Final Reflection

He has been fun to work with during this short amount of time I had with him! He always has a lot to say and was willing to do anything I asked him to do! We did a lot of different things in these short five sessions that we had! We did an interest inventory, spelling inventory, a couple running records, a close read, long a vowel word sorts and writing an autobiography.

I think that he is reading at a level M-O in Fountas and Pinnell he may be higher but this is the level that I worked with him and he seemed to be slightly challenged. We worked on comprehension and I had him stop and talk about what he read and would fill out a worksheet at the end of the story and I think this helped him. When he does not know a word he looks at the first couple letters, looks at the picture and then comes up with a word that he thinks fits there. Sometimes it still makes sense but sometimes it doesn’t and when it does not make sense he does not realize that and just keeps reading.   If I have him go back and reread the sentence he says it with the correct word and I ask him which time made more sense and he says the second time. So he realizes he said it wrong the first time but it is not until I point it out.

For home I recommend using readinga-z.com to find printable books. They have books in order by the level that they put them at and they also include the Fountas and Pinnell level. You can download or print them and they are completely free. I also think that he needs to work on comprehension and making sure the words he reads make sense in the sentence.  For the words that he struggles with I recommend someone underline the words he messes up on. So that after reading it whoever is helping him can talk to him about those words, they can practice how to say them and spell them. This will help him the next time he comes across those words.

After completing this mini case study I feel ready to move on to another student and help them figure out where their strengths and weaknesses are. This has also helped me find where my strengths and weaknesses are. What I learned about my self is that I am very observant and want to find where the problem is and why it is happening. I know that I will need to work on a few things such as my lesson plans and providing more worksheets that will help him with his struggles.

Lesson 5

Day 5
Focus on student's ability to answer more in depth questions.

Good readers can answer questions that are more geared towards on story

Procedures-
1. talk about the objectives
2. do the close read on the story summer vacation by Gabrielle Sierra. Read it 3 times and ask different questions each time.
3. Do the running record on A scary noise.
4. do long vowel a sort
5. Have him write a few sentences on what he learned from these 5 sessions. Also talk about if he now likes reading .
6. Add onto his autobiography to take home.

Reflection on student- He improved over the 5 sessions that we had. He started to realize when he read a word that he did not need to known  he needs to check to make sure it made sense.
Reflection on self- I think that I helped him improve his reading skills as well as helping him enjoy reading more. I still need to work on my lesson plans to make sure that they include enough detail.

Lesson 4

   Day 4 ---- focus on the student’s reading habits.

- Good readers monitor and check to make sure what they read makes sense.

-Good readers can learn new ways to write stories from the books they read.

-Good readers can sort words into the correct groups.

-Good readers can talk about what they read when they finish the book.

Procedures

1.      1. Talk about the objectives that we are going to work on today.

2.       2.Read the book – Summer Olympics  ( M) or World Cup Soccer (M). As we read I will stop and ask questions about what he read a few pages back or what he just got done reading. I will try and stop every 3 pages that will make 5 stops throughout the book.

3.       3.Talk about what he read. Then have him fill out the worksheet. This will allow him to practice writing and have to think about what we just read and talked about. So the information should stick in his brain a little longer.

4.       4.Work on Long A vowel word sort since he is still struggling with those sounds in the words. Have him do a normal sort then we will do a blind sort if he gets all of the words correct in the regular sort.

5.       5. Have him add 3-5 sentences to the start of his autobiography. This will make him have a total of 6-10 sentences.

  

   Reflection on student - He is enjoying reading more now that I choose books that interest him from the interest inventory that I did. He is doing better on the long vowel a sort, he is almost to the point where he can be moved onto the next sort that he needed work on. 

   Reflection on self- My lesson plan for day 4 procedures is a lot better than day 3. I think that I am starting to figure out why he makes up words when he does not know them. He looks at the first couple letters and makes up an nonsense word or he says its a word that starts with the same two letters. I want to improve on how to help him with looking at the first two letters and thinking of the first word he knows because I am not sure how to help him on that other than go back and look at the word again since he does not realize that it does not fit there. 

Lesson 3

Day 3 objectives

-Good readers can retell the story and include details about beginning, middle and end.

 - Good readers monitor and check to make sure what they read makes sense.

Objectives- focus on the student’s reading habits.

Procedures-

      1.Talk about the objectives that we are going to work on today.

2.       2. Read the book

3.       3. Talk about what he read. Then have him fill out the worksheet. This will allow him to practice writing and have to think about what we just read and talked about. So the information should stick in his brain a little longer.

4.      4. Work on Long A vowel  word sort

            5. Have him write a 3-5 sentences autobiography.

   

   Reflection on Student- He has improved since day one on comprehension skills. When he filled out the worksheet he could recall a lot more than when I ask him questions and just say it verbally.  The long vowel a sort still needs some work. 

   Reflection on self- I am really interested in finding out how to get him to comprehend better and to not make up words when he reads words that he does not know. I think that I am doing well on this but I still am not sure what the issue is. I think that I still have more to work on like how my lesson plans look especially the procedures. 

Lesson 2

Day 2 objectives

-Good readers can retell the story and include details about beginning, middle and end.

-I can sort words in the appropriate word sorts.

Objectives- focus on the students comprehension and word study

Procedures-

             1. Talk about the book I sent home with him last week.

         2.  We are going to work on comprehension. Do you know what comprehension is? Comprehension is when you are able to talk about the story you just read and able to understand what you read.

           3. After we talk about comprehension we will read a short story and talk about what he read.

             4.. Then we will do a running record.

         5. If we have time we will do the word sort for long a vowels. 

    Reflection of student- I think that my student did well with  the comprehension aspect but he did struggle with words that were tricky for him. He would start to read the word and say the first one that came to mind. Sometimes it made sense and some didn't but he would not realize it and would keep reading. 

    Reflection of self- I think that we are working on good things but I want to work more on him realizing what he is reading and noticing that he inserted the wrong word. 

Lesson 1 /

Objectives- 

1. Good readers know their interests so they can make motivating book choices. 

2. Good readers know about words. 

-- Focus on student learning 

Procedures- 

1. Interest inventory 

2. Spelling inventory 

3. listen to student read a choice, Familiar Text running record with retell 

4. if time, engage the student in some writing (respond to book, write about self) 

We did not have time for running record or writing. 

The student did very well. He understood all of the questions on the interest inventory, needs some help in spelling and handwriting but for an incoming second grader I would say he is at the right level. The spelling inventory he got 10 words correct before he started getting words wrong.  While reading he stumbled on a few words because he was reading to quickly. 

As for myself I think I did good on the introduction and both inventories, but as he was reading and he would skip or mess up on a word I would say "no, lets try that again" and I feel like I could have said something different rather than saying no. I could of said lets read this page again or did that word make sense there?  I also brought books by Dr. Suess that did not have much of a story line, so when we talked about the story he did not have a lot to say since there was not really a plot, setting or story elements. For next tutoring session I will work on how I word things and bring a book that will challenge him and provide more of a story line. 

About Student

My student goes to school in the Johnston School District and is going to be in the second grade. He likes all kinds of sports but really likes snowboarding and skiing. He loves to vacation in Colorado because he can ski and snowboard. When he grows up he wants to be a snowboarding teacher. So books about snowboarding or winter sports would interest him. He mentioned that he did not like reading sometimes because the books do not always interest him. He also likes science so books with a science theme would interest him as well.

About me

My name is Hillary Terrell and I am 19 years old and go to Grand View University. I am currently a Junior and in the Education program. I want to be an elementary teacher focusing on the lower grades. I also am getting my reading and English language arts endorsement.