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TRANSCRIPT
Caroline Nepomuceno
May 4, 2016
TEDU 566
Case Study Report
Student Background
Gabby is in the fourth grade in a Henrico County Public School. She is a 10-year-old girl
whose hobbies are reading her favorite books, writing stories, and drawing pictures. Her favorite
author is Shel Silverstein, and her favorite subject is science because of the fun experiments.
Gabby comes from a blended family. She lives at home with her mother, stepfather, younger
brother, and dog, Lucius, a Jack Russell Terrier.
Based on her answers given on the Elementary Reading Attitude Survey, Gabby ranked 88%
in recreational reading, 83% in academic reading, putting her in the 88th percentile in the overall
scale out of 100, for her grade level. This means that 88% of all students in the 4th grade have the
same attitude or lower about reading. Gabby’s high percentages show that she posses a very
positive attitude towards reading both inside and outside of the classroom. Based on assessments
given to her by her teacher and based on the Guided Reading system, Gabby reads on a level P
which is equivalent to a high third grade reading level. Gabby loves to read but loves writing
even more. She likes the way books make her feel like she is going on a journey to someplace
new and she enjoys learning new things inside and outside of the classroom. Gabby always
enjoys coming to our sessions and doesn’t mind the numerous assessments; she thinks of them as
“little games we play”. She comes to each session prepared to learn with a cheerful and friendly
attitude. However, Gabby loves to tell stories about her family, friends, and her dog. This, along
with her curiosity, can distract her from the sessions, but she is easily redirected back on task.
This report shows the results and analysis of current assessments that were conducted in
order to determine Gabby’s current reading level. These assessments were necessary to evaluate
her strengths and needs for future lesson planning.
Alphabet Knowledge
Total Score Letters Unknown Sounds Unknown Sounds Confused54/54 N/A Ī
ŌĀĒFGJKPQ
Gabby had a very positive and confident attitude going into the Letter Identification
Assessment. She understood that she needed to identify each letter and all sounds that each
makes and seemed to think the task easy. Gabby quickly and accurately identified the capital
letters, but was confused by the lower case “L” (l), initially confusing it with the number one (1).
This was to be expected due to the font the assessment used, the two symbols looked nearly
identical (l, 1). When it came to the sounds that the letters made, Gabby did not demonstrate
knowledge of the long “o” and “i” sounds. She also showed that she had some knowledge of, but
confused, the sounds of the letters: ā, ē, f, g, j, k, p, and q. Gabby said that the letters f, k, and p
had both long and short sounds like vowels. However, she only made the two sounds (long and
short) when identifying the capital letters. For the letters g, j, and q Gabby added an “a” sound to
the end of the letters. Instead of saying the sound “g” or “q”, she would say “ga” or “qua” putting
emphasis on the “a” sound. During the assessment Gabby provided a name and sound response
for every letter with little confusions.
Phonological Awareness
Score on the Yopp-Singer Test of Phoneme Segmentation
Level of Phonological Awareness(Strong, Emerging, or Needs
Intervention)
19/22 Strong
When explaining the task of the Yopp-Singer Test of Phoneme Segmentation, Gabby
seemed confused and asked “How do you break down a word?” After going through the
provided examples, she showed confidence in her ability to do this. While administering this
assessment, the examiner did not correct Gabby if she incorrectly segmented a word, because
they wanted to gauge her prior understanding. Out of twenty-two words, Gabby incorrectly
segmented ten of the words. For five of the words the examiner noted that she added an “a”
sound to the end of each initial consonant sound, similar to her performance in the Letter
Identification Assessment. The other five words she mis-segmented, Gabby broke down the
word by the initial consonant and the remaining sounds. For example the word race, she
segmented it “r/ ace” instead of “r/ a/ s”. Gabby performed best when segmenting the two- and
three-letter words. However, she expressed her lack of confidence when segmenting the two
letter words, saying that those were the hardest words in the “test”. Due to the fact that the
examiner did not correct Gabby during the assessment, the assessment was re-administered to the
student. During the second assessment, Gabby was provided with the correct segmentation of
words she broke down incorrectly. During this trial, Gabby’s only mistake was adding the “a”
sound to the end of each initial consonant sound. Combining the results of both trials of the
Yopp-Singer Assessment shows that Gabby segmented 19 out of 22 words correctly,
demonstrating her strong phonemic awareness.
