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Reader Case StudyShaina Hiatt

Dr. Victoria Eastman

EDUC 301

9 December 2011

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Table of ContentsPhase I

Background Information on the student…………………….page 3 Assessments…………………………………………………pages 3-4 Assessment Database………………………………………..pages 4-6

Phase II Administration of Screening Assessment…………………..page 7 Interpretation of Assessment………………………………..page 7 Plan of Action……………………………………………….page 8 Lesson Plans…………………………………………………pages 8-12 Parent Letter…………………………………………………page 13 Teacher Letter……………………………………………….page 14 Book Information Page………………………………………page 15

Phase III Implementation and Reflections over Lessons 1-6………….pages 16-29

Phase IV Impact on Student……………………………………………pages 30-31 Assessment Graph…………………………………………...page 31 Impact on Researcher………………………………………..pages 32-33 Student Work………………………………………………...pages 34-61

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Reader Case Study: Phase I

Background Information:

The researcher has spent time familiarizing herself with the student during the first phase of the reader case study. The student is an eleventh grade male. The student has no family and his parents’ rights were terminated when he was only four years old. The student is an at risk student who is a ward of the state and is completely dependent on state funding; therefore, his socioeconomic status is extremely low. The most consistent person in the student’s life is his CASA, which is a Court Appointed Special Advocate. According to records, the student has moved 24 times within the last five years or so. Therefore, education has not been a priority in his life. The student at this point only has five credits toward graduation, even though he is a junior. Between full, half, and step, the student claims to have 14 brothers and sisters. The student enjoys riding bikes, cooking, cleaning, and occasionally writing. The student has the future hope of joining a trade school and becoming a chef. The student struggles with several disabilities, including ADHD, Bipolar, Conduct Disorder, and ED. The student’s teachers say that he thrives on direct instruction and attention. The student has difficulty understanding and concentrating on reading and may shut down.

Assessments:

When the researcher discussed the student with his Developmental Reading teacher, she discovered that his major weakness is comprehension. According to his teacher, the student is at a reading independent level of third grade and an instructional level at fourth grade. The student has the access to Read, Write, Gold, but does not choose to utilize it, or has difficulty utilizes it. The student does not enjoy technology and claims to very much dislike computers. When looking at the student’s previous test scores, on the Metropolitan Achievement Test, he received a 6.6 on vocabulary and a 4.4 on comprehension, giving him a total score of 5.2. When looking at the student’s Scholastic Reading Inventory, his Lexile is 232, Percentile is one, and NCE is one. The student receives accommodations in school such as extra time on tests and assignments and extra breaks in order to try and prevent him from shutting down.

The researcher will use three different stages of assessment with the student. For the pre/post assessment, the fifth grade Criteria Referenced Competency Test will be used. This assessment is designed to specifically focus on text comprehension. The middle monitoring progress assessment will be an informal reading assessment over the book the student is reading during the intervention. The first stage will be a screening assessment, where the researcher will find a baseline for the student in order to see where to begin instruction. The second assessment is a progress monitoring assessment, where the researcher will see if the student has made any improvements. If the student has, the researcher will proceed with the instructional technique that she has been using. If the student has not improved, then the researcher will change her instruction in order to better meet the student’s needs. The final stage of the assessment will be

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outcome based, meaning that the researcher will use this score to compare to the initial screening assessment. By comparing these two scores, the researcher will be able to document growth that the student has made and determine whether or not the instruction was effective. The three scores from the assessments will be documented in order to create a line graph that documents the students learning.

Assessment Database:

NAME GRADE

HOW TO USE WHEN TO USE IT

INFORMATION PROVIDED

REFERENCE INFORMATION

Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI)

K-12 The SRI uses the Lexile Framework in order to measure reading comprehension. The SRI lines up with state tests.

The SRI generally is administered three times a year. It is administered at the beginning of the year, the middle of the year, and the end of the year.

The SRI is known to help with teacher accountability and can help keep students and teachers focused on reading goals. It is known as one of the fastest, most accurate reading assessments.

http://teacher.scholastic.com

DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency and Retell Fluency

1-6 This assessment is designed to measure accuracy and fluency along with a comprehension check.

This assessment is administered at the beginning, middle, and end of the year.

This assessment is useful to set goals and monitor students’ progress. Students read aloud for one minute. The number of correct words for one minute is the fluency

https://dibels.uoregon.edu

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score. This assessment demonstrates the connections between reading fluency and reading comprehension.

