

and encourage students to “develop knowledge about the writing process, genre knowledge, and

strategies for writing and self-regulating the writing process” (Harris, Graham, Friedlander, &

Laud, 2013, p. 539). There is not one pre-packaged strategy for writing or vocabulary

development that will solve all academic issues. Teachers must be mindful that their student

populations will be very diverse and vary from year to year, so their teaching techniques and

approaches should be modified to students’ needs and level of development. Vocabulary and

writing should not be taught in isolation, but through a fun and routine process of multiple

exposures and practice.

As exemplified through Student A’s responses to text-based and open-ended questions,

Cihak and Castle (2011) reinforce that “written expression can be frustrating and difficult for

many middle school aged students” causing them to form compositions which are “inadequately

organized and include excessive spelling and grammatical errors” (p.106). In order to help

students grow as readers and writers, instructors can introduce academic vocabulary to

instructional activities to help students understand passages, questions, and words in different

contexts. In order to develop language and literacy skills, class work should include moments of

explicit vocabulary instruction. Kelley, Lesaux, Kieffer, & Faller (2010) argue that “direct

instruction focused on academic vocabulary will support [students] as they read expository texts”

(p. 5). It’s possible that Student A was not familiar with the word “explain” in his writing prompt

and therefore was unable to answer the question in full. His lack of transitional words and

phrases also highlighted the lack of explicit writing instruction in his past. Student A’s, like so

many other middle school students, word selection was very basic and simple.

One strategy to implement in the classroom to increase word knowledge and writing

competence would be targeting select words and using them routinely in speech, instruction,

word-games, and readings. According to Kelley et al. (2010), “word selection is especially

important when teaching students with low vocabularies; they need to know the delivery words

deeply to access the content-specific words they encounter in texts” (p. 6). Practicing with words

in multiple ways will deepen understanding and promote richer written-responses. To improve

ELL’s academic vocabulary teachers can utilize visuals to enhance meaning. Academic word

knowledge for ELL students has the potential to provide a base for success in multiple content

areas. According to Townsend (2009), “a combination of direct instruction, reading expository

texts, instructional activities, and games” will help students to make connections and personalize

meanings (p. 250).

Another part of word study which is essential for students to expand vocabularies and

learn a wider variety of words is morphology. It’s important for students to understand that

words meaning can be adjusted by the addition of affixes. Teachers should “teach students about

suffixes and prefixes and have them make charts that show that, by adding affixes, words can

change form and part of speech” (Kelley et al., 2010, p.11). If target words are integrated within

engaging middle level texts, students will be more likely “to attend to what teachers are saying

and attach to vocabulary words” (Kelley et al., 2010, p. 12). Good and routine vocabulary

instruction will aide students as they write expository paragraphs and essays.

Just as vocabulary acquisition is a difficult task, “writing a paragraph is a difficult

exercise for sixth graders” (Kelley et al., 2010, p. 12). Often, students are asked to write about

topics which they have little prior knowledge or practice. In order to help students respond to

these tasks, teachers can teach writing “through an inquiry approach where many examples of a

genre are examined, and teachers and students together analyze their features to construct”

meaning (Read, 2010, p. 47). Application of writing techniques in the classroom should follow

the writing process, but should also allow students to articulate the features and meanings of

certain writing structures. If teachers work to make expectations more explicit and clear, students

writing pieces could naturally be more developed. Thusly, Read (2010) affirms that “through

modeling, shared writing, and collaborative writing, we support students as they approximate the

expectations and conventions of the chosen genre” of writing (p. 52). The instructor should

model enthusiasm for vocabulary acquisition and writing process during sessions by selecting

engaging texts and vocabulary games. Routine exposure to words and interesting expository

texts will help students retain information and best writing practices.

Pre-Intervention Testing/ Analysis of ResultsAssessment Type/Purpose Analysis of Results

Interest InventoryPurpose: This assessment, administered on the first day of instruction, is a snapshot into the student’s reading and writing perceptions, interests, and habits.

Administered 10/1/14

The literacy coach, Ms. Constantine, administered this test and asked open-ended questions which the students was required to answer in writing. If he was not sure of an answer or if answers were too vague, Ms. Constantine asked Tyrese orally and rephrased the question. Tyrese answered questions very vaguely or with one word answers or simple sentences. Although his answers were accurate and related to the topic, he did not develop his answers through explanation and detail. Tyrese skipped the question, “What does someone need to do or know in order to write well,” indicating that he lacks prior knowledge of good writing skills and may need intervention in this area.