Writing Skills - Writing Sample
Trait ScoreIdeas & Content: main theme, supporting details Proficient (4): Evident main idea with some support
which may be general or limitedOrganization: structure, introduction, conclusion Developing (3): Attempts at organization; may be a
“list” of events; Beginning and ending not developedVoice: personality, sense of audience Developing (3): Voice may be inappropriate or non-
existent; Writing may seem mechanicalWord Choice: precision, effectiveness, imagery Emerging (2): Monotonous, often repetitious,
sometimes inappropriateSentence Fluency: rhythm, flow, variety Emerging (2): Often choppy; Monotonous sentence
patterns; Frequent run-on sentencesConventions: age appropriate, spelling, caps,
punctuation, grammarDeveloping (3): Limited control of convention; frequent
errors do not interfere with understanding
Gabby was very excited and confident in her ability when she was prompted with the
writing activity. The examiner introduced the activity by engaging the student in a short
discussion about why writing is used (ex. to tell a story) and brainstormed ideas for a short
writing piece. Gabby was given five minutes to create an idea web, a tool that she was familiar
using from prior experience in her classroom. She decided to use her dog, Lucius, as her subject
and wrote two words and one phrase for her branching ideas. As she began to write, Gabby spent
more time talking about off topic subjects than she did actually writing. The entire time Gabby
was working on her web and writing, the examiner was doing the same as a means to model
expected behavior. After some time, Gabby regained focus on the task and wrote her story about
her dog.
Gabby was ranked two out of six in word choice and sentence fluency due to the choppy
and repetitive nature of her sentences. Her organization, voice, and conventions ranked a three
out of six. Gabby’s three sentences about her dog resembled the format of a list and lacked any
voice or personality. She also had limited use of punctuation throughout, making the sample
difficult to read fluently. However, Gabby ranked four out of six, because her writing clearly
demonstrated that she had a main idea, her dog, and provided two relevant, supporting details.
Gabby should be recognized for making full use of her idea web when writing her story.
Word Knowledge - Spelling Inventory
Primary Spelling Inventory (PSI)
Feature Points: 52/56
Words Spelled Correctly: 22/26
Spelling Stage: Late - Within Word Pattern
Known Using but Confusing AbsentConsonants
Short VowelsDigraphsBlends
Common Long Vowels
Other VowelsInflected Endings
N/A
Elementary Spelling Inventory (ESI)
Feature Points: 50/62
Words Spelled Correctly: 17/25
Spelling Stage: Early - Syllables and Affixes
Known Using but Confusing AbsentConsonants
Short VowelsDigraphsBlends
Common Long Vowels
Other VowelsSyllable Junctures
Inflected EndingsUnaccented Final
Syllables
Harder SuffixesBases or Roots
The Words Their Way Spelling Inventory was given to assess and provide insight to
Gabby’s orthographic knowledge. The results of the Primary Spelling Inventory (PSI) indicate
that she is using, but confusing other vowels and inflected endings. Gabby’s performance
demonstrated her prior knowledge of the remaining features assessed in the PSI. Her feature
score for the PSI was 52/56, spelling 22 of the 26 words correctly, which led the examiner to
administer the Elementary Spelling Inventory (ESI). The results of the ESI confirm Gabby’s
confusion of inflected endings as well as unaccented final syllables. Her knowledge of harder
suffixes and bases or roots was almost entirely absent. In this inventory she spelled 17 of the 25
words correctly, scoring 50 out of 62 feature points. The results of both the PSI and ESI place
Gabby in different spelling stages, so the examiner used the PSI to determine her spelling stage
and the start of instruction. According to the Primary Spelling Inventory, Gabby is preforming in
the late within word pattern spelling stage.