Reading Fluency Benchmark Assessor (RFBA)

1-8 Using grade level passages, the RFBA measures students’ reading fluency.

This test should be administered three times a year. It should be administered in the fall, winter, and spring.

This assessment can be entered electronically or manually. This assessment can be used to compare students’ scores to national reading fluency norms. This can also help teachers screen students for reading problems and predict how well a student will do on standardized testing.

http://www.readnaturally.com

The Abecedarian Reading Assessment

K-1 This assessment focuses on a balanced reading

This assessment can be given as often as needed to monitor progress and

This assessment provides a flow chart in order to help

http://www.balancedreading.com

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approach and therefore tests all areas of reading: letter knowledge, phonological awareness, phoneme awareness, alphabetic principle, vocabulary, and decoding. This assessment balances all the reading areas in order to determine how they are affecting a student’s reading comprehension.

further instruction.

a teacher direct this assessment. Not all areas of this assessment need to be given, just the subtests that are needed in order to provide the teacher with information she/he needs to drive instruction.

CARS- Curriculum Associates (Comprehensive Assessment of Reading Strategies)

K-8 CARS is designed to help teachers discover strengths and weaknesses of their students based on twelve key reading strategies.

The CARS assessment has four steps which include: diagnosis, instruction, application, and benchmarking. Students are assessed after they complete ten lessons.

CARS emboldens students to use higher level thinking skills, can build comprehension skills that are needed for success on standardized tests, and uses self-assessment to strengthen student learning.

http://www.curriculumassociates.com

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Reader Case Study: Phase II

Administration of Screening Assessment:

The researcher will work to improve comprehension skills with the sixteen year old male.

From previous discussions with the student’s developmental reading teacher, the researcher

decided to administer a Criteria Referenced Competency Test at the fifth grade level in order to

assess the student’s strengths and weaknesses in reading comprehension. This assessment was

administered at a class period of 2:22 pm through 3:12 pm, although it only took the student

about thirty-two minutes to complete the assessment. This assessment had three short stories and

a poem for the student to read and had a total of twenty-five questions for the student to answer

after the readings. The student answered nineteen out of the twenty-five questions correctly,

giving him the score of seventy-six percent.

Interpretation of the Assessment:

Following the assessment and a brief consultation with the student, the researcher

reflected upon the score of the assessment and the behaviors/reactions of the student to the

assessment. The score of the assessment, which was seventy-six percent, is passing. While taking

the assessment, the student was not at a deep frustration level. The only complaint that he had

was that he asked if the lights could be turned down some because he had a headache. Once the

lights were turned down, he had no more complaints. The student seemed to take time on the

readings and questions, flipping through pages when he felt he needed to go back to re-read

something. When finished, the student made a comment saying that the assessment was not “too

bad.” When looking at the questions that the student missed, it demonstrated that the student

struggled with main idea, opposites of vocabulary, comprehension, and sequencing of events.

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Plan of Action:

The student has not read an actual book in quite a while. For the first step in the plan of

action, the researcher wanted the student to choose a book that he would enjoy reading. When

asked this question, the student replied that he did not enjoy reading at all and did not have books

that he enjoyed. After some probing, the student had an idea. He had read the first book in a

series, called Lemony Snicket “A Series of Unfortunate Events.” The first book is titled The Bad

Beginning. The student decided that he wanted to continue with this series and read the second

book, titled The Reptile Room. This book is at about a sixth grade level, which the researcher

feels the student can handle with assistance. This book will be used for the six intervention

lessons. On the first day of the action plan, the researcher will give the student his reading

materials, consisting of: a composition notebook, medium and large Post-It notes, Post-It note

tabs, pencils and pens, a reading schedule and agenda, and a copy of Lemony Snicket’s The

Reptile Room. The researcher will also have all of these materials.

Lesson Plans:

*Lesson I: Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Student and Researcher will go over the plan for the duration of the intervention.

Researcher will give student reading materials and schedule, and describe what each

material will be used for. Introduce how the composition notebook will be used as a

literature circle tool where the students will write any unknown vocabulary, summarize

what is read, and ask two questions about pages that are read in between each meeting

session.

Student and researcher will have re-tell session over first book, Lemony Snicket’s The

Bad Beginning.

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Researcher will give student the strips of major events from the first book. Student will

sequence the events. When events are in correct order, student will glue them in place

and keep the sheet with his reading materials (stapled into composition notebook).

Researcher and student will read aloud several pages in the beginning of the second book

The Reptile Room.

