reader case study - manchester...

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Reader Case Study Educ 301

12/10/2010 Casey Loshe

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Phase I

A. Background Information about the Reader

For this case study, the focus is on a ten year old female who is in 5th grade. The reader comes from an upper‐middle class household. Her parents are still married and her mom is a teacher at the High School. There are six children in the family. The reader is a triplet and has three other siblings, a sister in third grade, a sister in seventh grade and a brother that is almost one. She has a learning disability and is receiving special services at school as well as outside of school at The Sylvan Learning Center. The reader also receives speech therapy twice a week for her speech impairment. Out of the reader’s siblings, she is the only one so far that has been identified as having a learning disability, in fact the two sisters her age are top of their class. She feels dumb because everything comes so easy for her sisters and she struggles with everything. The researcher has known the reader for a year now because they worked together last fall as well. Some of her favorite books are Totally Disgusting, Pony Pals, any Bill Wallace book, American Girls, and Boxcar Children. She is a fifth grader, reading at a high third grade or low fourth grade reading level. Since she is so self conscious about her reading ability she usually picks books that are way above her reading level because those are the books her sisters are reading.

B. Assessments The reader does not have any problem with reading passages or books aloud or silently. While listening to her read one would never think she had a learning disability or was struggling with reading. She really struggles with comprehension. The school that she is at has an Accelerated Reader Program where the students read books and then take a computer quiz over the book to gain points. She can read a book aloud to someone and then take the quiz and fail. While working with her there will be three types of assessments done to see how much progress the reader makes throughout the six lessons. There will be a pretest, a progress monitoring test, and a post test. Since she is struggling with comprehension the researcher decided to use an informal reading inventory to use as a pretest and post test to assess the student. By using the same type of test for the pretest and post test the researcher can record the progress more accurately. For the progress monitoring the researcher has decided to use a chapter book chosen by the student. The student will read a chapter out of the book either aloud to the researcher or silent and then answer 10 questions generated by the researcher. The informal reading inventory was chosen as the pretest because not only does it monitor the student’s comprehension but it will also help identify a grade level the student is reading. This test will also identify if she is having any trouble sounding out words or reading fluently. Even though the researcher is pretty sure her main struggle is comprehension this test may show

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something that could contribute to her comprehension struggles. This will be given to the student before beginning lessons. The second form of assessment, which is just comprehension questions over the book she will be reading for the lessons, was chosen just to see how she is doing and to see how many questions out of ten she can answer. Since her school does the Accelerated Reader this is a smaller version of that so it will help her prepare for the real quiz once she finishes the whole book. It will be given on the day of the fourth lesson. It will be the first thing done that day. For the post test, the researcher chose to do another informal reading inventory. She chose to do this because it is easy to mark her ending progress by using the same type of assessment. It allows the researcher to compare similar tests instead of trying to convert two tests that are not alike. This test will be conducted after all of the lessons are given and that will be the only thing done that day.

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Phase II

D. Administration of Screening Assessment

The student involved in this case study is a fifth grader with a learning disability and speech impairment. She has the vocabulary and fluency she needs to read but she struggles to comprehend the text.

For the screening assessment the researcher choose to do an Informal Reading Inventory. This test starts off by having the student read words from lists. Each list has twenty words and each list is set to a grade level. The researcher had the reader start reading from the level two word list. She mispronounced one word in level two, one word in level three, zero words in level four, and five words in level five. When she was reading the words she was doing it fairly quickly. The researcher believes that the words she missed in level two and three could have been because she did not take the time to look at the words and she just guessed what they were, especially since she made it through level four with out any errors. Three of the five words that she missed in the level five list were mispronunciation of vowel sounds. It was hard to tell if she really mispronounced them or if her speech impairment caused the miscue.