Reading Skill
Qualitative Reading Inventory – QRI-5
Word Lists Results:
Level Total Automatically identified
Total correct identified
Total number correct
Functional Level
1st 80% 20% 100% Independent2nd 60% 35% 95% Independent3rd 55% 30% 85% Instructional4th 30% 50% 80% Instructional5th 25% 65% 90% Independent
Passage Results:
Passage Level / Title Level 4: The Busy BeaverType of Text ExpositoryPrior Knowledge (Score/ Rating) 8/12 - 66% FamiliarQuality of Prediction 2
Level/ % Total Accuracy 97% IndependentRetelling (Numbers of ideas/ %) 14/49 – 28%
ComprehensionImplicit: 2/4 – 50%Explicit: 4/4 – 100%
Total: 6/8 – 75% - InstructionalRate WPM/ CWPM WPM: 73 / CWPM: 71Total Passage Level Instructional
Word Lists
Gabby began on the level one word list and identified all twenty words (100%) correctly,
sixteen of which she identified automatically. In the second level list, she identified 19 out of 20
words correctly with 60% of those words identified automatically. In both these lists she
preformed at an independent level. The third level list showed that of the 17 correctly identified
words, Gabby identified 11 words automatically. She reached 55% automatic identification with
a total of 85% accuracy. In the fourth level, Gabby identified less than half of the words
automatically (6/20) preforming at an instructional level. Finally, in the fifth level list Gabby
went back to preforming at an independent level identifying 18 out of 20 words correctly,
however, only five of those were automatic responses. In this list, Gabby demonstrated her
ability to look at unfamiliar words and decode them. Overall, Gabby’s most common mistakes
were reading the words too quickly and missing or changing suffixes (for example, insect to
insect-s) and mistaking a word for another word that has a similar spelling (for example,
adoptions instead of adaptations). Gabby never reached the level of frustration.
Reading Passages
Even though Gabby preformed at an independent level above her grade level in the word
lists, without reaching her frustration level, she was given a level four passage to read. The
passage was an expository passage titled, “The Busy Beaver”. When asked the initial concept
questions, to asses her prior knowledge, Gabby’s answers showed that 66% of the material was
familiar to her. She read the passage at an independent level, making six miscues overall (97%)
at 73 words per minute. After reading the passage, she retold 14 of 49 (28%) main ideas and
details from the passage. This was a task Gabby struggled with; instead of walking through the
details of the passage she tried to summarize the main ideas. However, Gabby answered 6 out of
8 comprehension questions correctly (four explicit and two implicit), which shows that her
comprehension is at an instructional level. With this being stated, the examiner would like to
note that one of the comprehension questions was very similar (relating to the same concept) to a
previously asked concept question. Gabby’s answer for the comprehension question was exactly
identical to the answer she gave for the concept question, even after reading the passage that
gives the answer implicitly. This demonstrated to the examiner that the student struggled with
constructing an answer of her own based on the passage that was read. Overall, Gabby
preformed at an instructional level when working with this level four passage. Due to time
constraints, the examiner did not continue the assessment to higher leveled passages. If more
time were available, the examiner would have continued administering more passages until the
student’s highest instructional level was found.
Gabby’s behavior during the QRI-5 assessment was very positive. She enjoyed doing the
word lists and was confident in her knowledge in the beginning. However, as she moved up to
the level four and five word lists she took more time to look at the words and work them out
aloud. During these lists, she would frequently ask if her response was correct, showing a lacking
in her confidence. During the passage section of the assessment, Gabby answered the content
questions by referencing back to her prior knowledge from the classroom but confused some of
her facts. As she read the passage, she went back and fourth between confident and fluent
sentences to pausing and breaking sentences down. Once she was finished reading, the student
gave a big sigh of relief. She told the examiner that she liked reading about the beavers, but it
was a lot (281 words) to read at once.