He is well aware of the purpose and skills associated with reading as highlighted by his answers on the reading section of the survey: “They read to learn more thing about life.” and “They need to read and underling The word They don’t know and re-read the story.” When Tyrese arrived at the writing prompt, he wrote one sentence and then was prompted to add more detail. He took approximately 15 minutes to complete the 14 question survey and writing prompt.

Words Their Way Spelling AssessmentPurpose: Knowledge of student’s stage will help with instructional planning and proper student placement. The purpose is to find out what students truly know about spelling and vocabulary.

Administered 10/1/14

Giving the Upper-Level Spelling Assessment revealed that the words were too advanced to truly assess his word knowledge; none of the first eight words were spelled correctly. In order to choose the most appropriate spelling stage for instructional activities, I needed to switch to the Elementary Spelling Assessment. After scoring the assessment, it is clear Tyrese falls in the Early Syllables and Affixes stage. It is during this stage which students should “use larger chunks to decode, spell, and store words in memory as sight words” (Bear, et al., p.243, 2012). Students at the 6th grade level should be towards the end of the Syllables and Affixes stage and toward the end of the year begin moving into the Derivational Relations stage where students can begin developing vocabulary. He is slightly below grade-level expectations and will need assistance while reading, exploring, and writing about new topics. He may be able to identify words, but lacks the skill to comprehend or apply words to writing. He is still relying on sounds to write words, therefore he will need word study practice to help advance his writing and shift his concern from spelling to forming meaning in his writing. He needs to read for at least 30 minutes each day at his level or else he will become stagnate.

IRI-Teacher’s College Running RecordPurpose: Running records allow a teacher to assess miscues and properly intervene. It is a quick glance into a student’s reading behavior. They are used to monitor reading

The first IRI’s administered to the student were on October 1st, 2014. During this session, the teacher had the student read aloud the first 110 words of Level L. He had no miscues and was able to respond to

and assess progress.Administered 10/1/14, 10/8/14

comprehension questions with 100% accuracy. Based on his previous year reading level knowledge, the next level read was a level N. On level N, Tyrese only made two miscues and one self-correction, making his reading a 98% accuracy rate. Often his miscues make sense to fit the syntax and structure of the sentence. He inserted the word “the” to make the sentence, “The sun had begun to set and “the” darkness seemed to be coming..” The other miscue was a long pause before Tyrese processed the information to move forward with reading. Again his verbal retelling of the story was literal and inferential. He was able to answer with 100% accuracy. Fluency was prevalent with most of the text being read in larger meaningful chunks. Level N is and independent reading level. Level P is also an independent reading level with three total miscues, two self-corrections, making his accuracy rate a 99%. Fluency rate was at a level 3 with short phrases being read with prosity. Again, all literal and inferential verbal answers were explained accurately.Level Q appears to be Tyrese’s instruction level for he was reading at a 98% accuracy rate with 2 miscues. These miscues changed the word completely or changed the tense of the word, inevitably disrupting the comprehension of the sentence. For example, he changed the word “outlying” to “outlane.” When the student began reading level R, numerous miscues were apparent and the student became frustrated with the reading. Not only did his emotions reveal the frustration level, but the reading itself revealed only a 95% accuracy rate and only 86 word per minute rade in short coherent phrases. He was not able to produce clear writing which answered the literal and inferential questions accurately.

Writing AssessmentPurpose: Written assessments allow teachers to evaluate depth of knowledge of a topic and allow students to synthesize thoughts in a

Writing samples, the Interest Inventory, and the responses to the IRI reading passages reveal that Tyrese is performing below standard. Tyrese struggles to include

coherent manner. Written responses enable teachers to observe deficits in comprehension, text support, explanation, and structure.

Assessments are Ongoing, Short-Response Questions

sufficient and appropriate detail in his writing, and he struggles to structure responses in a coherent manner. His organization and sentence structure often lack sequential order; ideas, claims, and transitions are neither clear nor concise and lack development. He attempts to include evidence from texts to support claims, but he lists quotes in his answers and lacks the skill to explain how that detail supports his argument or structure the passage in a coherent manner. He often writes in general statements. According to the NYS short-response rubric, Tyrese often scores a level 1 on the 2 point scoring rubric. His thoughts are incomplete, his knowledge of punctuation is minimal as most of his sentences are written in simple form, and he makes many spelling errors.

Overall Instructional/ Behavioral Observations

Purpose: In order to understand a reader, it is important to view all aspects of the student: attitude towards reading and writing, body position, personal comments, exceptionalities, cultural and language needs, topics mastered, etc. The information gained from such reviews provides evidence of student needs and readiness.

