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Selina Alicea

ELE 411 --- K-4 FieldAction Research Project: Student Learning Report

Data-based Instructional Decision Making Spring 2016

PORTFOLIO RATIONALE

This action research study began with the identification of a struggling reader, followed by a plan of an intervention and assessments to determine improvement. Principle #4 is the understanding and use of instructional strategies to encourage students’ development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills. Through research and implementation of the Language Experience Approach I’ve learned how to choose and implement a strategy specific to a student’s needs and abilities. Implementing the Language Experience Approach was a learning experience in itself. The Language Experience Approach gives the student an individualized passage for retelling and comprehension questions. Teaching comprehension strategies from a book created by the student’s own language makes the lesson more effective. Problem-solving skills were carried out in the lessons and assessed by a running record. The running record confirmed the intervention chosen was successful for this student by the improvement in comprehension and retelling score.

This experience taught me the process of researching, implementing and assessing interventions for struggling readers. Researching strategies was a skill I have had practice doing but never used to apply to a real-life scenario. The Language Experience Approach was a strategy I have never heard of before, so much research had to be done. I learned to look for details on what the strategy should look like before implementation. While implementing the lesson I gained experience working one-on-one with a student to improve on a specific skill. The most influential part was the assessment. The assessment reinforced the notion from other classes of assessment being the most important part of an intervention. The assessment determines whether or not the intervention was effective or not. Improvement in the target area from the baseline to assessment tells that the intervention was successful. If the assessment did not show an improvement than the intervention was not successful for this student then the intervention implementation should be reviewed and if there is not issue with how the intervention should have been implemented to how it was implemented than another strategy should be implemented for this student. This experience taught me many meaningful lessons that I will keep with me in the future.

INTRODUCTION

Purpose of the Study

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The purpose of this action research study is to identify a struggling reader and plan interventions in order to improve his reading skills. This study provides insight to my abilities in identifying struggling readers in my classroom. Explaining and interpreting scores will give insight to my knowledge of executing and scoring Qualitative Reading Inventories. My abilities to problem solve and create interventions that will effectively enhance a student’s reading ability. Proving my capability of researching an appropriate strategy for the development, needs and interest of my target student, summarizing information about the strategy and implementing the strategy is another purpose of this study.

Support of the Learner

My target learner is a kindergarten student in Mrs. Ballone’s classroom at California Elementary School. California Elementary School is kindergarten through fourth grade with 332 students, 51% males and 49% females. The diversity score for California Elementary is 10% (Colayco, 2016). Diversity of income is reflected through the eligibility of free or reduced lunch. Those percentages are 37% of students get reduced lunch and 6% get free lunch (Colayco, 2016). Mrs. Ballone’s classroom is a structured, text-rich environment. The classroom is lined with sight words, word walls, labeled centers, and word families. Mrs. Ballone supplements the students’ academics with manipulatives, number lines, alphabet lines, and book shelves.

My target learner’s name is R.J. He is a shy five year old boy who enjoys dirt bikes, quads, Thor, and playing baseball, this information was gathered from the All About Me coloring page (Talking, n.d.). R.J. was chosen for this study because he is a struggling reader according to Mrs. Ballone’s observations, assessments and his scores on standardized testing. Mrs. Ballone also tutors R.J. weekly for intensive interventions. R.J.’s attitude towards reading was gathered by interpreting data from Reading Attitude Survey (Kear, 1990). The results of this survey convey that R.J. has a negative attitude towards academic and recreational reading. From interviews, I have gather that R.J. is cooperative when working with reading and enjoys games but gets ashamed and frustrated when trying to read a passage.

Based on my interactions, observations, and discussions with Mrs. Ballone I have learned about R.J.’s strengths and needs. R.J. does very well with sight words. He can recognize sight words from a passage and use sight words correctly in a sentence. The sight words R.J. has learned are the words he excels in understanding and identifying. R.J. relies on these words in sentences. R.J. also has a strength in blending. He does struggle with letter-sound correspondence but given the sounds, R.J. can blend the sounds to create a word. Some specific needs I have identified for R.J. to work on are letter-sound correspondence, segmenting, and retelling. R.J. struggles with the letters that show up less frequently in common words. Segmenting is another area of need I realized R.J. need repetition and practice with. When given a word and told to change one the middle or final sound, R.J. struggles with identifying what part of the word to change. Retelling is a major area to focus on with R.J. R.J. can verbally explain what is happening on the current page he reads but gathering the entire concept of a passage is a difficult task for him. He can pick out specific events he finds interesting but other events seem to escape his memory. I noticed this when implementing the first running record, I Can (Leslie &

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Caldwell, 2010). For example, R.J. connected with the page referencing sleeping in class and the children running. When retelling the story, R.J. recalled these details and forgot other important details in the passage. R.J. often gets distracted which is a possible function of struggling to retell a story.