Student and researcher will decide what pages will need to be read before next meeting

and student will write this in his agenda.

*Lesson II: Thursday, October 27, 2011 (The student was absent this day. Therefore, the

researcher had to modify other lessons. Please see Phase III)

Researcher will begin by having a discussion with the student over the literature circle

assignment. Researcher and student will look up any unknown vocabulary in a dictionary

and write short definitions down in notebook.

Researcher will discuss the idea of schema and metacognition with the student.

Researcher will perform a think aloud with the student over the next few pages in the

book.

Researcher and student will spend the rest of the time reading and then will assign next

readings that need to be done before next meeting and the student will write them in the

agenda. Student will be expected to continue literature circle, this time adding the

assignment that the student needs to make two connections with the text.

*Lesson III: Thursday, November 10, 2011

Researcher will begin by having a discussion with the student over the literature circle

assignment. Researcher and student will look up any unknown vocabulary in a dictionary

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and write short definitions down in notebook. Student and researcher will discuss

connections.

Researcher and student will discuss cause and effect. Together they will fill out cause and

effect chart over parts of the book they have read so far.

Researcher will discuss context clues with the student and provide examples. This will

lead to the idea of making predictions.

With the remaining time, the researcher and student will read and then will assign next

readings that need to be done before next meeting and the student will write them in the

agenda. Student will be expected to continue literature circle, this time adding the

assignment that the student needs to make two connections with the text and at least one

prediction about what will happen next and what context clues leads him to believe that.

*Lesson IV: Thursday, November 17, 2011

The researcher will administer the progress monitoring assessment. This will be an

Informal Reading Assessment that the researcher creates asking comprehension questions

thus far about the book The Reptile Room.

Then, the researcher will have a discussion with the student over the literature circle

assignment. Researcher and student will look up any unknown vocabulary in a dictionary

and write short definitions down in notebook. Student and researcher will discuss the

connections, the prediction, and the evidence that supports that prediction.

After that, the student and researcher will decide the next amount of assigned reading and

the student will write it down in his agenda. He will be expected to do the same literature

circle assignment as last time: unknown vocabulary, summary of what was read, at least

two questions, at least two connections, and at least one prediction.

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*Lesson V: Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Begin lesson by the researcher having a discussion with the student over the literature

circle assignment. Researcher and student will look up any unknown vocabulary in a

dictionary and write short definitions down in notebook. Student and researcher will

discuss the connections, the prediction, and the evidence that supports that prediction.

Next, the researcher will further the discussion on context clues by talking about

inferencing. Researcher and student will practice inferencing skills.

Researcher will then introduce the story map and explain how it works.

Student will then fill out the parts of the story map that are known thus far.

After that, the student and researcher will decide the next amount of assigned reading and

the student will write it down in his agenda. He will be expected to do the same literature

circle assignment as last time, except he will now have to add one inference.

*Lesson VI: Thursday, December 1, 2011

Begin lesson by the researcher having a discussion with the student over the literature

circle assignment. Researcher and student will look up any unknown vocabulary in a

dictionary and write short definitions down in notebook. Student and researcher will

discuss the connections, the prediction, the evidence that supports that prediction, and the

inference.

The researcher and student will discuss the skill of comparing and contrasting (finding

similarities and differences).

The researcher will give the student the Venn diagram and explain writing assignment.

The researcher will show the student her own Venn diagram as an example. The student

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will be expected to fill out the Venn diagram and then write a story where he chooses a

character in the book The Reptile Room and has to write about the similarities and

differences between himself and that character.

The student will fill out the web and begin writing his story.

Student will write in agenda that story is due on December 6. The reading development

teacher will give student class time to work on this assignment as well.

*Lesson VII: Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Encourage student to continue using the composition notebook and reading tools as he

journeyed onto the third book in the Lemony Snicket series.

Administer final assessment (same test as the screening test) in order to assess the

effectiveness of the interventions.

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Dear Parents/Guardians,

As you know, I have been working with your child to provide additional assistance in the

area he has been struggling with, which is reading comprehension. After administering a

screening assessment, I found several ideas that I wanted to focus on with your child. In order to

provide this additional assistance, I am using a variety of strategies and approaches.

Your child is able to read fluent enough that he can grasp an overall understanding of

what is being read. However, he is struggling with sequencing events, some vocabulary,

determining a setting, and being able to state the main idea of a story or paragraph. In order to

address these needs for your child, I have an intervention plan that consists of seven sessions.