Since the reader really did not seem to have too much difficulty reading words, the researcher decided to go ahead and give her the level five reading instead of the level four suggested by the word list. While reading, she had one omission, four substitutions, and one self correction. Looking back on the words that she mispronounced in the reading, the researcher made a similar connection with the words missed in the word lists. One of the words she just left out a letter, two of the words she added letters to and the fourth word it seemed like she just looked at the first letter and guessed what it was. Out of the six words she had errors on only one word may have been above her reading level, that word was famous. The other words she missed were one, fast, compete, and, and, even.

At the end of the assessment when she retold the story she was a little confused about the characters. She got the horses and people mixed up, like she didn’t realized they were separate. However, she did mention the people’s names. Out of the eight comprehension check questions she could only fully answer two of them and those questions were the more direct questions.

E. Interpretation of Assessment

Based on the information provided by the assessment, the researcher found that the reader’s biggest struggle with reading is in the comprehension category. While listening to her read she reads with good expression and she is very fluent. She misses very few words out of a reading. She actually has a large vocabulary for her age. One thing the researcher thinks might help her is to slow down when she is reading. Sometimes when she reads she does it so fast she doesn’t even know what words she read and that is when she makes the little errors in words she knows. If she would slow down and take her time with the text, the researcher thinks she would

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have less trouble understanding it. She has the fluency and vocabulary needed to read the books; she just doesn’t take the time to think about what she is reading.

F. Plan of Action

In order to help the reader the researcher will meet with her every Tuesday and Thursday from 2:00 to 2:30. This is the time where she is usually being serviced by the special education teacher so she is not missing any regular class time. To start of intervention with her, the researcher wants her to start thinking about the words she is reading. The first thing the researcher wants her to do is use Post‐It notes and stick them in the book by words she doesn’t know. This will help her to recognize when she gets to a word that she may have said wrong, or doesn’t know the meaning. The second thing is to use the Post‐It notes again to write down one big thing that happened or something that she thought about every two pages. This will help her think about what she is reading, and help her know if she remembers what she just read. The third thing for the reader is a web to fill out that will map out the story and characters. This will help make sure she is following along with what is happening. The fourth lesson she will play a game that she will match the event to the character. This will help her know who did what, since she seems to mix up the characters. For the fifth lesson, the researcher is going to have a graphic organizer to complete that is similar to the note cards. This organizer will help her connect with what she is reading to make it personal. In between each lesson the reader will be either finishing the chapter started in the lesson or reading part of the next lesson. This will depend on how much time is left after the mini‐lesson. The point of having the reader read part of the book on her own is to give her time to practice the strategy taught that day.

Lesson 1 –The pre‐test was given a week before this lesson, when we picked out the book. Advanced Preparation by the Teacher:

• Two copies of The Chocolate Sundae Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner • 5‐6 Post‐It notes for the student

Procedure:

Introduction: Do you remember the book we picked out together last week and started to read? Well today we are going to reread the first chapter. While I am reading it I will stop periodically and we can discuss what is going on. Stop periodically while reading to discuss the content. Tell the student that at any point you come across a word that you do not understand or get confused stop ask questions.

Step‐by‐Step:

1) Start reading chapter one to the student stop often and discuss what you are thinking as reading the story.

2) Stop after the first page and go over characters and what is going on 3) Before beginning to read again tell student point out any words she does not know. 4) As reading if there is a word that you think is difficult and the reader does not stop

you, ask her if she knows what it means. If she does not go through ways of figuring

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it out. First go back and reread the sentence looking for context clues. Then read ahead. If she still does not know the mean help her out.

5) Finish reading the chapter continually stopping to ask questions

Conclusion: Now that you have read the first chapter and picked out confusing parts or difficult word, you are going to read chapter two and use these Post‐It notes to mark difficult words or confusing parts of the story. Next Tuesday you will go over the chapter and any questions you have and we will start on chapter three.

Lesson 2—

Advanced Preparation by the Teacher

• Post‐It notes • The Chocolate Sundae Mystery

Procedure:

Introduction: How did you like chapter two? What main events happened? Discuss with her any words she had on Post‐It notes and what happened in the chapter. Reread a little of chapter two, try to pick a part that confused the student.