Listening Vocabulary Knowledge – PPVT
Score SummaryStudent Chronological Age 10 years 2 months
Raw Score 138Standard Score 90Percentile Rank 25
Normal Curve Equivalent - NCE 36Stanine 4
In order to begin the PPVT assessment in the correct set, Gabby’s chronological age was
calculated to be ten years and two months. She began in set 9 (age 10). In this set she incorrectly
identified three words, so the examiner moved backwards to the next set in order to find the
student’s basal set. The basal set was reached at set 7 (age 8), two sets below from where the
assessment began. Gabby moved forward from there and completed all the sets with an average
of 3 words missed in each set. Her ceiling set was reached at item number 166, set 14 (ages 19 –
adult), going beyond her age level. During the PPVT Gabby used different strategies to reason
out words that she could not identify immediately. For some words, she recognized the root or
base of the word and from understanding their definitions she could deduce the correct answer.
For words that she was not as familiar with she would use the process of elimination and take out
options that she knew were not correct first. Gabby began the assessment with great confidence
in herself; however, as she progressed through the sets she began to question her choices and
double guess at answers.
Gabby’s raw score is 138 and her NCE, or distance from her raw score to the group
average, is 36. She has a standard score of 90 (100 being the average) and ranks in the 25th
percentile. Her scores place her on the lower average end of the graphical profile.
Summary of Assessments
From the very first assessment, the Garfield Attitude Survey, Gabby eagerly expressed
her joy for reading and confessed that she enjoys writing even more than reading. Her scores on
this survey confirm her positive attitude towards reading both inside and outside of the
classroom. The only aspects of reading that Gabby does not enjoy is reading aloud in front of
others and taking reading tests. However, she never seemed displeased during any of the
assessments that the examiner administered over the course of their sessions.
The Letter Identification assessment indicated that Gabby has reached a high level of
letter recognition and sounds with little confusion regarding the sounds. She easily identified all
capital letters and only confused one lower case letter, the lower case “L” with the number
“1”(one). This was to be expected due to the font that the assessment used, making both symbols
look identical in shape. When demonstrating her knowledge of letter sounds, Gabby showed that
she had some understanding of short and long vowels. However, she did not specifically give
both vowel sounds for each set of letters (capital and lower case). She also thought that the letters
“K, F and P” had both long and short sounds as well. This confusion may have come from the
short talk we had about short and long sounds after she identified the first letter, “A”, in the
assessment. It should be noted that this mistake only happened once. In order to reach mastery
level, Gabby needs to fully understand long vowel sounds. The Primary Spelling Inventory
provided more insight to Gabby’s confusion with vowel sounds. Her performance showed that
she accurately recognizes the sounds of long vowels within a word, but needs more practice with
other vowel sounds such as –ow and –ir. The spelling inventory showed that Gabby is stronger
with identifying letter sounds within words than in isolation.
The results of the Yopp-Singer assessment show that Gabby has a strong phonemic
awareness. She correctly segmented 19 out of 22 words correctly, within two separate trials of
the assessment. Two trials were done due to the examiner’s error of not modeling correct
segmentation for words that the student missed. Her most common mistake during this
assessment was adding an “a” sound to the end of each initial consonant sound. This behavior
was also seen during the Letter Identification assessment when Gabby was identifying the
sounds of the letters: g, j, and q.
Gabby’s writing sample revealed her knowledge of the six traits and the writing process.
She decided to write a story about her dog, Lucius, and the things he likes to do. The idea web
she created demonstrates her organizational skills and her ability to support a main idea with
relevant details. Her sentence structure lacked consistent use of punctuation, but her use of
capital letters helped to indicate the start of a new sentence. The writing sample reads in a
monotonous, mechanical voice and lacks variety in word choice, making the writing sound more
like a list of facts about her dog than a story. Her writing suggests that Gabby needs more
instruction on sentence fluency, word choice, and proper convention use in order to progress.
