Final Reflection

Purpose:

The purpose of this semester was to learn how to teach different strategies to help students become better readers. I had to learn what my students needs are through different types of assessment and help my student become stronger in the areas he struggles in. The first week I did an interest inventory with Leonard along with a motivational survey. From these two surveys I learned that he enjoys free reading, especially books about science, but he does not like reading aloud or answering question after a reading. I was able to determine that my student needed instructional help with fluency, unaccented final syllables, and some comprehension. The assessments I used to determine his needs for fluency were two running records, listening to him read aloud, and rating him on two oral fluency rubrics. He mostly struggles with pace and smoothness. The assessment I used to determine his instructional needs for spelling was a spelling inventory and that showed that we needed to first work on unaccented final syllables. He can easily recognize the different ending syllables when he sees the words and has to sort them but he struggles with recognizing the different endings when he has to spell the words. The assessments I used to determine his instructional needs for comprehension were asking questions after he read aloud and a close read. He was able to comprehend some key details about a text but had difficulty with deeper questions that required him to go beyond what information the text gave him.

Recommendations:

After meeting with my student and determining his instructions need I came up with some recommendations of what he can work on in the classroom and at home to better his reading skills. At home Leonard would benefit from practicing reading aloud so he can get more comfortable with reading aloud so he will not hate reading aloud as much in the classroom. Leonard would also benefit from working on an appropriate reading pace. While Leonard reads, move the piece of paper along the sentence so that it moves his eyes faster to get him reading at a faster pace. For Leonard’s classroom teacher, I would recommend working on comprehension. The teacher could do this by teaching one different comprehension strategy each week to the class or a small group. Let the students practice the strategy each day, continue to model them throughout the year, and make an anchor chart of the different strategies. Another skill the teacher can focus on with Leonard is vocabulary. If Leonard had more vocabulary terms he is familiar with it will be easier for him to decode words while reading, leading smoother reading and a faster pace. There is a variety of ways to enhance vocabulary in the classroom like, providing vocabulary flash cards, while reading aloud point out a few vocabulary words and describe the meaning, have a graphic organizer for students new vocabulary words that they can reference back to, etc.

What I learned:

From this mini case study, I learned that there are many different ways to assess different reading skills. I also learned how important word studies can be for students and how much it can benefit them. There are many different ways to do word studies with the same set of words so a kid doesn’t get burnt out with working with the words. You can play games with the words, do a closed sort, an open sort, a blind sort. I also learned to not assume how a student reads only based on the first read aloud they do. I was very impressed with my students first read aloud, but after doing different activities and assessments I learned that his reading has a lot of room for improvement. As a teacher I learned to use my time wisely, really get down to the nitty gritty in the amount of time you have with a student. Plan more than you have time for because you will likely get through it all and have extra time for something. Also, if you do not get to it, it can already be planned for the next meeting. Another important thing I learned is to teach students prompts the can use to decode words when they are reading individually and do not have someone to ask what a word is. It is important for students to be able to allows students time to decode words and not just tell them the word, give them different ways to figure the word out. Make an anchor chart of prompts to use while reading. As a teacher I will make the time to have students complete an interest inventory and motivational survey to see where they stand as a person and a reader. This information can be very beneficial to know as a teacher to keep the student as engage and interested as possible. This was a great learning experience and I am excited to keep learning and use what I have learned in real life situations.

Lesson 5

Name: Jayde Murray                        Date: 4/7/2016                    

   Student Grade: 5^th                Reading Level: 645 (3^rd)

Objective:

“Good Readers know that spelling patterns are important to decode words and can sort words based on unaccented final syllables.”

“Good Readers can read with fluency for better comprehension.”

Assessment of Objective: To assess unaccented final syllables I will observe if he recognizes the endings of the words while we play memory.

To assess my students’ fluency and comprehension I will be doing a running record and I will be grading him on two fluency rubrics while he reads aloud.