Step‐by‐Step:

1) Yesterday we picked out confusing parts of the story with Post‐It notes. Today we will continue doing that, as well as writing down our thoughts about the text. While reading sometimes we make connections that help us understand the storyline. Anytime you are reading and the text reminds you of something else, is an example of making a connections. Making connections also helps us remember what we have read.

2) Part of comprehending the text is connecting with it, so today as we read chapter 3) Start reading chapter three, stopping every few pages or when the student stops you to

point out something confusing or interesting. 4) Stop at a point to demonstrate being confused. Show how rereading a confusing part

can help. 5) While reading make sure to talk through what you are thinking if you have any

connections as well. This will help the student understand what to think about while reading.

6) Give her Post‐It notes to use to jot down her thoughts and main events 7) Have her continue to read, stopping her every two pages to use the Post‐It notes

Conclusion: You did a good job of writing things down on the Post‐It note. Now continue to do this as you finish reading chapter three for Thursday on your own.

Lesson 3— Give progress monitoring quiz first


• Picture copy of the Story Plot web made in Kidspiration • The Chocolate Sundae Mystery

Procedure:

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Introduction: Reread parts of chapter 3. Discuss the Post‐It notes the student has made and the main events, characters, and conflicts in the chapter. Explain that today the main focus is going to be on those three things as well as predicting what is going to happen, when reading chapter four.

Step‐by‐Step:

1) Make sure the student fully understands main events, characters, and conflicts, by explaining each on to her. Then explain that predicting means guessing what is going to happen next. Tell the student your predictions on what is going to happen in chapter four. Give student a copy of the web

2) Explain each of the parts of the web 3) Start reading chapter four. Make sure you are still stopping to model what you are

thinking. Tell the student that if they have any comments to make while reading that they can feel free to interrupt to share them.

4) Pause every few pages to discuss what is going on and what could be included in the web

Conclusion: Go over the big ideas of the chapter again and main characters. Have her take the copy of the Kidspartion page home to fill out with chapter five. Tell her we will discuss chapter five on Tuesday..

Lesson 4—


• Character Matching Game • List of Characters • The Chocolate Sundae Mystery

Procedure:

Introduction: Discuss chapter five. Have student pick parts of the chapter to reread that she liked. Go over the worksheet. Tell her that today we are not going to read the next chapter together. Instead we are going to do an activity to help with characters and their roles.

Step‐by‐Step:

1) One thing that is important when comprehending the test is to keep track of the characters. One thing that is helpful to do is picture what each one looks like in your head. Try to bring the character to life. Can you picture each character in your head? What do they look like? We are going to play a game to help you identify the characters. Make a pile with the note cards of the characters names

2) Lay the characters descriptions cards face up on the table 3) During the game encourage the student to speak her mind about the characters. Tell her

if anything pops in her head while thinking about the characters to share them with you. 4) Have student draw character and place it with the correct description 5) When finished with all of the characters go over each one with student 6) Pass out character list for student to have as a reference for further reading

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7) Tell student that if more characters are introduced that she can add them to the list 8) Ask the student if she changed her view on any of the characters and if so what are they

now. Tell her that it is okay to change your view about something in the book when receiving new information.

Conclusion: Did going over the characters help you understand the story more? Can you connect with what you are reading better? Read chapter six for Thursday and remember to add any new characters. Also encourage student to keep using the Post‐It notes to connect with the reading

Lesson 5—


• The Chocolate Sundae Mystery • Copy of the organizer for the student

Procedure:

Introduction: Discuss chapter six. See if student added any characters and go over any Post‐It notes she may have had. Have her pick a part to reread. Tell her we are going to read chapter seven today.

Step‐by‐Step:

1) Have the student fill out the organizer while the you read. Pass out the organizer. Go over each part with the student. Tell the student that by filling this out will help you think about what you are reading. These are the types of things that you should be thinking about to help make connections with the text.

2) Explain each part of the worksheet and give an example of how to fill it out 3) Together go over how one might fill out this worksheet for the previous chapter to give

an example of what to do. 4) Start reading chapter seven 5) Pause every two pages to allow time for her to fill out a section of the worksheet 6) Have the student pick when to pause and have her lead the discussion. Make sure she is

not only discussing what is going on but also her thoughts.