Overall, Gabby accurately identified the majority of the words in level 1 through 5 lists
with an average automaticity of 50%. Her performance went from independent to instructional,
back to independent as she progressed through the lists, never reaching frustration level. During
the assessment, Gabby practiced segmentation of longer words she did not recognize and self-
correction when she realized her initial response did not match the letter patterns. Even though
Gabby preformed at an independent level identifying words in isolation above her grade level,
she was given a level four expository passage to assess her overall reading and comprehension.
While reading this passage, she made six minor miscues two of which changed the meaning of
the sentence, giving her a total accuracy of 97%. After reading, Gabby answered six of the eight
questions correctly. The two questions that Gabby missed were implicit questions that required
Gabby to process and understand what she read in the passage and apply it to what was asked.
Her comprehension level and overall level for this passage was instructional.
Gabby’s listening vocabulary knowledge, according to the distribution graph provided,
was considered to be low average. Her raw score was 138 making her standard score 90, 100
being average for her age. Assessment began at set 9 (age 10), yet her basal set was found at set
7 (age 8). Gabby demonstrated a variety of strategies when working out the meaning to a word
that she was not familiar with. She used process of elimination, looked at the root meaning of
words, and used content clues from the pictures to help her make the best choice. Gabby’s
ceiling level was found at set 14 (ages 19-adult).
Overall, Gabby’s performance and attitude on each of the assessments is very consistent
and accurately reflects Gabby’s knowledge. The only factor that could have negatively affected
her performance was the working environment provided. Sessions are held in the school’s
cafeteria which is shared amongst the other tutors and students. At times this can create a noisy
and distracting environment, making it hard for Gabby to focus on the assessments and preform
at her best.
Recommended Instructional Plan
Phonics
Since the results of the Yopp-Singer Phoneme assessment indicated that Gabby had
strong phonemic awareness, phonics instruction was guided by the results from the Words Their
Way Spelling Inventory. The Primary Spelling Inventory indicated that Gabby was using, but
confusing other vowels (specifically –ow and -ir). Through the use of word sorts and games,
Gabby should practice identifying the –ow and –ou sounds within words. Gabby should work
with words that contain other vowel sounds through word sorts, games, and decodable texts. One
game that can be used is the “Racetrack Game” that comes directly from the Words Their Way
textbook. The book provides a blank board that can be filled in to match the appropriate word
sort and requires the student to make matching word pairs based on their sound patterns.
Decodable texts can be used as a way to help the student identify recognize words from her sort
in context.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary instruction should be included during read-alouds, word sorts, and any time
Gabby comes across an unfamiliar word. When a new word comes up during the lesson, the
examiner should first ask Gabby if she has ever heard the word used before and to make an
educated guess at the words meaning. Then the examiner should say the word, a simple
definition, and an example if possible of the vocabulary word. A structure should be created to
organize and track her progress. Gabby should be given a blank notebook to keep with her and
record vocabulary words, their meanings, and a picture to reference. This could be a book that
she keeps with her at all times during school to record new words she learns, or it can be more
controlled to specific words if it suits the students needs. When introducing new text to Gabby,
the examiner should look through the text prior to the session and pick out words to review with
the student before reading. This will not only build her vocabulary, but will also ensure she has
better comprehension of the text.
Another strategy that can be used is “predict and check”, where the examiner will pick
out 4-5 words that can be defined from their context from the student’s text. Have her make an
initial prediction of the meaning of the word then, ask them questions such as, “What
information in the passage will help me figure out the meaning of this word?” The student will
then be required to look back through the text to decode the meaning of the vocabulary word
using context clues.
Fluency
Fluency should be addressed in every single session through read alouds, poems, and
leveled texts. The examiner should introduce a new poem by first reading it to the student,
modeling the correct pronunciations, rhythm, and voice of the poem. The second read through of
the poem is either a choral or echo reading, where both the examiner and student are reading the
poem. Once the student becomes comfortable with the poem, the examiner will encourage
Gabby to read the poem on her own. To help Gabby become more comfortable with reading in
front of others, the examiner recommends having her stand to read the poem to them. When the
student has mastered the poem, a new one that has different rhythms should be introduced and
practiced. The poems will help Gabby practice finding rhythms within a text and to read with
expression. They have also expanded her vocabulary and encouraged her fluency in her
independent reading. Another strategy that should be used to increase Gabby’s fluency is
highlighting all punctuation. It was noticed towards the end of the program that the student does
not always recognize all punctuation and is confused what some mean. If punctuation was
highlighted it would grab the student’s attention and remind them that punctuation means that
they, as a reader, need to do something (pause, stop, etc.).