When answering short- response questions, Tyrese would pause for long periods of time and often look right. Upon meeting Tyrese, he was very sociable and exhibited a happy demeanor. He was holding doors open for fellow peers and staff members. He often would read a question, answer, and then snack. Holds pencil properly. Does not restate or develop ideas with explanation when necessary. Pronoun agreement errors exist with the overuse of the word “they.” Student is well aware of tutoring goals: to work on improving writing, adding description, and citing evidence from texts in writing.

Initial Individual Literacy Instructional Planning

The above assessments revealed that Tyrese struggled to develop claims, structure

paragraphs, and include sophisticated grade-level vocabulary. He was not able to articulate his

understanding of a text in a way that was coherent in writing. His vocabulary knowledge is weak

and he needs this area to develop in order to be successful academically. Tyrese has already

stated that he “is not a good speller,” so the aim is to begin making him more comfortable with

exploring and using words in his writing. According to Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton, and

Johnston (2012), “the ability to spell the vast majority of the words they [students] need for

writing allows them[students] to focus more attention on the meaning they are trying to convey”

(p. 243). The goal is to develop a confident writer who can state claims, support those claims,

and explain the importance of those claims. Specific strategies that will help Tyrese to develop

these areas of weakness are brainstorming, word play, graphic organizers such as the 3-2-1 or

RACE writing structure organizer to help plan thoughts, and annotating/coding/highlighting text

to help identify key details. Brainstorming is a quick way to help students “recall what they

know or think about a topic,” and help the teacher to identify “knowledge, conceptions, and

misconceptions” (Daniels & Zemelman, 2004, p. 104). As a writer, students can use

brainstorming to think about the important details he or she wants to include in his or her writing.

Text highlighting is a strategy which also “requires that readers think deeply about the text by

visualizing, predicting, questioning, connecting inferring, and analyzing patterns” (Allen, 2004,

p. 25). This strategy helps texts to become more meaningful and helps readers to easily identify

information for their writing responses. These strategies will improve the four essential skills,

reading, writing, listening and speaking, of literacy, and will teach him organization and purpose

for writing. Students often score poorly on writing assessments because of the lack of authentic

audiences and connections to texts. If a student can see the writing assignment and experience it

as a personally meaningful and useful way of self-expression, it is the hope that he or she would

want to improve his or her skills in style, content, vocabulary, spelling, and other mechanics.

Choosing grade and content appropriate texts, I implemented lessons which will help Tyrese

improve.

Although Tyrese was not able to develop written responses after reading, he was able to

pull from information presented in the text to support his answers. He often responded with

simple answers, and would sometimes forget the original question after he had responded. There

were a few occasions when Tyrese asked for prompts to be reread or restated to help identify his

purpose for writing. In order to help Tyrese utilize information properly and work through his

confusion, the use of fix-up strategies, graphic organizers and repetition of writing activities will

help Tyrese remember information and be able to answer various levels of questions. The goal

for the Literacy Intervention is to focus on the following: deconstructing questions, annotating

and conversing with a text, structuring short-response questions, identifying unfamiliar words,

and understanding main parts of a large text. His enthusiasm towards basketball topics, scary

stories, games, and interesting articles shows in his efforts. Tyrese does have the potential to

write more; he appears to be confident when writing and does not hesitate to produce writing on

paper in a fluid manner. However, his lack of proper citations, explanations, and transitions

makes his answers undeveloped, unclear, and incoherent. Tyrese will need to be introduced to

transition statements to improve his clarity and coherency. The implementation of vocabulary

strategies such as word sorts, word concept maps, context clue strategies, and virtual vocabulary

games will help Tyrese develop his comprehension and writing. Part of his issue is

understanding the questions posed, so if he explores more academic vocabulary he will be better

able to answer questions properly, as well as incorporate higher level words in his writing. Each

week, Tyrese repeats word sorts to help retain new word usage and apply those words in short

paragraphs. Approaching text and topics with multiple strategies will aide in Tyrese growing as a

reader and writer. He needs more support than a higher-level reader, but when given the direct

guidance, it seems he could flourish.

Overview of Instructional Sessions

Instructional Plan Resources UsedStrategy: Interest inventory, open-ended written response,

Words Their Way Spelling Assessment and baseline Teacher’s College IRI

IRI Level L, N

Strategy: Teacher’s College IRI assessment, Words Their Way word play

IRI Level Q, R, S

Strategy: Close Read and annotating text “Basketball Coaches use Camera and Computers to help Teams get Better”

Strategy: Brainstorming, RACE Writing Organizer, Vocabulary Game

“Basketball Coaches use Camera and Computers to help Teams get Better”

Strategy: Chunking, Gisting, QuestioningHighlighting Sample pargraphs

“Celebrating Day of the Dead”

Instructional Plans

Lesson #1-October 1, 2014

Lesson Objective: Student was working on expressing his opinion about writing and reading

through an interest survey. This session was conducted to form a connection with the student and

begin baselines. It was important to be flexible and remember that to be an effective literacy

specialist, one must be able to form interpersonal relationships with students. This session was

also utilized to inform the student of the purpose of meeting with me and to discuss the benefits

of participating in the literacy lab. The student also completed formative diagnostic reading

assessments through the Words Their Way Spelling Inventory and the Teacher’s College

Running Records Reading Assessment (Levels L, N).