Conclusion: Talk about chapter seven. Give her another copy of the worksheet to do on her own for chapter nine. Tell her this is going to be the last chapter we will discuss and work with because next time will be our last meeting, but encourage her to finish the book using the skills she has learned, which are using Post‐It notes to write thoughts or confusions, filling out any of the organizers, and keeping track of the characters. Also remember to pause frequently to think about what you are reading.

The outcome based assessment will be given to her on the next Tuesday. That day the student will turn in the previous worksheet and discuss it. Then the researcher will administer the post test, which is another informal reading inventory. The researcher will do it this way to allow the student time to practice the final lesson before being sent off on her own. The researchers chose to have the post test be similar to the pretest to allow similar results to be compared.

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November 2010

Dear Parent/Guardian,

I am looking forward to working with your child. She truly has a passion for reading and wants to be a good reader. She is always positive and very cooperative. I will be working with her on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:00 until 2:30. My goal is to work with her on her comprehension skills. I want her to slow down a bit while she is reading in order think about what she read and connect with the text. This will help her fully understand what she is reading.

All together I will meet with your child six times and present five mini‐lessons. During these lessons we will be reading The Chocolate Sundae Mystery, which is in the Boxcar Children Series written by Gertrude Chandler Warner. My plan is to read a chapter each Tuesday and Thursday as well as assign her to read a chapter on her own in between meeting with her. The homework is to help her practice the lesson I have taught that day. Each day I will start off by discussing what she read on her own, go over her notes or worksheets, and give her time to read aloud. Then, I will go write into the mini‐lesson by demonstrating it while reading the next chapter.

Throughout the time I will be working with your child, I will give her three types of assessments to monitor her progress. I will start by giving her an informal reading inventory for the pretest. Then half way through I will have five or six comprehension check questions for her to answer over what we have read previously. The third assessment will be another informal reading inventory and it will be used for the post test. My goal is to compare the two informal reading inventories to show the progress your child has made in comprehending what she reads.

Sincerely,

Miss Loshe

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Information Page

Book Information Title: The Chocolate Sundae Mystery Author: Gertrude Chandler Warner Copy Right: 1995 Summary

The Alden siblings have decided to help out in an old ice cream store to help out a new owner. While working at The Ice Cream Shoppe chocolate ice cream is disappearing along with sundae glasses. The whipped cream is also turning sour and customers are complaining. The Alden siblings work to figure out the mystery and save the Ice Cream Shoppe.

Web

The web design the researcher has chose to use was a pre‐made template made found on the Kidspiration software. It was tweaked a little to make it more useful for the student. It was chosen because it helps the student identify character and events going on in the story. This will help the student focus on what is happening in the story and boost her comprehension. This web will be utilized in lesson three. First the teacher will demonstrate and explain it, then it will be sent home to been completed independently. The next page is a copy of the graphic organizer the researcher will be using that was made using the Kidspiration software.

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Predictions

Main Events

Characters Involved

Chapter _____ __

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Phase III

Session 1 Strategies/Activities

‐ Read chapter one of The chocolate Sundae Mystery ‐ Model what to do if a difficult word or a confusing section of the text pops up ‐ Read chapter two having the student pausing at difficult words or confusing parts ‐ Have student finish chapter on her own using Post‐It notes to mark difficult words

Session 1 Reflection

The reader was let out of class late for this session, so time was cut by about ten minutes. This limited the amount of practice and reading for the reader. The researcher explained that sometimes when people read, they come to a part of a story that can be confusing. It can be confusing because of a missed detail or an unknown word. Knowing when this occurs is very important when comprehending a text. The reader understood and was excited about getting to use her favorite color of stick note. The reader asked if she could read aloud because she loves to read aloud. The researcher allowed her to read aloud for the remaining time, but as long as she paused at confusing parts. This is where the researcher realized the reader did not know when she got confused. The reader was reading the words but not getting anything out of what she was reading. The researcher ran out of time but told her to finish reading chapter two and to try to slow down and focus on what she was reading.