Building rapport with R.J. started slow. Mrs. Ballone warned me that, R.J. is a very shy child and will open up if you talk about his interests. To get R.J. to feel more comfortable I used an All About Me coloring page (Talking, n.d.). In the beginning the areas were name, age, and birthday. These areas were not interesting to R.J. and he answered quietly with little interaction. When we got to the areas of what super power he would want to have and favorite food R.J. opened up about liking Thor, baseball, coyotes, quads and dirt bikes. Since I do not know much about these things, except baseball, I asked him to tell me more about these things. He was very insightful and spoke with excitement. Bringing many markers and crayons for R.J. to use help build rapport as well because he was excited to use sharp and new crayons compared to his crayons in his box which were mostly broken.

My specific research question is: What is the impact of the Language Experience Approach strategy on the comprehension abilities of this learner?

REVIEW OF BEST PRACTICES:KNOWLEDGE OF EFFECTIVE EARLY EDUCATION STRATEGIES

The Language Experience Approach is the intervention strategy I chose for R.J. R.J. is withdrawn when academic topics do not relate to his interests. The Language Experience Approach takes a student’s interest with high importance. O’Toole and Mhuire, n.d., state, “The Language Experience Approach demonstrates to children the link between what they say and its written form”. This approach focuses on retelling and comprehension which is a significant need of attention. LEA involves thinking, speaking, listening, reading and writing (Wurr, 2002). This process requires the child to be more involved than just reading a book and attempting to relate to it. According to Nessel, 2008, “Researchers have noted that reading is easier when the text closely matches the learner’s own oral language patterns and is aligned with the learner’s experiences”. Traditional language approaches believe skills should be taught in sequence of listening speaking, reading, then writing. The theoretical orientation of Language Experience Approach comes from the components of “whole language” approach. Whole language instruction advocates for speaking, writing, and grammar be taught simultaneously (Wurr, 2002).

PLAN OF ACTION

Knowledge and Use of Assessment Instrument: Pre-test Data (Running Record #1)

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To assess R.J. I used Qualitative Reading Inventory-5 by Lauren Leslie and JoAnne Schudt Caldwell. The passage for assessment from the QRI used for the first running record was Pre-Prier 1 passage, I Can (Leslie & Caldwell, 2010). The QRI is a comprehensive textbook that provides an easy-to-use informal assessment instrument (Leslie & Caldwell, 2010). A running record can telling about a student’s self-monitoring abilities, miscue meanings, word recognition score, reader-text match and allows you to determine a student’s retelling ability.

My first QRI running record session went well (Leslie & Caldwell, 2010). I began by asking a few concept questions provided by the QRI (Leslie & Caldwell, 2010). The student, R.J., answered the questions with his personal experiences with what was in question. For example, when asked, “What does it mean to jump”, R.J. answered, “to jump over a bridge, jump over a piece of wood or a rock”. After the concept questions, I asked R.J. what he thought the story, I Can, was going to be about. R.J. looked at the cover page and said “I can jump. I can run”. I then told R.J. that he was going to read the story to me and to remember how he reads I was going to record him on my phone. R.J. began to read and got stuck on the third word, “jump”. R.J. said he did not know the word so I told him to try to sound it out. After looking at the word again he said he didn’t know. I then told R.J. he could skip the word if he wanted and he began to read the rest of the story trying to sound out words he did not know and skipping the words he could not sound out. At the fifth page, there was a boy sleeping in the library. R.J. then said, “I sleep in class”. This told me that R.J. was reading the words on the page, looking at the pictures, and relating the story to his own life. At the end of the story I asked R.J. to tell me everything he remember about the story. R.J. responded with, “Eating, jumping, running, and dreaming”. He recalled only 4 of the 12 ideas in the passage, which makes this level reader-text a frustration level. After retelling, I told R.J. I had a few more questions for him. R.J. answered the 4 of the 5 comprehension questions without looking back into the story but needed to look back for one question. This concluded my first running record and the results are as followed:

WR (or Total Accuracy) Score 89%

Difficulty level and grade level Frustration Level, Pre-Primer 1

% of similar letter-sound patternmiscues

25%

% of meaning-change miscues 75%

% of non-meaning change miscues

25%

% of meaning-change self-corrections

0%

Reading rate 18 WPM, below Pre-Primer

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Retelling analysis score 4/12, 33.3%