Lesson Implementation: Upon meeting Tyrese, he was very sociable and exhibited a happy

demeanor. He was holding doors open for fellow peers and staff members. At the start of the

lesson, he was given a choice of snacks and was very appreciative and attentive to my

instructions. As Tyrese began completing the Interest Inventory, he would read, look up to the

right, tap his pencil on his chin and then begin writing. At the beginning of the Interest

Inventory, he was a bit distracted by activity outside. He would read a question, answer, and then

snack. However, once the commotion had subsided he was very focused in his work.

The assessments which were administered help a teacher evaluate the student’s abilities

and weaknesses. The interest inventory allowed the teacher to observe the student’s interest as

well as the student’s syntactical structure and question response format. The last question

allowed the teacher to analyze how well the student could develop a paragraph: sequence, detail,

and format. This survey will be one of the sources for identifying which skills to focus on

developing in writing. The IRI and the Spelling test help the teacher to determine fluency,

reading level, comprehension skill level, and ability to verbally respond to questions. Literacy is

a valuable tool in modern society, and it is important that children develop reading, writing,

listening, and speaking skills to progress in the future. This lesson set the foundation for all

focused and intense instructional interventions.

Next Steps: Tyrese answered clearly all parts of the question, yet responses were very simple. He

did not restate or develop ideas with explanation when necessary. Pronoun agreement errors exist

with the overuse of the word “they.” Was administered the Words Their Way Spelling

assessment. Before beginning, Tyrese stated, “I’m not good at spelling.” This demonstrates that

the child was/is self-aware of his weaknesses as a writer. Teacher began administering the

Upper-Level Spelling Assessment and switched to the Elementary Spelling Assessment after the

eighth word. After administering one Running Record, Tyrese was able to correctly summarize

and make inferences up to level N. His verbal summaries included key details from the passage

and followed the plot’s sequence of events. He was able to define words that he miscued and was

able to explain why he thought characters could feel certain ways based on the text. He was able

to make text-to-self connections when prompted. This student will need to develop ideas with

text-evidence and explanations, he will need to learn how to follow an ideal paragraph structure,

and continue to expand vocabulary.

Lesson #2- October 8 th , 2014

Lesson Objective: Student will be assessed with the Teacher’s College Running Record Reading

Assessment Level (Q, R, S). This will serve as a foundation for selecting future reading material

to help student grow as a reader and writer. Student will also begin word study of affixes (‘ed).

Student will be able to read a text independently and silently to answer comprehension questions

both verbally and in writing.

Lesson Implementation: This lesson was beneficial in identifying the student’s reading miscues

and strengths. The student was able to recall information for these higher levels, but when it

came to the inferential questions, he did not select proper evidence to support his reasons.

Inferences were not based on characters’ actions, thoughts, or dialogue. Information became

harder for him to recall and is responses were disorderly or lacking key details. Many of the

verbal miscues were either self-corrections of inflected endings or complete substitution of

words. However, words always agreed with the syntactical meaning of the sentences, yet did not

always agree with the overall comprehension. Teacher and student sorted Words Their Way

together. Student made 4 mistakes on the re-sort, but was again able to self-correct once he orally

heard the word.

Next Steps: In order to improve the student’s comprehension of the text, teacher and student will

need to work on text communication. Teacher should introduce the text annotation strategy to

help Tyrese think more deeply about the words and information presented to him. By thinking

about the text in sections, the student could work on retaining important information to place in

writing pieces. Student should be introduced to ideas such as questioning the text, circling

unfamiliar words, and making notes in the margins.

Lesson #3-October 22 nd , 2014

Lesson Objective: This session was conducted to continue developing his interaction and critical

thinking of informational text. Good writers develop their opinions with textual evidence and

explain claims. It is important that this lesson is implemented to continue teaching how to

properly respond to open-ended and text-dependent short-response questions. It is important that

students can support ideas with clearly defined reasons and argue positions with detail. In this

lesson, the goal is to have the student to understand proper paragraph structure, develop word

knowledge, and develop analysis skills by having the student identify and incorporate key details

from an article/story in his or her response. RACE+CE (Restate, Answer, Cite, Explain, Cite,

Explain) format for paragraph writing will be taught. Student will begin gathering vocabulary

words to create own pocket dictionary.