Comprehension
Gabby’s comprehension skills will be expanded on through the use of weekly readings of
new stories and poems. Every new text that is introduced, Gabby is asked to make a prediction
based on the title and the pictures (if available). After reading, the examiner will ask Gabby a
series of questions related to the text including, questions on the main character, setting, main
event, and favorite and least favorite part of the story. These questions help the examiner assess
what Gabby is retaining from her readings and whether or not she is enjoying what she reads.
Along with these comprehension questions, Gabby should be developing her monitoring and
sequencing skills. These can be practiced through activities done while the student is reading the
text. For example, after reading a paragraph or short page Gabby should be instructed to pause
and write down a summary of what she just read. She can then use these notes to recall and
determine the main idea of a long text or story. Story maps can be used to organize the important
details and characters and can help Gabby visually understand the bigger picture of the text.
Another comprehension strategy that would cater to the student’s needs is by making a
purpose for reading. This can be introduced to the student by talking about a topic, such as
sports, and why people like to play sports. The examiner could then discuss with the student the
variety of answers there are and relate that to how there are a variety of purposes for reading.
Have the student reflect on the different types of texts (books, newspapers, magazines,
cookbooks) and have them determine the purpose for reading each. Have a discussion with the
student and make finding the purpose of a text part of the regular routine when introducing new
texts.
Writing
Gabby should practice her writing skills, specifically sentence structure, through creating
story maps for texts she reads. After she reads each section of the story, she should create a map
that includes pictures of what she thinks is most important in the text. Gabby should look at how
her pictures relate to each other and construct a sentence that represents what she drew. This
activity will help Gabby visualize the main components of a complete sentence by using pictorial
representations to show the: who, what, when, where, why that make up a sentence. To help
develop Gabby’s sequencing and organization skills, have her write out “how to…” instructions
for something she is familiar with (ex. How to draw a cat). This will require her to think about
the order of the process and how to organize the steps.
Technology
Gabby can gain experience using technology tools such as Raz-Kids, an online resource,
to read different eBooks that match her pre-assessed reading level. Since she is reading the book
on a computer, Gabby can adjust the font to meet her needs, interact with words to look up their
definitions, and she can have the computer read the story to her. The eBook technology also
allows Gabby to highlight text in the book, allowing Gabby to monitor and make note of the
important details. Also, she can look up any word she does not recognize just by clicking on it,
when she does the program gives the reader the opportunity to create a word list that can be used
for future vocabulary instruction. Another app called “Word Sort Wizard”, allows the student to
work on any type of device (laptop, ipad, cell phone) to practice phonics. This app provides the
student with numerous pre-made word sorts that cover a range of phonetic features and has an
option for the teacher to create their own word sort that can be individualized to the students
needs. Another simple technology tool that can be useful for fluency instruction is a voice
recorder. This can be used to record the student as they read and then played back to them so that
they can evaluate their own reading. This can help the student catch mistakes that they didn’t
even realize they had made.