Procedures:

Opening: Today we are going to be working with our word study again and then we are going to focus on fluency. I will have you read a few different passages to me and listen to how you read.

Purpose: The purpose for this word study is to help you easily recognize unaccented final syllables to help you with reading and spelling. The purpose for reading aloud is for you to become a fluent reader so you can will have a better understanding of what you read.

            Procedures:

1. ·      Word Study- We will play memory with our unaccented final syllable words. The student will start by flipping two cards over, if they match he will keep them if they do not he will flip them back over and it will be the other persons turn. When we flip the words over they will say the word out lout along with saying what it ends with out loud.
2. ·      Running Record- I will be giving my students a running record to assess his reading and determine his fluency.
3. ·      Assessing Fluency- I will have the student read aloud to me and I will be assessing his fluency on the two fluency rubrics (NAEP Oral Fluency Scale and Multidimensional Fluency Scale). After the student is done reading aloud I will ask him comprehension questions.
4. ·      Extra time- practice fluency by modeling fluency to him, showing expression, phrasing, pace. I will also model not using fluency, reading word by word, speaking monotone, reading too fast or too slow. Then I will ask him which was easier to listen to and why?

Closing:

Why is it important to be able to recognize spelling patterns like unaccented final syllables? What can reading fluently help you with?

Prompts to use:

Did that make sense? What is another word that might fit here? Can you reread this?

Reflection:

What I learned about the student:

I started with having my student doing a word study that focuses on unaccented final syllables. This is the fourth time we have worked with these words together. I can really tell he is getting more familiar with the words and starting to recognize the different endings of the words. This time we played memory and when we flipped a card over we had to say the word and say what the word ended in. After that, I had him do a blind sort and he did much better this time only misspelling a couple of words compared to misspelling most of the words last week. It is great to see his growth and improvement that Leonard has made with this word study. Next, I did a running record with him and he did not have any errors out of 102 words and he had four self corrects. It is great to see him correcting himself while reading. This running record was at a 640 lexile level and if I were to do another running record I would maybe choose a lexile level of 670. There is not much of a pattern in the analysis of words with meaning, structure, or visual. I would say teaching prompts in all areas would be beneficial for him and that is something I have been working on and will continue to work on for the last meeting with Leonard. Lastly, I had him read aloud and I checked his fluency on two different fluency rubrics. On the NAEP Oral Reading Fluency Scale I would rate him right in-between level two and level three. He is not quite at level 3 yet but he is very close. There is a picture of this scale below to see the descriptions of each level. On the Multidimensional Fluency Scale I gave him a two for Expression and Volume, a three for Phrasing, a two for Smoothness and two for pace. This rubric is also pictured below to see the descriptions of each rating. I think fluency is where he needs the most work and this might be because of his vocabulary and possible a speech or slight stutter problem. I notice that he says uhh a lot during his reading especially when he comes across a word he is unsure of how to pronounce. It also could very well be that he gets nervous when he reads aloud because he has mentioned that he does not like to read aloud. 

What I learned about myself:

I learned that it is very important to take the time to do word studies with your students because they makes big improvements in a little amount of time. Being about to learn and recognize word/spelling patterns is very important when it comes to reading, writing, and spelling. Fluency is also an important thing to work with children on because if you are not a fluent reader it is much more complicated to focus on the meaning of the text when you are stumbling over words, reading slow, using no emotion, or using improper phrasing. I learned that the littlest teaching moments can make a big difference in a students learning. I am very excited to keep working with students and helping them work on their strengths and deficits.

Running Record

Lesson 4

Name: Jayde Murray                        Date: 4/7/2016                   

    Student Grade: 5^th                Reading Level: 645 (3^rd)

Objective:

“Good Readers know that spelling patterns are important to decode words and can sort words based on unaccented final syllables.”

“I can read one text many times for a different purpose each time.”