Reading level of the child as a result ofthe Running Record

Frustration

Comprehension Questions 3 correct/5 totalFrustration Level

WR and Retelling 89%

R.J.’s Word Recognition score was 89%. The WR score tells you how many words a reader recognizes in a passage. At 89% this puts R.J. at a frustration level when reading at a Pre-Primer 1 level. Looking R.J.’s miscues, 25% were similar letter-sound pattern miscues, 75% were meaning-changing miscues, and 25% were non-meaning change miscues. Similar letter-sound pattern miscues are miscues that sound similar to the original text. Meaning-changing miscues are miscues that change the meaning of the text and causes the reader to miss important details. Non-meaning change miscues do not affect the meaning of the text. Since most of R.J.’s miscues were meaning-changing this means that R.J. is missing important details in the text. Zero percent of R.J.’s meaning-changing miscues were self-corrected, meaning R.J. did not recognize his mistakes. Words per Minute measures a student’s performance in grade-level text. His reading rate was 18 WPM which is below Pre-Primer. A retelling analysis score is how many ideas the student recalled divided by all the ideas mentioned in the passage. R.J’s retelling analysis score was 33.3%, or 4 ideas out of 12 ideas. This tells me that R.J. struggles with recalling all of the ideas in a passage although he does gather some. Answering comprehension questions after reading the passage was also at a frustration level because R.J. scored under 70%. After the QRI running record, I determined R.J.’s overall reading level as frustration.

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Learning Intervention Session #1 Lesson Plan

Content Summary Learning Experience Approach is a hands on approach to reading and allows the reader to use their experiences into a learning opportunity (Nettles, 2006). Students can talk and write about their experiences (Allen, 1964). The student uses experiences and interests to plan and explain their narrative step by step. LEA is a way to individualize the lesson to the student’s experience (LEA, 2011).

Learning Outcome The student will be able to create a story using real experiences and sight words. Identification of Standards CC.1.4.K.M Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose narratives that describe real or imagined experiences or events.

Materials

Sight Word List Index Cards Markers Paper

 Procedure

Before Reading

Help student recall All About Me student inventory of his interests. Explain we are going to write a story All About R.J. Explain process of choosing a topic to create short sentences using sight words and how we will write the story together. Review sight words. Since R.J.’s most common topic of interest is his quad, start with talking about his quad.

During Reading

Together discuss a story about a quad. Start with R.J. likes to ride his quad. Discuss different activities he likes to do with his quad, who he rides his quad with, where he rides his quad. Have R.J. recreate an experience he has had on his quad. Write the sentences on a sheet of paper to create a story. Read and revise the story, mark changes in a different color, suggest changes to enhance vocabulary, increase sight words, and add details.

Example Story:R.J. likes to ride his quad. R.J. likes to ride his quad with his dad. R.J. rides his quad in the woods.

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R.J. can ride his quad fast.R.J. can look at bugs in the woods.

After Reading Responses

After creating the story write a final draft the student can take home and read with family. Read the story in a funny voice, such as alien, cowboy, or monster.

Assessment

To evaluate student’s attainment of learning outcome make a list of sight words used in the story and content words. Anecdotal recording will be kept on the student’s reading ability of sight words and progress made on new content words.

Rationale

The lesson went really well with R.J. When I first explained that we going to write our own story, he did not seem interested. After we started talking about his dirt bike, R.J. showed enthusiasm and told me everything about his dirt bike. R.J. used sight words in his verbal vocabulary and was able to identify which words in his sentence were sight words. Context words R.J. used were dirt, bike, jumps, wheelies, doughnuts, and mud. R.J. recognized dirt and bike right away after seeing the written word and hearing the word read aloud. The words “jumps” and “mud” were difficult for R.J. to decode at first. After reviewing the letter-sounds and blending the sounds, R.J. recognized both words when reading the story. “Wheelies” and “doughnuts” were two very difficult words for R.J. to read. To help R.J. recognize these words when reading the story, I had him draw pictures for each page of the story. Reading the story through a few times R.J. read his sight words and used the pictures to help him determine the other words. R.J.’s story is the following:

Dirt Bike can do EverythingBy R.J. and Miss A.

I like to ride my dirt bike.I like to do jumps on my dirt bike.

I can do wheelies with my dirt bike.I want to do doughnuts in the mud.

I like to go fast.