The dates of these seven sessions are: October 25, October 27, November 10, November 17,

November 29, December 1, and December 26, of 2011. These sessions will be done during your

child’s fourth period class which is dedicated to developmental reading time. Your child will be

expected to do some work outside of class time between sessions and will have those

assignments written in his agenda, which is in his reading composition notebook. Although, your

child will also be given class time to work on those assignments. All of the materials needed in

order to complete assignments have been provided for your child.

The seven sessions will consist of working on: summarizing, vocabulary, making

connections, making predictions, inferencing, using context clues, creating questions while

reading, sequencing and filling out a story map, and comparing and contrasting. All of these

areas are designed in order to improve your child’s comprehension skills. Also, your child will

take a progress monitoring assessment and a final assessment in order to measure the

effectiveness of these reading intervention sessions.

Lastly, I would like to thank you for all your cooperation and for giving me the

opportunity to work with your child. At the end of our intervention sessions, it is my goal to have

helped your child significantly improve his comprehension, giving him strategies which will in

turn help him in all of his subject areas. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me

anytime at 260-894-1652 or by email at smclark@spartans.manchester.edu.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Shaina Hiatt

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Dear Teacher,

As you know, I have been working with your student to provide additional assistance in

the area he has been struggling with, which is reading comprehension. After administering a

screening assessment, I found several ideas that I wanted to focus on with your student. In order

to provide this additional assistance, I am using a variety of strategies and approaches.

Your student is able to read fluent enough that he can grasp an overall understanding of

what is being read. However, he is struggling with sequencing events, some vocabulary,

determining a setting, and being able to state the main idea of a story or paragraph. In order to

address these needs for your student, I have an intervention plan that consists of seven sessions.

The dates of these seven sessions are: October 25, October 27, November 10, November 17,

November 29, December 1, and December 26, of 2011. These sessions will be done during your

student’s fourth period class which is dedicated to developmental reading time. Your student will

be expected to do some work outside of class time between sessions and will have those

assignments written in his agenda, which is in his reading composition notebook. Although, your

student will also be given class time to work on those assignments. All of the materials needed in

order to complete assignments have been provided for your student.

The seven sessions will consist of working on: summarizing, vocabulary, making

connections, making predictions, inferencing, using context clues, creating questions while

reading, sequencing and filling out a story map, and comparing and contrasting. All of these

areas are designed in order to improve your student’s comprehension skills. Also, your student

will take a progress monitoring assessment and a final assessment in order to measure the

effectiveness of these reading intervention sessions.

Lastly, I would like to thank you for all your cooperation and for giving me the

opportunity to work with your student. At the end of our intervention sessions, it is my goal to

have helped your student significantly improve his comprehension, giving him strategies which

will in turn help him in all of his subject areas. If you have any questions or concerns, please

contact me anytime at 260-894-1652 or by email at smclark@spartans.manchester.edu.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Shaina Hiatt

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Information Page:

Title of Book: The Reptile Room

Author’s Name: Lemony Snicket

Copyright date: 1999

Publisher: Scholastic Inc.

Summary:

The Reptile Room is the second book in the series of “A Series of Unfortunate Events”

written by Lemony Snicket and illustrated by Brett Helquist. This book is about three siblings

who became orphans after their parents were killed in a tragic and mysterious house fire. The

three children, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire, were forced to live with a relative with the

name of Count Olaf. After Count Olaf was caught trying to unleash an evil plan in order to steal

the Baudelaire children’s fortune, he escaped and the children were now being forced to live with

another relative. The new relative’s name is Uncle Monty and he is a herpetologist. The children

are very happy in their new home until they come upon another misfortune. Uncle Monty

mysteriously dies and the children are once again confronted with Count Olaf. The children

survive, but Count Olaf escapes again and the children are now, once again, homeless.

The Venn diagram will be used in lesson six of the intervention stage on Thursday,

December 1, 2011. After the researcher shows her own Venn diagram to the student as an

example, the student will be expected to choose a character in the book and fill out the Venn

diagram comparing and contrasting himself to that character. The student will then use the Venn

diagram to help him write his paper over the similarities and differences between himself and

that character.

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Reader Case Study: Phase III

Implementation and Reflection

Lesson 1:

Openingo The researcher gave the student the materials he needed for their work time

together and explained how they will be used.o The researcher went over the plan for their meetings with the student.o The researcher and the student had a re-tell session over the first book called The

Bad Beginning by lemony Snicket in order to prepare to move on to the second book The Reptile Room.