Lesson Implementation: Baselines have revealed that although Tyrese’s comprehension abilities

are at grade-level, he struggles to explain his claims with detail and does not fully-develop

opinions in writing. The goal is to develop a confident writer who can state claims, support those

claims, and explain the importance of those claims with clear and coherent language. This lesson

will give Tyrese the opportunity to brainstorm a topic, organize his thoughts, identify key details,

and voice his answer to a topic. The lesson will touch upon the four essential skills, reading,

writing, listening and speaking, of literacy, and will teach him organization and purpose for

writing. RACE+CE format for paragraph writing will be taught.

Next Steps: Teacher and student should continue the process of identifying information and

expressing answers in writing. New texts will be introduced and teacher will continuing

scaffolding process until eventually student is able to conduct the work independently. Teacher

should now introduce vocabulary games. Teacher will model sample short responses and ask

student to highlight structure of paragraph for clarity.

Lesson #4-October 29 th , 2014

Lesson Objective: The students’ vocabulary knowledge is weak and he needs this area to develop

in order to be successful. Strong readers and writers do not always have access to dictionaries or

glossaries when reading. It is important that students develop strong vocabulary strategies to

expand and incorporate sophisticated language in their speaking and writing. Teacher will

directly teach context clue strategy and explore words together with student. Student will interact

with word and develop symbols and synonyms to remember and apply unfamiliar words to

writing.

Lesson Implementation: This lesson is important because reading and writing comprehension

are closely correlated with vocabulary knowledge. It is important for students to learn strategies

for dealing with difficult words so they could further understand text and answer questions based

on text. If a student is unfamiliar with the words in the question and cannot fully understand what

the question is asking, he or she will not be able to develop a proper answer. The more words the

student learns, the better equipped he or she is in understanding and producing ideas. This lesson

helped Tyrese to contextualize ideas and have a deeper discussion about his reaction and

questions to the text, “Celebrating Day of the Dead.” The student is well aware of his tutoring

goals to work on improving writing, citing, and describing details. He got started right away with

all assignments.

Next Steps: Teacher needs to make vocabulary instruction more active and engaging to aide in

retention of word meanings. Next lesson could incorporate pictures, word sorts, and technology

to make student more active and attentive.

Lesson #5-November 5, 2014

Lesson Objective: This session’s objective is focused on helping Tyrese apply his new found

reading and writing skills to a short informational book on water and its power. The book

includes many photographs to aid in vocabulary comprehension and understanding as well as a

glossary to explain the jargon associated with water. In this session, the student will be given the

writing prompt question to brainstorm before reading the text. This will help the student set a

purpose for reading, so that he will be able to locate key text details which will contribute to the

development of his written response. This helps the student feel comfortable with incorrect

answers and expands the possibilities of engagement while reading.

Lesson Implementation: The student will be asked to brainstorm the question, “Why is water

wicked and wonderful?” Teacher will review the vocabulary words “wicked” and “wonderful”

and prompt student to come up with a list of synonyms so that he can comprehend the question

and focus on details which support the term throughout the reading. After the words are reviewed

together, the student then formulates a list of reasons from prior knowledge as to why the water

would be wicked or wonderful. Tyrese was really into the topic and was able to formulate a

lengthy list including: hurricanes can be wicked because the wind and water combined makes

homes get damaged or water can be wonderful because it helps us survive. As teacher and

student continued reading the book, Tyrese was able to confirm some of his original thoughts.

His answer at the end of the reading was by far the most developed written response of all the

sessions because not only was he able to cite, but he was able to thoroughly explain how those

examples were wicked or wonderful.

Next Steps: Tyrese should continue reading topics of interest so that he can continue developing

his explanations in writing. Brainstorming, anticipation guides, and other pre-reading strategies

should be incorporated to help with reading engagement.

Lesson #6-November 12, 2014

Lesson Objective: Tyrese still needs help developing his writing and gathering details from

multiple sources. This activity is relevant to the child, for he picked the topic of the lesson. The

various levels of print, informational, letters, short stories, and pictures will help Tyrese build an

understanding of text, of himself, and the culture of the United States and the world; to acquire

new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for

personal fulfillment. Since this is the end of his tutoring sessions, Tyrese will apply many of his

reading and writing strategies to interact with the text. He will be comprehending, gathering

details, evaluating, responding, applying vocabulary, and interacting with the text to build his

knowledge. He will also be utilizing his prior knowledge to develop a better understanding and

respect of culture.

Lesson Implementation: It’s important to teach students the history behind the Thanksgiving

American tradition and to have students be aware of the transitions that America has undergone.