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Learning Intervention Session #2 Lesson Plan

Content Summary Learning Experience Approach is a hands on approach to reading and allows the reader to use their experiences into a learning opportunity (Nettles, 2006). Students can talk and write about their experiences (Allen, 1964). The student uses experiences and interests to plan and explain their narrative step by step. LEA is a way to individualize the lesson to the student’s experience (LEA, 2011). LEA provides practice in one-to-one correspondence between spoken and written language with meaningful context to the student (Meyerson & Kulesza, 2010). Using the story created from the previous lesson, the student will be using his retelling skills to recreate the story using the cloze procedure. Cloze procedures require students to use reading strategies, focus on sight words, and strengthen vocabulary. The processes of cloze procedures follows predicting, justifying, comparing, and discussing (Hornsby & Ginsburg, 1992). Recreating the story using index cards with using predictions, comparisons, and discussions combines the LEA strategy with the support of cloze procedure techniques. Teacher should know that Motorcycles is a level above R.J.’s reading level. Therefore, the book should be read aloud to R.J. and should be supported with prompts when being retold.

Learning Outcome The student will be able to recreate his personal story using index cards. Student will listen and retell Motorcycles by Elizabeth Jane Pustilnik (Pustilnik, 2014).  Identification of Standards CC.1.4.K.M Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose narratives that describe real or imagined experiences or events.

Materials

Sight Word List Index Cards of words in story: doughnuts, wheelies should have pictures to assist

in recognition Story: Dirt Bikes Can Do Everything Toy dirt bike Printable Book: Motorcycles by Elizabeth Jane Pustilnik Index Card for “motorcycle”

 Procedure

Before Reading

Help student recall his self-created story, Dirt Bikes Can Do Everything. Have the student read the story once. Show the student the cards with the words from the story.

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Dirt Bikes Can Do EverythingBy R.J. and Miss A.

I like to ride my dirt bike.I like to do jumps on my dirt bike.

I can do wheelies with my dirt bike.I want to do doughnuts in the mud.

I like to go fast.

During Reading

Tell the student we are going to recreate the story using the word cards. Show the student the word cards in the same order as the story then mix them up grouping the sentences together. Model for the student how to unscramble the words sentence by sentence. Talk through your thought process as you find the words for the title: I know who wrote the story, R.J. and Miss Alicea. Can you help me remember what the story was about? When student mentions dirt bikes, ask the student if the words “dirt” and “bikes” were in the title. Guide the student through unscrambling the story by retelling the story, focusing on sight words and vocabulary words. After the student does their best to unscramble the words with guidance and support, have the student check their story by comparing it to the original story.

After Reading Responses

After creating the story on the string have the student read the story once over using the dirt bike toy to reenact what R.J. does with the dirt bike in his story. Teach R.J. the word “motorcycle”. Read the flashcard, have R.J. repeat word twice. Give definition of “motorcycle” compared to a dirt bike; what is going to happen. Use “motorcycle” in a sentence; I like to ride my motorcycle in the mud. Have student say “motorcycle”. Read aloud Motorcycles with R.J. and support his retelling of the story (Pustilnik, 2014). Motorcycles relates to R.J.’s self-created story Dirt Bikes Can Do Everything (Pustilnik, 2014). Using a relatable story with R.J. increases his focus and attention while reading.

Assessment

To evaluate student’s attainment of learning outcome use a checklist of sight words used in the story, content words, score of retelling each sentence, and reenactment of story with prop.

Criteria

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Sight Words Yes No CommentsI XLike XTo XMy XDo XOn XWith X Did not recognize

immediately, but self-corrected

In XThe XGo XWant X Did not recognize

immediately, needed to sound-out the letters.

Content Words Recognized all content words immediately with the use of picture clues

Ride XDirt XBike XJumps XMud XFast X

Index Cards Correct Incorrect CommentsI like to ride my dirt

bike.x Assisted R.J. with

processI like to do jumps on

my dirt bike.X

I can do wheelies with my dirt bike.

X

I want to do doughnuts in the

mud.

x Unscrambled sentence independently, read sentence as, “I want to do doughnuts on my dirt bike”.

I like to go fast. xRetelling

Dirt Bikes Can Do Everything

Yes No Comments (reenact/not)

I like to ride my dirt bike.

x

I like to do jumps on my dirt bike.

X Used toy to recall tricks in the book. .

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I can do wheelies with my dirt bike.

X

I want to do doughnuts in the

mud.

X mud

I like to go fast. XTotal Retelling points- 13

Total- 12/13

RetellingMotorcycles

Yes No CommentsAssisted with

prompt

A motorcycle has two wheels.

x- motorcycle, two wheels

Prompt used: How did the story describe the motorcycle?