Lessono After the re-tell session, the researcher had a discussion with the student on

sequencing events.o After the discussion, the student was given strips of paper that contained major

events from the first book.o The student was to put them in correct order and then glue them in his

composition reading notebook. Close

o The student and researcher took turns reading aloud in the book The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket.

o The student and researcher decided what pages need to be read before our next meeting.

o It was decided that pages 1-26 need to be read and the Literature Circle assignment needed to be completed which was: read the assigned pages, write down any unknown vocabulary, a short summary of what was read, and ask two questions over the reading.

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Reflection over Lesson 1

The researcher was impressed by the student. The student said that he was excited and

was ready to begin the book. The student was appreciative of the materials that were given to

him. The student remembered the main events of the first book The Bad Beginning by Lemony

Snicket. The student responded well to the idea of sequencing and put all the main events in

order on the first try. The researcher was very impressed.

When the student read aloud, he seemed to have a good flow. He felt comfortable reading

aloud with the researcher. He even asked if he could read more than what the researcher read.

When the researcher read aloud, she made sure to read at a good voice tone and model for the

student how a fluent reader reads.

After this lesson, the researcher has high hopes that the intervention is going to go well.

The student generally spends most of his time on the computer throughout the day and seemed

anxious to do activities that did not involve computers. The student wanted to read the book,

which was more than what he had demonstrated for the reading teacher that year. However, due

to the disabilities that this student has, the reading teacher warned the researcher to take it one

day at a time. The reading teacher told the researcher that this student definitely has his good and

bad days and that they can be very unpredictable.

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Lesson 2

Openingo The student and researcher discussed the Literature Circle assignment.o The student and researcher looked up any unknown vocabulary words in the book

and tried to interpret the meaning.o Then, the student and researcher looked up the vocabulary words in the dictionary

and wrote the definitions down.o The researcher and student both read their summaries over what happened in

pages 1-26.o The researched and student discussed their questions. They talked about whether

or not the questions were answered later on. Lesson

o Discussing whether or not the questions were answered led into a discussion about making predictions.

o The researcher and student talked about metacognition.o The student wrote the word metacognition in his reading notebook and what the

definition is.o The student also wrote what a prediction was and some thinking stems that can be

used when reading.o The researcher modeled a think aloud about how she connected with a piece of

the story.o Then, the student made a connection.o The student and teacher practiced making predictions.

Closeo The student and researcher decided what pages need to be read before our next

meeting.o It was decided that pages 61-90 need to be read and the Literature Circle

assignment needed to be completed which was: read the assigned pages, write down any unknown vocabulary, a short summary of what was read, make at least one prediction and connection, and ask two questions over the reading.

o The reason we were on page 61 is because the reader had read ahead on his own time.

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Reflection over Lesson 2

Originally, the researcher was going to do seven lessons with the student. However, when

the day of the second lesson came around, the student was absent. Nobody had informed the

researcher that the student was absent until she arrived at the school. Therefore, the researcher

was disappointed because she had to find a way to modify the next lessons in order to make up

for lost time.

When the student and the researcher finally met, the second lesson went well. The student

had completed the Literature Circle assignment as well as the researcher. The researcher and the

student went over the unknown vocabulary, which was a decent amount. The student responded

well to finding “clues” within the text to find the meaning of each word.

The student was happy to share his summary over what he read. He then wanted to share

his questions. When the researcher and student discussed making connections and predictions,

the student began to discuss connections he had with characters from the book without even

being directed to do so. The student had read a great deal more in the book than what was

assigned.

The researcher was ecstatic about the enthusiasm the student was showing and the effort

he had been putting into the lessons. The student was doing even more than what was being

asked of him. The researcher is hoping that this positive progress continues. At this rate, the

researcher believes that more will be accomplished than she had planned on.

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Lesson 3

Openingo Today was the day to give the reader his Informal Reading Assessment.o This assessment was six questions over what the student was supposed to have

read up to that point in the book The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket.o The assessment had five multiple choice questions and one short answer.

Lessono The student did not complete his Literature Circle assignment and reading and

asked if he could spend the time finishing the assignment.o Since there was not much time left, the researcher allowed the student to use the

rest of the time to read silently and work on the assignment. (It was his choice to read silently)

Closeo The researcher and student decided that the student needed to read pages 72-90 by

the next meeting and have finished the Literature Circle assignment.o They had a discussion over the importance of doing the work and working on

reading, even if he does not like the subject.