Student will develop an understanding of why Pilgrims moved to the New World and colonial

culture in the early 1600’s. This activity will help the student to develop his comparing and

contrasting strategies as he reads articles and stories from the 1600’s, 1900’s, and life today. He

will also be learning skills to help him interpret details and emotion in text. The student reviews

the stories he knows about the first Thanksgiving. Together, teacher and student, read stories

describing how the Wampanoag Indians helped the Pilgrims. After reading, the student makes a

list of how the Native Americans helped the Pilgrim settlers that first year, and then draws a

picture depicting something the Pilgrims were taught by the Wampanoag's. After discussion

about Thanksgiving being celebrated by the Pilgrims and their Native American friends, discuss

WHY it was celebrated. Begin reading the other articles so that student could have a deeper

understanding of how the Thanksgiving tradition continued through America. We talked about

what the first thanksgiving feast was like, and then made a chart comparing Thanksgiving then

and now (guests, menus, entertainment, cooking methods, sources of food, preparation, etc.).

Once the chart is complete, the student answered the short-response question. As a closing

activity, the student shared things that he is thankful for that the Pilgrims perhaps did not have.

Next Steps: Check for assessment at each level of activity, by checking for understanding during

your discussions and readings. Go over the pictures and titles to determine if the child

understands the text features and the way you frame the purpose.

Novemeber 19 th , Student was not present

Lesson #7-December 3, 2014

Lesson Objective: During this session, the student will be re-assessed to measure growth in

writing, comprehension, and vocabulary knowledge.

Lesson Implementation: When taking the spelling assessment, he was first given the Elementary

Level Spelling Inventory. He was able to spell most of the words correctly, but struggled to spell

the words at the end. He was then given the Upper Level Spelling Inventory. At the beginning of

the intervention, Tyrese was not even able to spell one word correctly and we needed to jump to

the Elementary Assessment, however this time growth was clearly evident. He was able to spell

14 words correctly. However after those 14, he hit his frustration level. Once he started to hear

these words he expressed frustration and confusion on his face. This is because those words not

phonetically spelt. He was then given Teachers College Level Q. He was told to write a summary

of what took place during the story on a separate piece of paper. He was able to identify the main

characters of the story and the setting. When writing the summary the student struggled with

writing in past tense and would switch between past and present throughout his writing. The

student needs to continue work on sentence structure. Most of his sentences were run-on

sentences and he at times was missing punctuation. His sentences also lacked sequence and key

details. His summary was missing some key ideas to the story because he mentions calling a

parent, but never explains why the teacher is calling the parents. Then at the end he mentions

how the main character is being asked to play kickball. This leaves the reader unsure of what

took place in the story. This shows that he grasped most of the story, but struggled to write it

down in complete thoughts to inform the reader of what happened. After writing the summary

he appeared very tired. He verbally answered 3 of the questions, but struggled to answer the last

inferential question. He is still reading at a level Q.

Next Steps: Continue working on strategies and skills that will expand his word knowledge and

help him to articulate claims in writing.

Tutoring Observation #1-10/15/14

Observation: Christine Caban and 6th grade boy

Objective: Student learned to annotate text, using text codes, for central idea.

Before Reading: Teacher and student created symbols to annotate text together. The organizer

included sentence stems and skill identification. Student utilized markers to color code and create

symbols. These symbols were then applied to his reading. Teacher explained the three different

types of text connections possible while reading: text-text, text-self, and text-world. During this

time, the student was chewing on a straw and making eye contact with arms folded.

During Reading: Teacher gave student background information about 3d printers, set the

purpose for reading, and reinforced the use of text codes. Teacher informed student of the first

steps for reading: observe pictures, read captions. Teacher guided student through the process

and modeled the first paragraph with him. Teacher asked probing questions as student and

teacher read article aloud together. She said, “Anything else in this paragraph you want to

mark?” Student shook head no, and teacher asked, “So, you know what prosthetics are?” Student

did not know, so teacher reinforced the importance of self-assessing and monitoring your

understanding. Teacher and student continued through the article going sentence by sentence

first, then paragraph by paragraph. Teacher continued to encourage and confirm student reading

by offering phrases such as “Very good”, “Great”, and “Mmhhm.” Many of the questions posed

during the session were teacher created and comprehension based requiring the student to focus

on key details.

After Reading: Towards the end of the article, the student was able to identify key details which

explained how the printer worked. However, the student’s initial sense of the article was not

revealed right away. When asked, “What are we learning?” the student quickly answered

“Annotating.” His answer highlights that he was aware of the skill for reading, but didn’t

understand the purpose of the skill being used: to understand the article and information. Teacher

said, “Yes, but what is the article teaching us? What information is important?” to narrow the

students thinking. Towards the end of the session, the student was playing with markers and

became restless, but was able to refocus when prompted. The closure was a writing assignment:

“Explain the article, “Printing out a new hand, Really!” in your own words.