People ride motorcycles from place to place.

x-ride

This type of motorcycle goes very fast. Some riders race them around a track. This type of motorcycle can go on dirt roads. Some riders use them to do amazing tricks.

x- dirt bikes race on dirt, do tricks

This type of motorcycle is comfortable. Some riders use them to go on long trips.

x- seats are comfy on some

This type of motorcycle is good in traffic. Some riders use them to go around cities.

x- slow in traffic

This type of motorcycle has flashing lights. Some police use them to keep people safe.

x- police with lights

This type of motorcycle has sidecar. Some riders take a friend

x-take a friend, double seats

Prompt used: What were the double seats used for?

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along for the ride. People should wear helmets when they ride motorcycles.

x- helmets

Dogs should wear helmets, too!

x- dogs ride in them

Total Retelling points- 18(Assisted- .5Unassisted-1)

Unassisted- 10Assisted- 2

Total- 11/18

Rationale

Beginning the lesson R.J. struggled with understanding the directions of unscrambling the index cards, even with the example for the title. Facilitating R.J. with the first sentence and talking through the process further and asking questions seemed to clarify the directions for R.J. For the remaining sentences R.J. unscrambled the sentences independently and re-read the sentences upon completion. Looking back on the story created with R.J., I should have guided R.J. to using the same ending, “on my dirt bike”, for each sentence. Having the same ending would have allowed R.J. to focus on the sight words and content words used in the story. When reading the story again, R.J. read independently and used the pictures as context clues when stuck on a word. After reading, R.J. did very well retelling, with only missing one retelling point that did not change the context of the story. This shows a great improvement with retelling. Although, R.J.’s score may have been influenced because he has read this story multiple times.

Reading Motorcycles with R.J. after creating his own story about dirt bikes created a sense of confidence and increased attention from R.J. (Pustilnik, 2014). R.J. was compelled by the story, talking about each page as we read. On each page R.J. listened to the words while looking at the pictures and told me about each motorcycle portrayed. For example, on page 7, “This type of motorcycle is comfortable. Some riders use them to go on long trips”, R.J. explained that his uncle has this motorcycle and takes him on rides. Using a story that was interesting and relatable to R.J.’s experiences increased his retelling abilities and allowed R.J. to practice retelling appropriately. Motorcycles is a leveled book on the first grade level (Pustilnik, 2014). Since R.J. is reading on a Pre-Primer 1 level, I expected R.J. to miss some of the retelling points and adjusted the scoring to his level. There were 18 total retelling points I wanted R.J. to retell. R.J. retold 11 out of 18 retelling points. Looking back on R.J.’s first running record retelling score of 4/12, this is a great improvement.

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DATA ANALYSIS

Knowledge and Use of Assessment Instrument: Post-test Data (Running Record #2)

My second QRI running record session showed an improvement in R.J.’s skills (Leslie & Caldwell, 2010). I began the running record by asking the concept questions provided by the QRI (Leslie & Caldwell, 2010). R.J., answered the questions by explaining how he does each verb in question. For example, when asked, “What does it mean to jump”, R.J. answered, “bend your knees and push your feet and then push your knees up”. After the concept questions, I asked R.J. to predict what the story, I Can, was about. R.J. looked at the cover page and said “jumping, hopping, and sleeping”. These three verbs were the actions in question during the concept questions. The fact that R.J. used the concept questions and the picture on the cover to make his predictions, shows that R.J. was thinking about the questions asked and how they could relate to the story. I then told R.J. that he was going to read the story to me the best he can and to remember how he reads I was going to record him on my phone. R.J. read straight through the passage fluently and accurately until page 4. On page 4, R.J. omitted the word “lunch” without attempting to decode the word. Comparing this omission to my first running record, I noticed that this word was also omitted from the first running record as well. When R.J. was finished reading I asked him to tell him everything he remembered from the story. R.J. responded, “He can jump, hop, run, eat, sleeping, and dream”. R.J. recalled 6 of the 12 ideas in the passage, which puts R.J. at the instructional level. After retelling I asked R.J. the questions at the end of the passage. R.J. answered all 5 questions with correct, explicit answers. According to the QRI test materials, this puts R.J. on an independent level (Leslie & Caldwell, 2010). This concluded my second running record and the results are as followed:

WR (or Total Accuracy) Score 94%

Difficulty level and grade level Instructional Level, Pre-Primer 1

% of similar letter-sound patternmiscues

0%

% of meaning-change miscues 100%

% of non-meaning change miscues 0%

% of meaning-change self-corrections

50%

Reading rate 23 WPM, below Pre-Primer

Retelling analysis score 6/12, 50%

Reading level of the child as a result Instructional

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ofthe Running Record

Comprehension Questions 5 correct/5 totalIndependent Level

CONCLUSION

Research Assessment Results and Discussion

The QRI running record assessment allows for ongoing progress monitoring. The first running record completed is kept for a baseline. The running record gives you data to determine the student’s reading level. The data includes word recognition score, difficulty, grade level, various miscues, reading rate, retelling analysis, and comprehension questions. This baseline data is what future running records are compared to for determining progress. Results of the running record confirms whether or not interventions are effective and successful for this student.

