Reader Background, Assessments

Phase I: Reader Background Part A: Background Information The student chosen for this case study is a fifth grade, male student. This reader comes from a separated family in which the parents are divorced. The reader lives with his dad and has three younger brothers. In his free time, the reader enjoys fishing and playing football. The reader also enjoys going to school. His favorite subject is math, and he describes himself as a good reader. When asked about his favorite book or genre, he said that he likes the Goosebumps series as well as mystery books. After talking with the student’s teacher, the researcher found that the student is new to the school. As a result, the teacher knows little about his past academic records and behavior, except for what she has observed since he has been in her classroom. The teacher describes the student as disorganized, impulsive, unfocused, and easily distracted. When the teacher begins to ask the class a question, he raises his hand before she has finished, and when he is called on to answer, he does not always have a response. He leads by example from other students and wants to fit in with his classmates as well as be liked by his classmates and teacher. If he is struggling with a task, he is quick to shut down and gives up if he does not get it or believes it is too hard. When planning for the intervention sessions, the researcher will take into account the observation made by his teacher regarding the student’s behavior in the classroom. Part B: Assessments After conversing with the reader’s fifth grade teacher about what she believes to be his reading weaknesses, the researcher found that the student struggles with reading comprehension, and is not reading at a typical fifth grade level. Although the reader describes himself as a good reader, he agrees that he struggles with comprehension. With that being said, the researcher has decided that the intervention would focus on reading comprehension because both the student and his teacher agree that is his main struggle. Throughout this case study, the researcher will conduct three assessments that address the student’s struggle with reading comprehension. The first assessment will be used as an initial screening to establish the student’s reading difficulties and a baseline score. Then, during the intervention sessions, the second assessment will be used to monitor the student’s progress in reading comprehension. Finally, the third assessment will be used to determine the outcome of the intervention lessons, which will be the reader’s overall improvement in reading comprehension. The first assessment that the researcher will give is the screening. This is a form of assessment in which the researcher will be able to determine the reader’s current reading strengths and establish his reading difficulties as well as decide how to form instruction to show his growth in reading. Knowing that the intervention focus area is on reading comprehension, the researcher has decided to use an Informal Reading Inventory, such as a running record, as the initial screening assessment. In this assessment, the student will be given a passage from the Jennings Informal Reading Assessment, which is an Informal Reading Inventory developed by Dr. Joyce Jennings. To determine which passage the reader will read from the Jennings Informal Reading Assessment, the student will first read a list of words. The word lists consist of twentyfive words each. Each word lists is included in the passages read by the student. The word list where the reader can instantly recognize each word from the list will determine which passage he reads. The researcher will also have a copy of the passage on which she will mark the number of errors the student makes while reading out loud. If the student substitutes, omits, inserts, and/ or mispronounces a word as well as struggles with a word for more than three seconds, the researcher will record this as an error. After the student has finished reading the passage, the researcher will ask the student to retell the story in his own words. While he is retelling the story, the researcher will note on the Running Record exactly what he includes in his retell such as the title of story, characters, setting, plot, etc. In addition, the researcher will ask the reader a set of comprehension questions pertaining to the passage he read. From this form of screening assessment, the researcher will be able to see if the errors made while reading the passage affect his overall comprehension of the story when he retells the story in his own words as well as when he answers the comprehension questions. Also, the errors and the parts left out of the retelling section of the Running Record will determine which comprehension strategies the researcher will need to teach during the five interventions sessions. The second assessment that the researcher will give to this fifth grade reader will be a progress monitoring assessment. The progress monitoring assessment will be administered after three intervention sessions with the reader. There will be a total of five intervention sessions, and by administering a progress monitoring assessment in the middle of the intervention sessions, the researcher will be able to see if the reader is showing signs of improvement in his reading comprehension. Based on the progress monitoring assessment, the researcher will know if the planned instruction will need to be altered to meet the reader’s needs. This simply means that the researcher may need to reinforce strategies taught during the first three intervention sessions, instead of moving forward and teaching a new strategy. On the other hand, if the reader does show signs of improvement, further instruction will be geared toward teaching a