‐ Reread part of chapter two discussing any Post‐It notes ‐ Model making connections and writing them on Post‐It notes ‐ Have the student read chapter three aloud pausing when she makes a connection


This session started out by reviewing the reading that the reader read at home. Even though she was excited about the Post‐It notes, she did not use any. The researcher had a few words tagged that she thought could be difficult so they went over those sections of the text. The reader did not know any of the words that were tagged. The researcher had them tagged with Post‐It notes like she wanted the reader to do for another visual representation. The new lesson for session two went a lot better than the review. The lesson was similar so the researcher did not know what to expect. The reader was supposed to use the Post‐It notes again. In the original lesson the researcher was suppose to have the reader mark connections with the text. Instead, the researcher decided to have her just write about the text. The researcher said that it can be anything from a connection, a confusing part, or just writing about what is happening in the story. The researcher had the full half hour to work on this lesson, so they were able to practice more together. The researcher read the chapter and helped the student pick out parts. The researcher would pause every two pages and ask the reader if she wanted to put a Post‐It note anywhere on those pages. At first, the researcher had to give ideas and say “well you could put one

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here and say …” By the end of the lesson the reader was able to put Post‐It notes down without ideas from the researcher.


‐ Reread part of chapter three discussing any Post‐It notes ‐ Go over and give examples of main event, character, conflict, and predicting ‐ Have student fill in the organizer while reading chapter four ‐ Give student another copy of the organizer to take home to fill out for chapter five


The review in this session went well. The reader was able to use the Post‐It notes. Even though the only information on the Post‐It notes were things taken write out of the book, it was still progress. The student was able to write about what she was reading even though they were not connections. The lesson for this session was fairly successful. The researcher had the reader find the main event, the characters, the conflict, and predict what was going to happen next. This allows the reader to monitor what she is reading as well as try to figure out what is going to happen next. As they read, the researcher had the reader fill out parts of the web when possible. When they finished the chapter, the researcher asked the reader what she thought was going to happen next. The reader did a good job filling out the web herself and was able to find the conflict and the main event, however the characters involved were a little tricky. The reader gets the minor characters mixed up. The researcher sent the reader home with a copy of the organizer as well as the one they filled out together in class. The reader was told to read the next chapter and fill out the organizer for that chapter. The researcher told the reader to use the organizer they filled out as a reference if she got stuck.


‐ Reread part of chapter five ‐ Discuss characters with student creating visualizations of characters ‐ Play character game with student ‐ Re‐visualize the characters ‐ Have student read chapter six at home adding characters


This session did not start off well. The reader did not have time to read the next chapter and she did not bring back either of the organizers. It had been a whole week since we met because of fall break. She did such a great job on them in class the time before that the researcher really was not so worried about it. The researcher knew the next lesson was on characters and that was where the reader struggled the most when working on the organizer. For the lesson in this session the researcher thought that the student was not ready to match characters to their description. Instead, the researcher created a worksheet for the student to fill out to keep track of the characters. The worksheet had the student write the character’s name, a brief description, and his/her role in the book. While having the reader fill

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this out, the researcher saw that the reader knew all the names for the characters without having to use the character list, but she struggled a little with the description. For example, one of the character’s first name is Simone and the reader thought it was her last name and it was a male. This showed that she could recall words that she read, but could not always keep them straight.