My specific research question was: What is the impact of the Language Experience Approach strategy on the comprehension abilities of this learner? The answer to this question is that the Language Experience Approach enhances the comprehension abilities of this learner. The Language Experience Approach improved the retelling analysis and comprehension level of this learner. Teaching this student how to practice comprehension of his own language transferred to other readings, increasing his comprehension abilities.

R.J.’s Word Recognition score improved from 89% to 94%. The WR score tells you how many words a reader recognizes in a passage. At 94% this puts R.J. at an instructional level when reading at a Pre-Primer 1 level. Looking R.J.’s miscues, 0% were similar letter-sound pattern miscues, 100% were meaning-changing miscues, and 0% were non-meaning change miscues. Since all of R.J.’s miscues were meaning-changing this means that R.J. is missing important details in the text. Fifty percent of R.J.’s meaning-changing miscues were self-corrected, meaning R.J. did not recognize his mistakes all of the time but he did half of the time. This can also be misleading because R.J. only had two miscues. With more miscues it would be clearer if R.J. recognizes his miscues most of the time. Words per Minute measures a student’s performance in grade-level text. His reading rate was 18 WPM at the first running record but for the second running record R.J.’s WPM increased to 23. The first running record resulted in a retelling analysis score of 33.3%, or 4 ideas out of 12 ideas. R.J.’s retelling analysis score increased almost 20% more, to 50%, or 6 ideas out of 12 ideas. This tells me that R.J. has improved in recalling but still needs is at an instructional level, which means there is room for progress. Answering comprehension questions increased significantly from 70% to 100%, frustration to independent. After the second QRI running record, I determined R.J.’s overall reading level as instructional, proving R.J. did learn. Comparing the two running records is evidence that R.J. grew in all areas: word recognition, retelling, and comprehension.

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My goal for R.J. was to use the Language Experience Approach to increase his retelling and comprehensions skills. Working with R.J., I used his own experiences to create a story and practice retelling and comprehending the story in multiple ways. I then gave R.J. the opportunity to practice his retelling and comprehension skills on Motorcycle (Pustilnik, 2014). Motorcycle is a book above grade level for R.J., which was great practice in listening for key details in a passage he has an interest in (Pustilnik, 2014). The results of the second running record compared to the first running record proves that the interventions using LEA increased R.J.’s retelling and comprehension skills.

First Running Record Second Running Record

WR (or Total Accuracy) Score

89% 94%

Difficulty level and grade level

Frustration Level, Pre-Primer 1

Instructional Level, Pre-Primer 1

% of similar letter-sound pattern miscues

25% 0%

% of meaning-change miscues

75% 100%

% of non-meaning change miscues

25% 0%

% of meaning-change self-corrections

0% 50%

Reading rate 18 WPM, below Pre-Primer

23 WPM, below Pre-Primer

Retelling analysis score 4/12, 33.3% 6/12, 50%

Reading level of the child as a result of the Running Record

Frustration Instructional

Comprehension Questions

3 correct/5 totalFrustration Level

5 correct/5 totalIndependent Level

IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Home Literacy Packet

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The instructional strategy I used was the Language Experience Approach. My research confirmed that practicing comprehension with passages that are relevant to my student’s interests along with using his own language enhanced his learning of comprehension skills. Therefore, my learning activities incorporate comprehension questions along with having the student retell the story in his own words while drawing pictures as well. This strategy improved my student’s comprehension skills by 40% in just two weeks. Practicing these skills on a regular basis will increase the student’s learning significantly overtime.

There are two activities I have provided for this student. One activity is a question and answer sheet for his family to use while reading the book purchased, Fly Guy by Tedd Arnold. This question and answer sheet provides questions that promote comprehension and expected answers for the family to use as a guide. There are specific questions for each chapter and a writing paper provided for complete retelling of the chapter in which the student can draw and write about his favorite part.

The second activity is more informal. This activity is a verbal journal for the student and his family to discuss the events of their day. The student will retell events or eventful days to his family members. This activity is for the student to practice retelling. As explained by the Texas Education Agency, “As part of retelling, students engage in ordering and summarizing information and in making inferences. The teacher can use retelling as a way to assess how well students comprehend a story, then use this information to help students develop a deeper understanding of what they have read”. In the packet I have provided a form and detailed instructions on how verbal journal should be documented and assessed.