new strategy pertaining to reading comprehension. The retelling checklist will support the researcher when the student retells the story in his own words. Using the retelling checklist, the researcher will mark what the reader includes as well as what he excludes from his retelling of the story. From this form of progress monitoring, the researcher will be able to see if the reader is implementing retelling strategies as well as comprehension strategies taught during the first three intervention sessions. The third and final assessment that the researcher will conduct with the fifth grade reader will be an outcome-based assessment. This form of assessment will be administered at the end of the five intervention sessions to see if the reader has shown signs of overall improvement in his reading comprehension. After completion of the fifth intervention sessions, the researcher will administer the Jennings Informal Reading Assessment once again; however, the assessment will be slightly different from the screening and progress monitoring assessments because he will read a new passage based on the word list he can instantly recognize the most words. The outcome-based assessment will be organized the same way as it was in the screening, but will also include a similar retelling checklist that was used in the progress monitoring assessment. To see if the reader has shown positive growth with his reading comprehension, the researcher will compare the results of the screening assessment, progress monitoring assessment, and this outcome-based assessment utilizing an Excel spreadsheet to graph the results from all three assessments. Part C: Assessment Database (See next page for the Assessment Database Table) Phase II: Developing a Plan Part D: Administration of Screening Assessment As mentioned in the previous phase, the researcher will be tutoring a fifth grade student who struggles in the area of reading comprehension. To help the student develop his reading comprehension, the researcher decided to administer a running record along with the Jennings Informal Reading Assessment, which is an Informal Reading Inventory developed by Dr. Joyce Jennings. This screening allowed the researcher to note the exact areas in which the student needs improvement. Part E: Interpretations of Assessments After administering the running record along with the Jennings Informal Reading Assessment, the researcher found that the reader is reading between Level 3 and Level 4, which is equivalent to third and fourth grade reading level. Additionally, the researcher found that the reader’s comprehension is at Frustrational level when reading a Level 4 passage. The passages read by the reader were determined by which word list the reader could instantly recognize each word from the list as well as the word list he had most difficulty with recognizing each word from the list. When taking a look at the Level 3 word list, the reader instantly recognized twenty-two out of twenty-five words. When taking a look at the Level 4 word list, the reader instantly recognized only thirteen out of twenty-five words. Next, the reader read the passages that corresponded with the Level 3 and Level 4 word lists. After the student had read the Level 3 passage and had answered the comprehension questions that went along with the passage, the researcher found the reader’s comprehension to be at Independent Level because he correctly answered all eight comprehension questions. After the student had read the Level 4 passage and had answered the comprehension questions that went along with the passage, the researcher found the reader’s comprehension to be at Frustrational Level because he only answered five out of the eight comprehension questions correctly. According to the Jennings Informal Reading Assessment scoring chart, if the reader answers five or less comprehension questions correctly, he or she is reading at Frustrational Level. As a result of this screening, the researcher concluded that the reader’s comprehension is at Independent Level when reading a Level 3 while his comprehension is at Frustrational Level when reading a Level 4. Furthermore, taking a look at the Level 4 passage where the reader’s comprehension is at Frustrational Level, the researcher noted several reading errors that may have affected his reading comprehension of the Level 4 passage. Taking a look at his word recognition accuracy, the reader made eight errors that included substituting, omitting, and mispronouncing words in the Level 4 passage. These errors affected the reader’s overall reading comprehension. In addition, when stuck on a word, the reader did not try to sound out the word. Also, when a sentence did not make sense, he did not try to reread the sentence to check for understanding. During the retelling part of the screening assessment, the reader was able to retell the story in his own words. However, the researcher discovered that the reader has a limited understanding of what to include in a retell. As a whole, the reader seems proficient in a few areas of reading comprehension; however there is still more room for improvement. Part F: Plan of Action After talking with the reader’s fifth grade teacher and looking over the results of the screening assessment, the researcher has decided that the plan of action will center on the following comprehension strategies: story mapping, retelling, summarizing, using context clues, and making connections while reading. Each of these strategies will help the reader to develop proficient reading comprehension skills. The following is an overview of the five lessons that will focus on a particular comprehension strategy. Lesson 1: Story Mapping     The lesson will begin with the reader reading a familiar book titled A Big Day in Nicodemus by Gloria