Suggestions: In order to improve the child’s comprehension, it is important that he be exposed to

the article more than once. The tutor could have read the article once aloud to understand the gist

of the article, then they could have went back to annotate the text together. OR To make the

reading feel more authentic, teacher and student could read the article silently the second time

and each individually annotate and have a discussion before the writing portion.

At one point in the session, the teacher said, “Let’s use context clues first. Do you know

what context clues are?” Student says yes and teacher continues. However, from previous

behavior it appears the student says things too quickly and is not aware of his capabilities. To

ensure that the student did indeed know what context clues were, the teacher could have quickly

asked for the student to define context clues in his own words. To improve comprehension,

teacher can review before, during and after reading skills each session. Student could create own

Word Wall in notebook.

Application:

In future sessions, I will be incorporating certain text coding activities to help my student

identify key details and improve vocabulary knowledge.

Tutoring Observation #2 -11/19/14

Observation: Christine Caban and 6th grade boy

Objective: Student learned to use context clues to define unfamiliar vocabulary words and

continue reading text for information. (This lesson was a continuation from the work completed

previously)

Lesson Implementation: The teacher had implemented read an article based on Veteran’s day

and had introduced the Frayer Model strategy in the previous lesson. The student had created

memory clues to help recall the definition of the word. These memory clues were then utilized to

help activate prior knowledge and get started with the day’s lesson. The teacher did a good job

supporting and scaffolding the activity to help the student formulate sentences where the word

was used in context. She began with question prompts such as, “Why was this picture created to

help you remember the word?” provided guided context to apply to definition, and gave real

world context to help the student ponder ideas. “Armistice” became a challenge for the student,

so the student created part of a sentence and the teacher helped to substitute words for higher

level syntax. Even when the student was fidgety, the teacher was very patient. After reviewing

the student selected vocabulary words, the teacher made it clear that the second draft read was to

read for a deeper understanding of the article. Teacher and students began a guided reading

activity. When the teacher and student finished, they reviewed the comprehension questions and

familiarized themselves with the purpose of the question. Student practiced circling important

words in the question, and teacher reinforced the meaning of the importance by defining the

word purpose, and adding another important word to one of the questions. After the multiple

choice questions, the student was to answer a short-response question: How would you show

your respect to a veteran? The teacher and student complete an organizer together before writing

the paragraph in a 3-level chart: What would you say? What questions would you ask? How

would you show them you appreciate their service?

Suggestions: In order to improve the student’s understanding of the vocabulary words would be

to scaffold the activity and organizer a little more. For example, the teacher could use the

preselected words already given by the article and create a completed model for the child to

observe. Then the teacher could present a half completed organizer and have the student fill it

out independently. Lastly, he could then complete a few completely on his own. The teacher also

reviews an unfamiliar word in one of the question prompts. She provides a synonym, but doesn’t

have the student record the new word. So the student would know how to answer the question

later, it is suggested that he record the synonym on top of the word. During the guided reading,

the student was not paying attention, so to prevent this and help the student’s word recognition,

the teacher could ask the student to use his finger to guide her as she reads aloud. Lastly, the

short-response gave the student a difficult time. Teacher and student could have role played to

help him apply concepts.

Application: In future sessions, I will be incorporating certain text coding activities to help my

student identify key details and improve vocabulary knowledge. I will also include more

scaffolded Frayer models and review question prompts.

Discussions on Planning, Modifications, and Student Needs

Tyrese was very timid in sessions, but very kind. In order to plan my lessons and make

them engaging I referred back to his first day interest inventory, but also verbally asked him

some questions to help me get to know him better. I found out he has a real passion for

basketball and is really enjoyed reading articles related to the holidays that surrounded the

sessions. I wanted to make sure that my lessons with him were personal and comfortable, so I

always tried to relate the sessions back to his own personal interests. I started my tutoring

sessions with the interest inventory to remind Tyrese that reading, writing, listening, and

speaking are the most important skills to obtain to pursue their own self-interests. After choosing

Tyrese as my case study and working closely with him once a week, I realized he struggled with

writing and vocabulary. I think part of his timid feelings were because he was reading texts

which were above his reading level and not of interests. It appears he has not had good practice

with different texts, so his reading confidence is not as high as it could be. We used brainstorms,

graphic organizers, prompts, pictures, and annotations to help him focus and remember

information throughout reading. These activities will help Tyrese select key details, analyze key

details on a deeper level, and help him engage with the text so he can develop his written

responses. Tyrese will need to continue practicing understanding texts with the use of reading

different texts. The opportunity for instruction clarified that he really needed support that helped

him to remember information and explain the importance of the information. Once I helped him

to record information and refer back to it, his writing and reading slightly improved.