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April 28, 2016

Dear Family of R.J.,

Your child has received a copy of Hi! Fly Guy to take home. I have included some activities that you can do with him, which I chose based on my observations as I have been working with him in the classroom for the past few weeks. The directions for completing this activity are on the next page. I hope you enjoy reading the book with him!

Sincerely,

Selina Alicea

California University Childhood EducationField Student

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Overview of activities

The first activity provided is connected with the book Hi! Fly Guy. The directions for the activity are to read the book with R.J., ask the questions on the designated pages, and have R.J. retell each chapter and draw a picture of his favorite part of the chapter. Working with R.J. has taught me that asking R.J. questions while reading help him comprehend the story better. I suggest reading the book a chapter at a time because it is a longer book than R.J. is used to reading in school. I have provided a question sheet to follow for each chapter and writing papers to go along with the activity.

The second activity is an informal journal. The reason I chose a journal is that I worked with R.J. using an approach that allowed R.J. to tell me about something he likes to do. R.J. chose dirt bikes as our topic and we wrote a story together about his dirt bike. Having R.J. speak about an event that happened that day will improve his comprehension skills because he is remembering and explaining the event to you. Events such as going to the zoo, the park, riding quads or dirt bikes can be great ways to practice retelling and comprehensions skills. This is a journal you can keep to see how much R.J. remembers from these activities. Think of the activity from beginning to end and choose the most important parts. Write these parts in the first column labeled, Event Details. Next, ask R.J. to explain, in his own words, the event. As R.J. explains what happened at the event, check off everything he mentions. In the bottom row write the number of details R.J. remembered divided by the total number of details. This number is R.J.’s retelling score. A space is provided if you wish to write anything extra. Practicing retelling is one way to help improve R.J.’s comprehension abilities in reading. The forms are provided in this packet along with an example.

I hope you and R.J. enjoy these activities!

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Hi! Fly Guy By Tedd Arnold

Verbally ask questions while reading each chapter with R.J. At the end of each chapter retell the chapter by drawing and explaining. Chapter 1

Page 2: What was the fly looking for?Answer: something to eat

Page 5: What was the boy looking for?Answer: something for the pet show

Page 7: What happened when the boy and the fly met?Answer: the boy trapped the fly

Page 9: Tell me why happened in this chapter. Write about your favorite part and Draw a picture to go along. Use provided writing page. Chapter 2

Page 11: What is the boy’s name? Do you think the fly said the boy’s name?

Answer: Buzz. Yes, the sound the fly makes is the boy’s name.Page 13: Do you think Dad will let Buzz keep the fly?

Answer: Opinion, any answer. Page 15: What did Buzz give Fly Guy for lunch?

Answer: Hot dog.Page 16: Tell me why happened in this chapter. Write about your

favorite part and Draw a picture to go along. Use provided writing page. Chapter 3

Page 19: Why do you think the judges laughed at Buzz and Fly Guy?

Answer: anything relating to flies not being normal petsPage 21: What did Fly Guy do when Buzz let him go?

Answer: fancy flyingPage 27: How do you think Buzz felt when the judges said Fly Guy can be in the show?

Answer: happyPage 29: What award did Fly Guy win?

Answer: Smartest Pet. Page 30: Tell me why happened in this chapter. Write about your

favorite part and Draw a picture to go along. Use provided writing page.

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Name Fly Guy Chapter 1

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Name Fly Guy Chapter 2

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Name Fly Guy Chapter 3

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JournalEvents such as going to the zoo, the park, riding quads or dirt bikes can be great ways to practice retelling and comprehensions skills. This is a journal you can keep to see how much R.J. remembers from these activities. Think of the activity from beginning to end and choose the most important parts. Write these parts in the first column labeled, Event Details. Next, ask R.J. to explain, in his own words, the event. As R.J. explains what happened at the event, check off everything he mentions. In the bottom row write the number of details R.J. remembered divided by the total number of details. This number is R.J.’s retelling score. A space is provided if you wish to write anything extra. Practicing retelling is one way to help improve R.J.’s comprehension abilities in reading. Example:

Event: ZooEvent Details:

1. Penguins 2. Alligators 3. Bear 4. Lion 5. Zebra 6. Otter 7. Polar Bear 8. Fed the Goat 9. Giraffe 10. Monkey

Total 5/10 Comments: added the monkey was eating a banana when we saw him and the goat tickled when we fed him out of our hand

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Journal Entries

Event: Event Details:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Total

Comments:

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Reflection

The Language Experience Approach impacted the learner by increasing his comprehension abilities significantly. Overall, the learner increased from a frustration level to an instructional level. Specifically in comprehension, the learner increase his score by 40%. The importance of this practice was to find an intervention that would help this struggling reading increase his abilities and supplement his learning with one-on-one instruction.