‐ Reread part of chapter six ‐ Pass out organizer and explain it to student ‐ Give examples of how to fill it with information from previous chapter ‐ Start reading chapter seven pausing to allow student to fill out organizer ‐ Give student another copy of the organizer to fill out while reading chapter eight


This session started off slow. It was the reader’s birthday. The researcher and the reader got a little off subject for the first five minutes discussing what she was doing for her birthday. Once we got back on topic the researcher explained a new organizer she was going to have the reader fill out. This organizer was to help the reader connect with the text. The researcher felt that the reader has been doing a good job of summarizing the text that she could start connecting with it. This worksheet was designed both to connect to the text as well as record something from the text. The researcher thought this would be a great way for her to gradually move from just summarizing, to writing connections based on her previous work. While reading chapter seven the reader did a good job of picking out parts that she could make a connection. The first one she picked out was about green beans. She told the researcher that her mother’s green beans were the best and that she could almost taste them when thinking about it. The research felt that this was the most successful lesson yet. The research had the reader reading aloud and the reader was pausing on her own making connections. This was the first time the reader really stopped to discuss what she was reading. It was the first time she really was getting into the lesson.

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Phase IV

From the data collected, the research can show that the reader has made some growth. The growth was not really noticed until the day of the last lesson. The last day was like she was a whole new reader. She was finally connecting with the text. She was able to stop herself while reading and make a comment, connection, or ask a question. Even though the observational data showed more improvement than the written data, the reader made some improvements from the pretest and the post test.

The researcher chose to use an informal reading inventory to assess the reader before working with her. The researcher chose this type of test because it can monitor many different things such as, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and reading level. Before giving the test, the researcher figured that she would be focusing on the comprehension part of the assessment. The results confirmed what the researcher was anticipating. Based on the results from reading the wordlist, the student was on grade level, so the researcher chose a text that was fifth grade level to assess the student. While reading the text, the reader had five miscues and one self‐correction. Almost all of her miscues were not a result of not knowing the word. The reader is a fairly fast reader and did not take the time to look at the whole word. One time she said faster instead of fast. Another mistake was skipping the word ‘and’. Others included complete for compete and on for one. A couple of the miscues could have been a result of her reading disability.

When asking the reader to retell the story, she was able to identify the main event and that there were horses involved but did not really know much about the characters. She knew there was a character named Robyn, but she personified Robyn’s horse as Robyn. The reader did not really understand where Robyn fit into the story; she just remembered reading the name. When assessing the comprehension, the reader was able to name one main character but left out the other person. She could answer the first three questions which were basic level questions which the answers could come word for word out of the text (see attached test to view questions). She really seemed to struggle with questions that the answers did not simple come out of the text. These questions made her think a little and made her interpret the words. The reader was not able to do that. The answers she gave were right out of the text but they did not fully answer the questions. The reader struggled with making inferences.

For the progress monitoring test, the researcher chose to give a five question quiz over one chapter in the book the reader has been working on with the researcher. At first look, the researcher was a little concerned about the answers. However, once the researcher went back and thought through the questions and the answers, the researcher realized the main issue was mixing up the characters. The question was probably not the best of questions. It was a tricky question that really did not have to do with the plot of the chapter. It was a bit of random information. It was asking what country one of the characters was from. The answer the reader gave was a country that another character was from. This told the researcher that the reader can pick out information from the text but may not always be able to connect it to the right things. The last question asked an opinion and the reader did an excellent job predicting what was going to happen next. However, she added one character to the prediction that

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really did not make sense. The question was “what do you think happened to the missing items?” She answered “I think someone might have taken them or stolen them. I think Mrs. Saunders and Mr. Brown did it.” Mrs. Saunders is exactly what the researcher was looking for in the answer; however, Mr. Brown was the person who owned the missing items. The researcher did not really know how to interpret the answer to this question. This quiz really helped the reader come up with one of the last lessons. This quiz is the reason why the researcher changed her lesson form a game to an organizer. The researcher was hoping this would help the reader keep the characters straight.

The post test was another informal reading inventory. The assessment itself is similar but the story and word list is different. The plots of the stories were almost identical, except one was about the first female to win a horse race, and the other was about the first female to win a top fuel race. This was chosen so the researcher would be able to compare the test results fairly. This test showed about the same results for all of the categories except comprehension and prediction. The reader still had five miscues, but once again, they were words that she either just left a letter out or did not lot look at the whole word. One thing interesting was that she said faster again instead of fast just like in the first assessment. The reader added more details to the prediction section of the assessment. On the first assessment the reader just basically reread the title. For the second assessment, the reader mentioned that she thought the driver was either going to win or crash. The researcher could tell she was using background knowledge this time instead of just reading the words. The results of the comprehension section of the test showed improvement. The reader only completely missed two of the questions and on the first assessment she missed four. Even though the reader is still not where she needs to be when reading, she has made improvements.