Formative Assessment – Running Records
Date Book Level
% Accuracy
SCR Text Level ErrorsM
ErrorsS
ErrorsV
SCM S
V4/11/2016 P 94% 1:5 Instructional 0 1 7 24/13/2016 P 97% 1:5 Independent 1 0 3 14/25/2016 P 97% 0 Independent 0 0 3 04/27/2016 P 98% 1:3 Independent 1 0 1 1
Running Record Analysis
The running records, which were given on books that are categorized by Guided Reading
as level P, show the patterns of errors and self-corrections in the student’s reading. The first
running record was done on an expository text and the remaining three were assessed on a
fictional story. Much like her results from the QRI-5 assessment, many of Gabby’s miscues are
nonmeaning-changing substitutions or changes. When reading a passage she will change or
ignore a words ending, for example she read, “cook” as “cook-s”. This is a behavior that was
seen during the QRI word lists and well as the passage. Other miscues that were made, that did
change meaning, were mainly visual miscues. As the student came across words that were
unfamiliar she would substitute in a word that looks similar, for example she read, “wondering”
as “worrying”. Since these small changes didn’t change the plot, Gabby’ did not realize her
mistake or self-correct. When Gabby did self-correct, she used both visual and meaning cues.
For example, when reading the fictional story Gabby read “and he pushed into tears” when the
correct text is “and he burst into tears”. After she read that aloud, she paused, looked back at the
word, and then made her correcting re-reading the sentence as a whole. Looking at this error, it is
clear that Gabby relies on visual cues to initially decode words, but uses meaning cues supported
by visual to self-correct.
Gabby’s love for reading always shined through when it was time for running records.
She was always very comfortable and never showed signs of frustration when asked to read,
even when being timed and assessed. Even though Gabby’s running records show that she can
read level P texts fluently at an independent level, she should still continue working on this level
in order to build her comprehension skills.
Reassessment
Only one formal reassessment was given to Gabby to track the progress in the area most
focused on during the tutoring sessions. She was re-administered the Primary Spelling Inventory
to show the progress made in phonics instruction. One other informal reassessment was given to
Gabby. These will be discussed in the “Achievements and Accomplishments” section.
Primary Spelling Inventory
Words Spelled Correctly
Feature Points Total Spelling Stage
Original 22/ 26 52/ 56 74/ 82Late Within
Word Pattern
Reassessment 21/ 26 52/ 56 73/ 82Early Syllables
& Affixes
The student was reassessed using the Primary Spelling Inventory. Her results show
improvement in the specific feature that was worked with (other vowels), however, it also
showed a decline in other features and total words spelled correctly. Gabby scored 6/7 feature
points for “other vowels”, compared to her initial score of 5/7 feature points. The score shows an
improvement in Gabby’s spelling, but it should be noted that Gabby incorrectly spelled the word
“shouted” as “showted”. This is important to realize, because it was a word/sound pattern that
was focused on during instruction and was spelled correctly in the initial assessment. Gabby also
misspelled the word “rob” during the reassessment (she spelled it correctly during the initial
assessment) as “roube”. When the examiner gave the student this word, she took a considerable
amount of time thinking about the spelling, almost as if she thought it was a trick question. Since
she initially spelled the word correctly and considering that her phonics instruction focused on
the “ou” and “ow” sounds, it can be assumed that Gabby thought the spelling inventory would
focus on those sounds. The overall results of the Primary Spelling Inventory show that Gabby
has moved from the “Late Within Word Pattern” to “ Early Syllable and Affixes” spelling stage.
Achievements and Accomplishments
Phonological Awareness/ Word Knowledge
Over the course of the reading remediation tutoring, Gabby has shown good
improvement with phonics and her use of strategies. Although her feature score remained the
same and her words spelled correctly dropped, the student showed improvement in the area of
focus. Gabby’s Primary Spelling Inventory shows that she has become more aware of other
vowels, such as “ow” and “ou”, scoring 6/7 feature points compared to 5/7. Evidence of a change
in Gabby’s thought process, when spelling a word, can be seen through one of her mistakes.
When spelling the word “rob”, Gabby spelled it “roube” substituting in the “ou” sound that she
has been working with, for the short “o”. Even though it caused her to spell the word incorrectly,
it proves that she has now added the practiced sounds into her thinking process. However, since
it is still incorrect more instruction and practice with these sounds is recommended.