Language Experience Approach involves using the student’s own language in creating a story used for comprehension practice. The student recognizes his own language in print and has a personal connection to the story making it an effective learning tool. This strategy should be used for children who have difficulty learning from non-engaging topics. Language Experience Approach personalizes the story while incorporating the instructional content. In this situation, the approach provided a story that was easy to comprehend for the learner and I was able to teach comprehension strategies that could be generalized to other stories.

Other learners may benefit from this strategy as well. Using the student’s own language is a crucial component of this strategy. This component is where instruction begins. Learners are compelled to learn from their own language and more likely to retain the instruction.

In the future, I would guide the learner to use the same sight words in each sentence. The fact that there were different sight words used in some of the sentences it made the story more challenging for my student to recall. Even though my student did learner these new content words from reading the story and reconstructing the sentences in our interventions, I believe the strategy would have been even more effective with the same sight words used in each sentence.

This experience taught me the process of researching, implementing and assessing interventions for struggling readers. Researching strategies was something I have had practice doing but never used in a real-life scenario. The skill I most improved on through the researching portion was using citations correctly. Implementing the strategy was a process I have only been through in the content area of math. Teaching reading is a skill through a new strategy was an influential learning experience. The Language Experience Approach was a strategy I have never heard of before, so much research had to be done. I learned that while researching I need to look for details on what the strategy should look like before implementation. As mentioned before, I did not have the student use the same sight words in each sentence to make the lesson more concentrated on comprehension skills. The most influential part was the assessment. The assessment reinforced the notion from other classes of assessment being the most important part of an intervention. The assessment determines whether or not the intervention was effective or not. Improvement in the target area from the baseline to assessment tells that the intervention was successful. If the assessment did not show an improvement than the intervention was not successful for this student then the intervention implementation should be reviewed and if there is not issue with how the intervention should have been implemented to how it was implemented than another strategy should be implemented for this student. This experience taught me many meaningful lessons that I will keep with me in the future.

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REFERENCES

Allen, R. V. (1964). ''The Language Experience Approach." In W. G. Cutts (ed.), Teaching Young Children to Read. Washington: United States Office of Education.

Colayco, J. (2016). California area elementary school. Retrieved March 04, 2016, from http://www.publicschoolreview.com/california-area-elementary-school-profile

Hornsby, D., & Ginsburg, M. (1992). Reading cloze procedure [PDF]. Gallaudet University. Retrieved March 18, 2016, from https://www.gallaudet.edu/Documents/Academic/CLAST/EnglishWorks/Reading%20Cloze%20Procedure.pdf

Kear, D. (1990, May). Reading attitude survey. Retrieved February 19, 2016, from http://www.professorgarfield.org

LEA. (2011, March 17). Retrieved March 01, 2016, from https://literacystrategies.wordpress.com/lea/

Leslie, L., & Caldwell, J. (2010). Qualitative reading inventory-5. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Literacy Strategies. (2011, March 17). LEA. Retrieved March 01, 2016, from https://literacystrategies.wordpress.com/lea/

Meyerson, M. J., & Kulesza, D. L. (2010, July 20). Language experience approach. Retrieved March 18, 2016, from http://www.education.com/reference/article/language-experience-approach/

Nessel, D. (2008). Using the language experience approach with english language learners: Strategies for engaging students and developing literacy. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. Retrieved March 1, 2016, from http://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/21108_Introduction_from_Nessel.pdf

Nettles, D. (2006). Comprehensive literacy instruction for today’s classrooms: The whole, the part, and the heart. Boston: Pearson.

O'Toole, B., & Mhuire, C. (n.d.). What is the language experience approach? [PDF]. Dublin: Marino Institute of Education.

Pustilnik, E. J. (2014). Motorcycles [PDF]. Reading A-Z. Retrieved April 3, 2016, from https://www.readinga-z.com/books/leveled-books/book/?id=2726

Talking, T. (n.d.). All about me. Retrieved February 19, 2016, from https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/All-About-Me-1321717

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Texas Education Agency. (2015). Strategies that promote comprehension. Retrieved April 18, 2016, from http://www.readingrockets.org/article/strategies-promote-comprehension

Wurr, A. (2002). LANGUAGE EXPERIENCE APPROACH REVISITED. The reading matrix, 2(1). Retrieved March 4, 2016, from http://www.readingmatrix.com/articles/wurr/article.pdf +

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