Assessment of Objective: To assess the first objective my student and I will play a word sort game. To assess the second objective the student will make marks on their poem and answer questions asked by the teacher.

Other Assessments Planned: none

Procedures:

Opening: Today we are going to play a game that is similar to Go Fish to help you recognize unaccented final syllable patters. Then we will read the poem Abandon Farmhouse, we will read it three times, each time for a different purpose. This is called a close read, close reads help us better understand a text.

Purpose: The purpose for the word study is to help you easily recognize unaccented final syllables to help you with reading and spelling. (The purpose for the poem is under each reading below)

            Procedures:

1. ·      Word Study- The student and I are going to play “Go Fish/I’m Out” spelling game to help recognize unaccented final syllable patterns.
2. ·      Close Reading-

Reading 1-

Purpose: What is the poem mainly about?

Questions:

1.     Who lived in the farmhouse? Circle the clues that tell you who lived in the farmhouse.

2.     Using the details from the poem how would you describe the man?

·      Reading 2-

Purpose: This time when we read we will focus on what words in the poem help describe the farmhouse.

Questions:

1.     Underline the words used in this poem to help describe the farmhouse. How do these words make you feel?

2.     What do these words say about the farmhouse

·      Reading 3-

Purpose: For the last reading we are going to focus on what the text means.

Questions:

1.     What do you think went wrong in the farmhouse?

2.     What is the tone of this poem?

Closing: Thank you for working with me today you did a great job. What did you learn about reading one text multiple times? Did this method help you? How or how not? Did the game help you with recognizing unaccented final syllables?

Reflection:

What I learned about the student:

In this lesson we play a game similar to "Go Fish" with our word sort words. It worked like this: I would say I have the word fable, ending in le, do you have a word that ends with le? If they did I would get that match, if they didn't I would grab another card. This game fit very well with working on recognizing the endings of the words because you had to verbalize what it ended with. If was a fun was to get more practice with unaccented final syllables. This game went very well and we got through all of the words. Once we got through the game I had him do an open sort, he had to make up his own categories, and that went really awesome too. He was able to sort them all correctly and remembered what categories he needed. After he sorted them all I and him say the word and what the unaccented final syllables were. He did awesome! I can see that he is recognizing the endings more each time we work with the words. I still think it will be good to work with the words for a little bit longer before we try a closed sort again. After our word study we practiced close reading. I opened up with the objective and explained that when you read a text more than one time you discover new things about the text and you have a better understanding each time you read the text. For this close reading Leonard read the poem Abandon Farmhouse written by Ted Kooser. The first time through he stumbled over quite a few words and was not sure what the entire reading was about. I just had him focus on who lived in the farm house and what words did the poem use to describe the man in the farmhouse. He did a great job with underlining textual evidence showing who lived in the farm house and what the given characteristics were of the man. He was able to do this all on his own and did not have a hard time doing it. For the next two reading we focused on different purposes and he was able to answer my questions easily. He also became more fluent in his reading each time he read the poem. So he learned that not only does reading a text many different times help you comprehend but it also becomes easier to read each time through. At the end he could tell me exactly what them poem was about and a lot of key details that were in the poem and how the words in the poem could make a reader feel. I was very happy with how great he did for this lesson.

What I learn about myself:

I learned that using prompts to help a reader figure out a word is really helpful instead of just telling them the word. That way if they are reading by themselves and do not have anyone to ask what a word is they can decode the word on their own by using the skills taught through trying many different prompts with the student. I would like to keep practicing different prompts so it becomes an automatic skill I can use with the students to help them grow as readers. My goal is to try different prompts for these last couple of meetings with my student. 

What's Next?

We are still going to focus on the same word sort until Leonard becomes very comfortable with the words and can complete a blind sort with at least 85% correct. Next time we are also going to focus on fluency and learn why fluency is important to being a good reader. I will also be doing another running record with my students to see where he is at with his reading. 

