Dr.
Kent
Midterm/NCLB
October 17, 2003
Analysis and Instructional Plan:
The preliminary assessment of the time I spent with the fourth grade student indicated that she was eager to learn and eager to please. “Destiny” is nine years old. She has good self-esteem and communicates well with adults. As far as the information that I gathered, I believe she would benefit from some individualized instruction.
The
miscues from passage that Destiny is committing seem to come from her
speed of reading. Nevertheless,
she comprehends very well. Destiny
was able to speak with confidence and enthusiasm during the retelling portion
of the assessment. Destiny
understood the meaning of the story and I think if she would slow down she
could do a lot better.
As
for the actual data, Destiny is on a level three instructional level. When the teacher picked out whom she
would have participated with me for the QRI, she told me she was a struggling
reader. I thought Destiny would
have a lot of trouble reading and comprehending but I was surprised how well
she read. She showed the ability
to comprehend without pictures.
Destiny
also showed strength in self-correcting. She was willing to self-correct and then goes ahead to the
next sentence or word without stopping for teacher’s help.
When
evaluating the word lists; quickly you will notice that she did not have any
problems with the pre-primer and primer level words. I noticed that she did have problems with words ending with
“ed.”
Encountering new words does not make her stop for help. Destiny does read very smoothly.
When
we began the concept questions she responded to every question with
correct answers. I asked her to do
a book back and she was able to pin point an exact detail that she omitted from
the retelling of the story.
Instructional Plan:
This
student needs individual lessons every day. The benefits would be great. She has the confidence and willingness to learn.
To increase her vocabulary, the student needs
to be assessed weekly. Destiny
needs special attention in her ability to adjust her speed. Some of her problems stem from her
inability to slow down and look at the words, especially those ending with
“ed.”
She
loves “Scooby Doo” and her interest in those type books could
easily lead to extra reading she could be assigned over the weekends. Writing those “ed” words in
a form of a small book report on Scooby doo may help with those simple
“sight words.”
Essay #1
In
order for a classroom to facilitate comprehensive reading the environment,
procedures and room arrangement have to be well planned and thought out. The environment has to be a print
rich environment. The students
must have books and print everywhere.
The kindergarten class I am in even has print in the bathroom. These students spend a lot of time in
the bathroom! My mentor teacher
inundates the students with print.
The classroom must have a word wall, posted concept questions and
labels.
The
room arrangement, no matter the actual size of the room, must be
conducive to reading. The library
center has to be in a spot that allows children the opportunity to be out of
the way. A special education
teacher suggest that teachers can always offer the student a large box, if
nothing else could be done to provide a private area to read.
The
teacher has to model the behavior that she wants her students to have. The teacher reading to the class and
even during their “Drop Everything And Read” time shows them that
you are practicing what you preach.
Room arrangement and classroom environment
can hinder reading if overcrowding is an issue. The class library should
include books necessary for read alouds, shared reading, guided reading and
independent reading. The class
library should be rotated and kept current with the themes in the classroom.
The implementation of the reading strategies can be done with simple classroom
procedures. Procedures should have
simple guidelines and directions.
The older students can help make up these guidelines.
The
experience that I have so far with initial assessment in the kindergarten
classroom has been extensive. The
teachers and administration assess the students the day they come to pre-register. This is put in their assessment folders
and it allows the teacher to analyze what the students know. Reading instruction consists of
phonemic awareness in the early stages of kindergarten.
The
reading specialist assists the classroom teacher in keeping track of the student’s
progress. She implements plans
for the at risk students. Sharon
Taberski suggests that the teacher find out what type books the student likes
to read. This is a form of
assessment and the type of books each child likes to read will change as they
learn to read better. Taberski
also suggests that reading discussions be done with the students.
The appropriate reading assessments for young
students may include the concepts of print. Questions, for example, “How do you hold the book when
you read it?” These simple questions can assess if a child is familiar
with concepts and in turn can help a teacher decide which areas to reinforce in
the days ahead.
As
instruction continues, the students will be on different levels and each child
will be having different instructional needs. A frustration level reader will benefit from the same
strategies as other readers. A lot
of different assessment tools need to be used together to keep up with the
demand for knowledge about your students.
I
plan to use my own form of assessment and meet with the students individually
early in the year to get to know what their needs are.