Summary and Conclusions

Over the course of these seven lessons, I have noticed that Tyreses’s ability to understand

the main ideas and answer questions effectively, had slightly improved. When he was engaged in

topics of interest, Tyrese was able to add more description and explanation to his writing. He still

needs to work on sequencing his thoughts coherently, adding transition words and phrases, and

adding punctuation as to not hinder the reader’s comprehension. Verbally he comprehends text

and is able to spit back details and make surface level inferences. However, when asked to

explain inferences or delve deeper into analysis of life lessons or connections to other texts,

Tyrese needs more support. I administered another IRI and Words Their Way Spelling

Assessment. He was able to read aloud with more confidence and intonation, yet his miscues

reveal that he is still reading at a Level Q and his growth has not yet caused him to be able to

read at a higher level. I can conclude that Tyreses’s skills improved when he was given direct

graphic organizers and multiple entry points to address a topic or text: brainstorms, mind maps,

anticipation questions, prompts revealed prior to reading etc.. He was lost on where to begin and

what to think about before this intervention was put in place, but has grown in confidence and

understanding of the reading process.

Assessment Pre Post Further Analysis

Words Their

Way

Upper/

Elementary

-Unable to spell any of the Upper Words needed to switch after the first 8 incorrect answers to Elementary.-Elementary Assessment revealed he is in the Early Syllables and Affixes stage

-Was able to spell 14 correct on the Upper Level Assessment-Elementary revealed he improved to the middle Syllables and Affixes stage.

-Tyrese was able to improve because of the attention dedicated to vocabulary and spelling through word sorts and other vocabulary activities.

IRI Independent-Level QInstructional-N/AFrustration- Level R

Independent-Level QInstructional-N/AFrustration-Level R

Tyrese needs to work on inferencing and coherent summaries of text. He is able to give details, but sometimes he misses key details from the middle of a story and looses focus. He cannot always put information in sequential order when repeating information back.

Writing

Prompts

Lacked transition statements, structure, topic sentences, explanations, and citations. Received a 1 out of a 2 point rubric.

Included topic sentences and direct citations. Moved up to a 1.5.

Needs to work on clear and consistent analysis of text. Explanation do not always develop the answer and are just brief summaries rather than inferential phrases.

Recommendations for Further Instruction

It is recommended that Tyreses’s other teachers continue to use graphic organizers to

help guide his learning. After several sessions, these graphic organizers and text levels can be

modified to help Tyrese improve his reading and writing skills. For now, he has not developed

the proper skills to write about an entire text independently and sufficiently. Teachers could

pause at several key areas and check for understanding, supply Tyrese with multiple text-

dependent questions and entry points, help him focus on textual features both before and during

reading, and have supplemental readings in the classroom to support his understanding of a topic.

These supplemental readings should be on level. He should be grouped in a heterogeneous group

or paired with a higher-level student who can help him when he is struggling to understand the

topic or question posed. Peers can help clarify any misunderstandings if the teacher is not

available. Also, a teacher must give Tyrese a choice of text. When he has a choice, he feels more

ownership, and is more engaged in the text. Writing should also be scaffolded in a way that helps

him to clearly structure his thoughts. Teachers, parents, and peers can ask questions to help

clarify description and help Tyrese to explain his answers more clearly. He needs to be given

models and at first it would be beneficial to directly show him how to transfer thoughts into

proper sentences and paragraphs. He needs daily reading and writing practice.

References

Allen, J. (2004). Tools for teaching content literacy. New York, NY: Stonehouse Publisher.

Bear, D., Ivernizzi, M., Templeton, S., & Johnston, F. (2012). Words their way: Word study for

phonics, vocabuluary, and spelling instruction. New York, NY: Pearson.

Cihak, D. F., & Castle, K., (2011). Improving expository writing skills with explicit and strategy

instructional methods in inclusive middle school classrooms. International journal of

special education, 26(3), 106-113.

Daniels, H. & Zemelman, S. (2004). Subjects matter: Every teacher’s guide to content-area

reading. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Harris, K. R., Graham, S., Friedlander, B., & Laud, L., (2013). Bring powerful writing strategies

into your classroom!: Why and how. The Reading Teacher, 66(7), 538-542.

Kelley, J.G., Lesaux, N.K., Kieffer, M.J., & Faller, S. E., (2010). Effective academic vocabulary

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Read, S., (2010). A model for scaffolding writing instruction: IMSCI. The Reading Teacher,

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Townsend, D., (2009). Building academic vocabulary in after-school settings: Games for growth

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