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Reflection over Lesson 3

The researcher has very mixed feelings about how events went in lesson 3. The

researcher was very happy because the student earned a 100% on his informal reading

assessment. The student was excited as well and bragged about the score to several of his

teachers. The researcher felt that this was a good experience in order to help the student gain a

higher self-esteem when it came to reading. The researcher is also hoping that this will help

motivate the student to want to continue to work in order to gain more success.

However, the researcher was extremely disappointed to realize that the student did not

read the assigned pages from the last lesson and did not complete the Literature Circle

assignment. The student requested work time to read the pages. The researcher granted the

student that time since there was not much time left and since the student put a lot of effort into

the informal reading assessment.

The closing of the day did not end well in the opinion of the researcher. The researcher

and student re-assigned the pages and Literature Circle assignment. That is when the student

decided to complain that he hated reading. The student wanted the researcher to ask her professor

if they could do writing instead. The researcher discussed the importance of reading with the

student and why they were working on it. The student then said that he knew how to read and did

not need to work on it. He claimed that he only had to be in the helper reading class because he

did not try hard on the test because he hated to read. The researcher tried to encourage the

student to continue working hard and that he could eventually test out of the class if he

improved. The researcher tried to cheer the student up by telling him that soon they would be

doing a writing assignment.

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Lesson 4

Openingo The student did not do his assignment. He had read most of the pages

but did not do the Literature Circle assignment.o Therefore, the researcher gave the student some time to finish the

assignment.o Then, the researcher and the student went over the unknown

vocabulary, summaries, the connections, the predictions, and the questions for the assigned pages.

Lessono The researcher went over inferencing with the student and had him put

the definition in his reading notebook.o The researcher used a paragraph in the book to model inferencing.o The researcher pulled out two more different parts of the book and had

the student practice inferencing. Close

o Since the student was refusing to do the Literature Circle assignments, the researcher decided to make a change.

o The researcher told the student the plan for their last two meetings together.

o The researcher encouraged the student to continue reading the book and begin thinking about a character he would like to write about.

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Reflection over Lesson 4

The opening of lesson 4 was stressful and did not start out on good terms. The reader did

not bring his book and the library did not have an extra copy. Also, once again the reader did not

do his assignment. He had read most of the pages but did not do the Literature Circle assignment.

The researcher told the student that he needed to borrow her copy of the book and finish reading

the pages and then do the assignment. The reader was immediately angry and refused to do the

assignment. The reader went on and ranted about how he hated reading and school. The

researcher gave the student a moment to calm down. Once he did, he worked on the assignment.

However, he did not fully complete the assignment and stated that it was because he could not

make any connections and that he did not care about vocabulary. The researcher helped the

student find some connections. The researcher did not push the student any further than that in

hopes that she could still help the student learn something new that day.

The researcher then worked with the student on making inferences. At first, the concept

was difficult for the student to grasp. However, after some practice, he began to understand the

concept and could apply it in several situations in the book. Since it was becoming clear that the

Literature circle assignments were not going to be done by the student, the researcher decided to

not assign another one.

The researcher is disappointed about the Literature Circle assignments because she

believed that if the student completed them, they would be beneficial toward home gaining

progress with reading. However, they were causing the student to act out and were not getting

completed. When getting ready to close, the student complained that the reason he did not have

his assignment done was because the researcher lied to him. According to the student, the

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researcher claimed that she would only come on Thursdays. The researcher calmly told the

student that she did not tell him that and that she gave him the agenda in his reading notebook at

the beginning of the intervention so that he specifically knew when she would be coming. The

student then claimed that maybe the researcher was not the one who had lied to him but that

someone had.

The researcher was very disappointed in the way that the lessons were going at this point.

The student no longer wanted to work on reading and was refusing to participate. When the

researcher discussed the problems with the special education teacher and the reading teacher,

they both said that the student had been consistently having behavior problems in every class.

They said that the student was refusing to do work in any class at that point. They did not have

any suggestions to tell the researcher.

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Lesson 5

Openingo The researcher started the session by showing the student the Venn diagram and

explaining the different pieces of it.o The researcher discussed the importance of organizing thoughts before writing a

story.o The researcher went over again what the writing assignment was. The student

needed to fill out the diagram finding similarities between himself and a character from the book. Then, the student needed to write about it in his reading notebook. The purpose of this writing assignment was to help the student make connections to the text in order to promote comprehension.

Lessono The student filled out the Venn diagram.o The student wrote about the similarities and differences in his reading notebook.