Gorman. Next, the researcher will explain the importance of using a graphic organizer to help with comprehending a story. In the form of a think-aloud, the researcher will explain the story map organizer. To help the reader comprehend the story, he will fill out a story map organizer with assistance from the researcher. After doing his retell, the researcher will have the reader reflect on what he learned today. His reflection will be in the form of a think-aloud about story mapping. Lesson 2: Retelling         The intervention session will begin with the reader reading a familiar book titled A Big Day in Nicodemus by Gloria Gorman. Next, the researcher will read the Retelling Poem (located in Phase III) to the reader. Then, the researcher will ask the student: “Taking a look at the retelling poem, what are the parts of a story?” The student will respond to this question in the form of a thinkaloud. Next, the researcher will explain the components of a retell, which include title, author, important characters, setting, and events. After going over the components of a retell, the researcher will help the student create his own Retelling cue cards.  The title of the book is . . .  The author is …  The story takes place …  The main characters are …  First, Next, Then, Last/Finally . . . Using the story A Big Day in Nicodemus by Gloria Gorman, the researcher will model what to include in a retell by using retelling cue cards that are labeled title, author, important characters, setting, and events. After modeling how to do a retell, the researcher will let the student practice retelling the story. When practicing retelling, the student will use the retelling cue cards. Then, the researcher will have the student read an unfamiliar book titled The 3,000th Hit by Gloria Gorman.   Once the student has finished reading the book, he will use the retelling cue cards to help him retell the story in his own words. After doing his retell, the researcher will have the reader reflect on what he learned today. His reflection will be in the form of a think-aloud about retelling, which includes the parts of a story (title, author, setting, characters, and events). Lesson 3: Summarizing       The intervention session will begin with the reader reading a familiar book titled A Big Day in Nicodemus by Gloria Gorman. After reading the story, the researcher will do a think-aloud over the story that will involve mentioning the important parts of the story as well as an overall summary of what happened in the story. In this think-aloud, the researcher will talk about the importance of writing a summary in order to help with understanding a story. Next, the researcher will explain how the story map from Lesson 1 and his retelling cue cards from Lesson 2 will help him to summarize a book in writing. Then, the researcher will explain the structure of a summary. o Topic Sentence: “In the book, title of book by author’s name …” o Body of Paragraph:  Character names / description of characters  Setting (where the story takes place)  Events  Examples of Sentence Starters: “At the beginning of the story …” “Next . . .” “Then . . .” “At the end …”  Closing Sentence:  Example of Sentence Starter: “Overall …” Once the researcher has explained the structure of writing a summary, the researcher will assist the reader in writing a one paragraph summary over the story A Big Day in Nicodemus by Gloria Gorman. NOTE: This summary will be typed on a computer. After writing the one paragraph summary over the story A Big Day in Nicodemus by Gloria Gorman, the researcher will have the reader reflect on what he learned today. His reflection will be in the form of a think-aloud about the importance of writing a summary in order to help with understanding (comprehending) a story he has read. Progress Monitoring Assessment At this point in the intervention, the student has completed three sessions where the focus was on story mapping, retelling, and summarizing. In each of these, the student used a story map organizer and retelling cue cards to help organize his thoughts as well as to help him remember what was included in a retell and summary of a book. For the progress monitoring assessment, the student will read an unfamiliar book titled Game Day by Tiki and Ronde Barber. After reading the book, he will retell the story in his own words. Lesson #4 – Using Context Clue       The intervention session will begin with the researcher reading pages 1-4 from a familiar book titled Game Day by Tiki and Ronde Barber. On page 4, the researcher will read the word converge and use a think-aloud to model how to use context clues to find the meaning of a word. o “Ronde saw his whole team converge on the end zone, …. I wonder what the word converge means in this sentence. In the picture above I see the football players coming together at the center of the football field. Maybe the word converge means like coming together. I’m going to try out the meaning in the sentence. Ronde saw his whole team come together on the end zone, and he sat up and made his way to the milling crowd. That makes sense! Therefore, the word converge mean come together.” After the think-aloud, the researcher will ask the reader, “How did I find the meaning of the word converge?” The researcher will continue reading. On page 11, the researcher will read the word mumbled and use a think-aloud to model another way to use context clues to find the meaning of a word. o “Later, as the boys’ mother cooked dinner, Ronde mumbled in a soft voice to her, ‘Guys who block and stuff like that—nobody notices. People just notice the guy who scores touchdowns.’ I wonder what the word mumbled means in this sentence. Taking a look at the rest of the sentence it reads that Ronde mumbled in a soft voice….If I were to talk in a soft voice, my voice may not be loud enough for someone else to hear, so it may sound mumbled. I am going to say that mumbled is when someone cannot hear what you are saying because you are not speaking at a normal volume where it is clear for someone to hear you. I’m going to go back and read this sentence in a mumbled voice.” After the think-aloud, the researcher will ask the reader, “How did I find the meaning of the word mumbled?” Next, the researcher will explain to the reader how to use context clues when he comes to a word in story that he does not know the meaning to. o Context Clues  Definition: are, is, means, refers  Synonym: also, as, identical, like same  Antonym: but, instead of, however, unlike    Example: such as, including, like  General: details, prior knowledge, experiences o Look for . . .  Words or phrases that may be clues, hints to word meaning  First look in the sentence that contains the unknown word  Look in the sentence before and after  Try out the meaning in the sentence  Look at the illustrations/pictures Once the researcher has explained how to use context clues as well as what to look for when he comes to a word in the story that he does not know the meaning to, the reader will continue reading the story, starting at page 12. When the reader comes across a word he does not know, he will use context clues to help him figure out the meaning of the word he does not know. When he is figuring out the meaning of a word, he should be thinking aloud. The researcher will assist by guiding the reader when needed. After the reader has done at least two think-alouds of his own regarding context clues, the researcher will have the reader reflect on what he learned today. His reflection will be in the form of a think-aloud about using context clues when coming to a word he does not know the meaning to. Lesson #5 – Making Connections while Reading       The intervention session will begin with the researcher reading pages 1-5 from a familiar book titled Game Day by Tiki and Ronde Barber. At the end of page 5, the researcher will do a think-aloud of a text-to-self connection thus far in the reading. o “I know how Ronde feels. He is upset because if he had not made that block, Tiki would not have scored. This reminds me of the time I helped a friend with a project, and she took all the credit. No one noticed that I took part in helping with the project.” After the think-aloud, the researcher will ask the reader, “Have you ever been in a situation where you were not noticed or recognized for doing something, and someone else took all the credit even though you helped?” After the think-aloud, the researcher will talk with the reader about making text-to-self connections while reading. Using the think-aloud above, the researcher will explain how making a text to self connection is like connecting the story to your own life experiences. Therefore, when making a text-to-self connection, you are thinking about your own life and connecting it to what you are reading. Once the researcher has explained how to make personal connection with the text, the reader will continue reading the story, starting at page 6. As he is reading, the reader will stop and do a think aloud regarding a text-to-self connection. The researcher will assist by guiding the reader when needed. After the reader has done at least two think-alouds of his own regarding text-to-self connections the researcher will have the reader reflect on what he learned today. His reflection will be in the form of a think-aloud about making personal connections while he is reading. Outcome-based Assessment     At this point in the intervention, the student has completed all five sessions which involved story mapping, retelling, summarizing, using context clues, and making connections while reading. For the outcome-based assessment, the researcher will administer the Jennings Informal Reading Assessment once again; however, the assessment will be slightly different from the screening assessment because he will read a new passage based on the word list he can instantly recognize the most words. After reading the passage, the reader will answer several comprehension questions as well as retell the story in his own words. While the reader is retelling the story in his own words, the researcher will take note if he used strategies learned in the intervention sessions. Did he follow the retelling cue cards? Did he use context clues? Did he make connections with the story? The researcher will look for improvement in his ability to retell a story in his own words as well as his growth in reading comprehension. Information Page Title of Book: A Big Day in Nicodemus Summary: This is a story about two boys who go to a baseball game. However, this is not an ordinary baseball game. Today was the day the great Satchel Paige was coming to play baseball in Nicodemus. The home-town team, the Nicodemus Blues, would get a chance to bat against the greatest pitcher the world had ever seen. Throughout the baseball game, Satchel Paige is proving that he is the world’s greatest pitcher by not allowing any one on base. One of the boys hoped to catch a foul ball, but at the rate that Satchel Paige is hitting, nobody’s going to hit one. In the end, both boys were really glad they came to the baseball game, and they felt that this was the most exciting day of their life. Details for Web: During the first lesson, the student will fill out a concept web that involves the reader identifying the title, author, important characters, setting, and events. After filling in this information, the student will use this web in Lesson #2 when he retells the story in his own words. This concept web is being used in the first lesson, so that the reader becomes familiar with the basic parts of a story and what to include in a retell.