This graph shows the readers improvement on comprehension skills. The researcher scored each assessment out of eight points and the graph shows how many points the reader scored on each of the assessments. One thing to note, the progress monitoring quiz was not the same type of test. It was just reading questions made by the researcher over the book the lessons were based on. The researcher did review the reading with the reader before giving the test which, from the results, went well. This graph shows that the reader scored two and a half more points from the pretest to the post test. Each test was only out of eight questions.

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Pretest Progress Post Test

Assessment Results

Reader

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The next few pages are copies of each of the assessments. Only a copy of the comprehension part of the informal reading inventory is included, starting with the pr test and so on.

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It is hard to compare the work samples from the reader since each lesson was focused on a separate reading strategy. However, the researcher did notice a little more participation towards the end. At the beginning, the researcher was helping the student fully to interact with the text. For example, the first two strategies involved using post it notes. In the first lesson, the reader did not use any post it notes at all. In the second lesson, after the researcher used a couple post it notes, the reader found places to use a few. For all three organizers, the researcher guided the reader to the answers, but the researcher did not tell her any answers. The researcher just gave her ideas and the reader had to go her own way with the ideas. The only new weakness found from the work samples was that at the beginning the reader was not connecting with the text at all. She could only tell the researcher the words that were on the page, and not anything about what she was thinking or how the information fit into the text. By the end however, the reader was getting a little better. The last organizer shows that she was able to make some connections with the text as she was reading (see attached work samples).

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Throughout the lessons the reader really did not change her attitudes or behaviors much. She always wanted to be the one reading aloud, because she likes to read. She was excited about reading the book we chose together. Her attention span was not as long as it should have been. The researcher noticed that when she read to the reader, the reader would get distracted by other things and did not always pay attention. However, when the reader read aloud her attention span seemed fine. The reader really wants to become a better reader, the researcher could tell that the reader did not like receiving extra help. The reader wants to naturally be a good reader like her sister. This helped to motivate the student to do well. The reader never once complained about doing any of the work. The reader even finished the book after the lessons were complete, and she did not have to. One thing the researcher did notice was that the reader never wanted to miss speech. The researcher was able to work with the reader from 2:00 till 2:30. At 2:30 the reader had speech. Every day the reader would remind the researcher that she had speech at 2:30 because she did not want to miss it. One time the researcher asked her if she wanted to finish the chapter (because there were a few pages left but it was time for speech), but the reader chose to go to speech instead.

Reflection

I personally have learned a lot from working on this reader case study. The main thing I have learned to do is look closely at the student work. While giving the assessments I thought the students answers were all wrong and not even close to the correct answer because I only had one answer in mind. However, when I look at them now I can see where the student got some of her answers. Also, by giving the assessments I have learned to find what to teach. I never planned on doing a lesson about the character until I realized the student was getting the characters mixed up. I have come to realize how important assessing students throughout a series of lesson can help build on the other lessons. It allows the teacher to see if the student is making progress and what areas need to be strengthened. Like I said before I did not realize how much the student grew while actually teaching the lesson. I did not realize it until I started to analyze all of the data. Once I started to compare the work samples and the assessments I realized she really did grow as a reader. At first I was not sure how effective my lesson were, since it took her a while to connect with the text. However, now when I look back at my lessons I can see exactly where I scaffold the lessons so that she would gradually be connecting to the text on her own. After seeing the results I think my lessons were successful. The reader still has growth to make to be with her peers, but these little lessons definitely helped. One goal I have for next semester is to help the reader continue to grow. I know the other students in the class could benefit from the reading strategies as well. I hope to be able to use these strategies in my lesson to help out the other struggling readers as well.

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