Closeo The researcher told the student that their last meeting was going to be his final

assessment.o The student wanted to know what the assessment was going to be like.o The researcher told the student what the format of the assessment would be.

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Reflection over Lesson 5

Lesson five ended up being split into three parts due to the behavior of the student. The

researcher began by explaining the writing assignment to the student. The student refused to do

the Venn diagram. The student claimed that the diagram was “stupid” and for children. The

student was very angry. The researcher re-explained the importance of the Venn diagram and

how people of all ages use these types of organizational graphs. The student still refused to do

the Venn diagram.

The student continued to ignore the researcher and began the writing assignment without

doing the Venn diagram first. The researcher continued to work on her own Venn diagram in

order to model it for the student. The student had to leave for a meeting. Therefore, the

researcher decided that when they met again later that day she would again bring up the Venn

diagram and try to get the student to do it.

When the student came back, the researcher noticed that he was not in a good mood. The

student claimed that his meeting that he had to leave for earlier did not go well. The student was

very non-compliant and refused to listen to anything the researcher had to say. The student raised

his voice and said some obscene words. The student then stood up, pushed his chair over, and

left the room.

The researcher was in a bad position and had to get the dean of discipline at the school.

The dean of discipline had a meeting with the student and allowed him time to reflect and cool

off. Then, the student came back to work with the researcher. The student said that he did not

want to talk and that he just wanted to finish his work. The researcher formed a compromise with

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the student. The researcher allowed the student to do his own Venn diagram in his reading

notebook and then had to add one more paragraph to his paper and then he was free to leave.

The student agreed to the compromise and finished his work. The student then left and went back

to class.

The researcher felt extremely frustrated and saddened when looking back at the events of

the day. The researcher felt at a loss for why the student behaved the way he did. The student had

been looking forward to writing, but then when he was asked to do a writing assignment, he

refused. When the student was upset, the researcher remained calm and asked why he was so

upset over the assignment. The student did not have an answer other than the fact that he was

mad.

Even though the researcher was upset with how the lesson went, she was pleased at how

calm she remained in the situation. The researcher used techniques that she had learned from

college courses in order to try to de-accelerate the student. Even though the student did not

exactly calm down, he left the room rather than continue to yell. The special education teacher

told the researcher that she handled the situation well.

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Lesson 6

Openingo The researcher began by congratulating the student for his work throughout the

intervention.o The researcher gave the student a brand new book that was his to keep.

Lesson o The researcher gave the student the 5th grade Criteria Referenced Competency

Test. Close

o After the student was finished with the assessment, the researcher once again gave a verbal appreciation.

o The student thanked the researcher for the book and taking the time to work with him.

o The student was free to go back to class.

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Reflection over Lesson 6

When the researcher went to get the student do to the final assessment, she could tell the

student was having a better day. The student was smiling and was waiting to go work. The

student told the researcher that he was having a good day today and had not been in trouble for

poor behavior all day. The researcher congratulated him.

The researcher began by giving the student a book that he gets to keep. The researcher

was not sure how the student would respond, but was very pleased when he got excited. The

student asked if the book was really all his to keep. The researcher replied that it was his to keep

and that it was a present from her and the professor for him participating in the intervention.

The researcher then gave the student the final assessment. It was the same assessment

that the student took before the intervention began. The assessment was a fifth grade Criteria

Referenced Competency Test. During the assessment, the student complained that he was very

tired and was having a hard time reading. The student asked if he could take a break and go to

the restroom. The researcher allowed him to use the restroom.

When the student returned, he finished working on the assessment. The researcher

walked the student back to class. The student still seemed to be in a good mood. The student

thanked the researcher again for the book.

The researcher was pleased that the behavior of the student was much more positive

today. The researcher was happy to end the intervention on a positive behavior note. However,

when grading the assessment, the student received a worse grade than the pre-assessment. This

was very disappointing to the researcher. When discussing the results with the special education

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teacher, she said that if he was tired, it could have caused him to read carelessly, which could

have led to the student missing more questions.

Reader Case Study: Phase IV

Impact on Student

The student developed some positive growth during the intervention. When the

researcher gave the student an informal reading assessment in order to monitor progress, the

student earned an A+, getting every single question correct. However, this growth is not shown

in the final assessment. The researcher believes that the final assessment did not show the

student’s growth due to his lack of sleep and consistent behavior problems at school. Although

growth was not shown during the final assessment, the researcher noticed positive progress

throughout the lessons.

From the first day of having discussions with the student, he said that he disliked reading.