Close Read

Lesson 3

Name: Jayde Murray                        Date: 4/5/2016                   

   Student Grade: 5^th                Reading Level: 645 (3^rd)

Objective:

“Good Readers use visualizing to help them comprehend what they read.”

Assessment of Objective: My student will complete a visualizing graphic organizer after I read a passage to him.

Other Assessments Planned: My student will be doing an blind sort with the same words we used during out last meeting. 

Procedures:

Opening: Hi, today we are going to be practicing how to visual while reading because it helps us remember what we read. Then we will be working with the word sort we did last time but we are going to be doing a blind sort so it will be a little different.

Purpose: Today the purpose is for you to practice using visualizing so you will be able to use this strategy to help you remember what you read/comprehend the text.

            Procedures:

1. ·      Word Sort- My student will be sorting words that focus on determining unaccented final syllables. This is going to be his second time sorting the words so we will be doing a blind sort with given categories. I will have the words flipped upside down and he will point to a card. I will pick the card up and read the word to him, his job is to spell the word on his paper and write it under the correct category.
2. ·      Comprehension Strategy/ Visualizing- I will practice with you and then I will read you a passage and you will write down your visualizations on the graphic organizer, which separates them by your 5 senses.
3. ·      Extra Time- If we have time I will have my students read aloud to me or I will read aloud to him.

Closing: Thank you for working with me today you did a great job. How can using visualization while you read help you?

Reflection:

What I learned about the student:

This time meeting with Leonard we started off with a blind sort. The way a blind sort works is the student does not get to see the words the teacher or a peer will say they word to the student and then the student has to write down the word in the correct category. For this word sort we were still focusing on unaccented final syllables so the categories el/le/ar/or/er were written on a sheet of paper for him and he had to spell the word correct in order to get it into the correct category. This sort did not go so well. He could spell the beginning of the words correctly but had trouble distinguishing which ending it should be. I already knew that's where he struggled but after he did the first sort so easily I figured he would be able to complete this one. I would say that Leonard does not have a hard time recognizing or seeing that patterns of unaccented final syllables but he does have a hard time spelling them on his own. So the trick is going to be how to get him to learn the different endings and know which ending belongs on which words. Next, we worked with a comprehension strategy. We focused on visualization (what we hear, smell, feel, see, and taste when we read) to help us better understand and comprehend a given text. I modeled to him what I do when I read a text and focus on visualization for two paragraphs, then we practices two paragraphs together, and then I had him do two paragraphs on his on and write his thoughts down on a graphic organizer. This went really awesome! He did an awesome job picking out something he thought of for all of his senses while he was reading. I was really proud of all the different visualizations he came up with while he read and he was able to express them orally and in writing. After complete the graphic organizer I asked him how visualizing can help him while reading and he responded, "It makes me feel like I am actually in the story and helps me remember what I read easier." I hope that he remembers to use this tool while he is reading so that he can comprehend text and have a purpose for reading. 

What I learned about myself:

I learned that even if your student soars past one step in a word sort still go to the next step instead of jumping a few steps because the more practice the better. I made the mistake of going from a closed sort to a blind sort right away instead of trying an open sort or a word sort game to get the student more familiar with the words. So I will be taking a few steps back so Leonard can have more exposure to unaccented final syllables and try the blind sort at a later date. I also learned how awesome it is when you can see the lightbulb come on in a student. When we worked on visualization he really knew what he was doing and was excited to create those visualizations while he was reading! It was very exciting to see him do so great.

What's Next?

Since the blind sort did not go so well we are going to take a step back and really recognize the words, look at them, say them, and notice the different endings. We are going to play a game with the sort so we can change it up and make it fun to see the differences in the unaccented final syllables. Also, we are going to be doing a close read, which is reading a text many different times for a different purpose each time. This is another strategy to help students better comprehend a text and find new things within a text during each reading. 

Closed Sort

Visualization Graphic Organizer