Fluency
Throughout the tutoring sessions, Gabby’s improvements in fluency were the most
prominent. Fluency instruction was given since the first day of tutoring, starting with a read
aloud and progressed to include a variety of texts and strategies. In each session Gabby would
read a poem, when it was first introduced the student and examiner would do choral reading or
echo reading in order to model fluency skills. In the beginning she had to decode words as she
read therefore, she lacked expression in her voice. Through echo reading, she was able to hear
each line read correctly before reading it herself. Breaking it down into smaller pieces and
allowing her to hear the words read correctly first, helped Gabby learn to read with expression
because she was not focusing on decoding the words. Gabby was exposed to many texts that all
included lots of dialogue. This was done intentionally as another way to help Gabby learn to
understand the voice of a text and to express it through her readings. Phonics instruction also
improved Gabby’s fluency skills. Even though the phonics instruction did not directly relate to
the poems or texts Gabby worked with, it developed her ability to look for sound patterns and
decode words.
At the close of the tutoring program, Gabby was informally reassessed for fluency by
evaluating her final poem reading of Sick by Shel Silverstein. Earlier in the program she was
evaluated for fluency by her poem reading of My Dog Likes to Disco by Kenn Nesbitt. The
student read both poems several times with and without the support of the examiner before being
informally assessed. During the initial assessment, Gabby read using good volume with some
expression but needed to work on smoothing out her phrases and pacing. The results of her
reassessment show huge improvement in all categories, as she scored 14/14. During her final
poem reading, Gabby read with vibrant expression, followed all punctuation, and read with an
appropriate steady speed. Gabby has made huge strides in her fluency, which has in turn boosted
her confidence in reading aloud.
Comprehension
Gabby’s comprehension grew over the course of the tutoring program. Her use of
comprehension strategies grew from, searching back through the text to find an answer to
organizing the important details in a manner that will promote comprehension. Gabby also
learned how to connect her prior knowledge to new texts she read, make a prediction based on
her prior knowledge and clues from the text (title and pictures), and how to adjust her prediction
after learning new information. An example of this can be seen through Gabby’s story chart she
made for the book, Alia and the Troll Furniture. Her initial prediction was based mostly on her
prior knowledge of trolls; trolls being big, scary monsters that live under bridges. But after
reading the story and creating a story chart, Gabby was able to adjust her prediction and write a
few sentences to accurately summarize the entire story.
Writing
Gabby showed good growth in writing sentences that show variety, however she did not
show progress in her use of punctuations. As seen in the initial writing sample, the student lacked
variety in her sentence beginnings and structure, writing each sentence in a consistent “my dog
___ [this]” format. This behavior was seen repeated in several lessons, where the student would
not be able to think of an original beginning to a sentence; every sentence started with “I think
the story was about…” This became the main focus of writing activities. As the program
progressed, Gabby was encouraged to think of new ways to begin her sentences and to
specifically avoid using “cookie-cutter” beginnings. Her improvements can be seen throughout
the series of story charts she created for the eBook, Alia and the Furniture Troll. When writing
summarizing sentences for the story, Gabby skipped the “cookie-cutter” beginning and went
straight into what was happening in the story. This led her to creating interesting sentences that
showed variety.
Attitude
Gabby began the tutoring program with a very positive and excited attitude towards
reading, which is evidenced by her results from the Garfield Attitude Survey (88th percentile).
Every session she always seemed pleased to see me and was curious as to what the day’s
activities had in store. Gabby maintained her cheerful attitude throughout the program, even
when given multiple assessments and tasks that seem repetitive or boring. Her confidence levels
would vary depending on the task at hand. Most times she was very confident in her abilities,
however, during the longer assessments Gabby began to question her success asking, “Did I get
that one right?” When Gabby made mistakes or was confused, she would accept that she didn’t
know the answer and try her best to remain positive. She often said, “That’s okay because next
time I’ll do better.” And more often than not, she would prove that she could do better. An
example of this can be seen through Gabby’s fluency work. She began the program with a very
negative attitude towards reading aloud, especially in class in front of peers. As her fluency skills
progressed, Gabby became more confident with reading aloud and even enjoyed reading to the
examiner. Gabby’s love for reading and writing only grew stronger over the course of the
tutoring program.