When asked what kind of books he would enjoy reading, the reader claimed that there were not

any. The reading development teacher told the researcher that the student always refused to read

books. Finally, after looking for a while together, the student found a book that he and the

researcher could agree on. The book was The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket.

In the beginning, the student was anxious to begin the lessons and to begin reading the

book. As time progressed, the student’s work efforts began to dwindle. However, the student

continued reading the book. Therefore, even if the student did not do better on the final

assessment, he was still reading, which is something that the reading development teacher said

that he would never do before. This is positive progress that was demonstrated throughout this

intervention.

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Even though the student’s efforts dwindled as time went on, he still completed each

assignment that the researcher had asked him to do. The student may not have always been

happy about completing the work, but he did it. This was also progress that the researcher

witnessed. According to many of the student’s teachers, he will just refuse to do assignments and

then will never complete them. Therefore, the fact that the student completed each assignment

that the researcher gave him was a sign of growth and positive progress.

The researcher also noticed that the student’s self-esteem when reading got higher as time

went on. By the end of the intervention, the student had hopes of passing out of his reading

development class when tested in January 2012. The student claimed that he was a good reader.

The researcher did recognize that the reader had good fluency; however, the student was later not

remembering what was read. Therefore, his problem was with comprehension. After the student

passed his informal reading assessment with a 100%, he bragged to many of his teachers and

said that his reading was getting much better and that he was starting to understand more.

The researcher is pleased that the student showed growth by gaining a higher self-esteem,

actually reading a book, and completing all of his assignments. The researcher was disappointed

that the final assessment did not show growth, even though there were underlying reasons behind

it. The student’s results are graphed below.

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CRCT IRA CRCT0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Intervention Results

Series 1

Impact on Researcher

This intervention gave the researcher many experiences to reflect upon. The researcher

benefitted from the intervention as well as the student. The researcher gained more knowledge

on the best practices to help a student who is struggling with reading as well as learning to deal

with negative behavior. The researcher struggled with getting the student to do work. When the

researcher discussed this with the special education teacher and the reading development teacher,

they had no suggestions and claimed that they were also having these problems with this

particular student in other classes.

The researcher learned that it was best to stay calm and in control when the student was

acting out and refusing to do the work. The researcher learned that it was best to give the student

a moment to calm down and then have a discussion about why he was upset and did not want to

do the assignment. The researcher recognizes that this was easier to do in a one on one situation

rather than in a classroom full of other students. The student worked best in a quiet room without

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other student distractions. The researcher also realized that in order to get the student to do the

work, it worked best if they decided on a compromise. This gave the student more choice and

helped him demonstrate more positive behavior rather than escalate the negative behavior.

The researcher also learned that the Literature Circle assignments were not being done

outside the intervention time, even though the student had reading class time to work on these

assignments while the researcher was gone. Due to this, the researcher decided that if she was to

do this intervention over, she would tie the assignments to some sort of point system in order for

the student to reach an overall goal. Hopefully, this way the student would be more motivated to

get work done on time.

The researcher also gained more experience in how to be flexible and adapt plans. Due to

the student being absent, the plans for the intervention had to change and adapt. Also, due to

negative behavior, the plans had to adapt because time was taken away from the lesson. These

experiences helped the researcher grow in understanding of how lessons do not always go as

planned and that the researcher had to be flexible and adapt.

Through this intervention, the researcher developed future goals in order to become a

more effective reading teacher. The first goal is to be able to have more strategies to motivate

students who refuse to do work and assignments. The second goal is to learn how to take the

experiences from working one on one with a reader to working with a whole class of readers. In

order to accomplish the first goal, the researcher plans on doing research about students who

refuse to do work and ways to motivate that student. Also, the researcher plans to talk with

several special education teachers and behavioral specialists in order to gain more ideas and

strategies. In order to accomplish the second goal, the researcher plans on working closely with

her supervisor in her student teaching placement who is in charge of literature groups at her

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school. Also, the researcher plans on doing conferencing with her students daily in order to

determine the needs of each of her students. The researcher will also use many different types of

assessments to monitor progress for her students. This will help the researcher teach her students

assessment driven instruction.

Student Work

1. Pre-Assessment: 5th Grade Criteria Referenced Competency Test

2. Sequencing Events

3. Literature Circle Assignment

4. Vocabulary and Terms

5. Literature Circle Assignment

6. Comparing and Contrasting Paper

7. Venn Diagram

8. Informal Reading Assessment

9. Post-Assessment: 5th Grade Criteria Referenced Competency Test

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