Tonya Jesweak Summary of Comprehension Assessment Results The purpose of the comprehension assessment was to acquire a glimpse of how

Jason interacts with a text and the reading strategies that he practices. In the classroom, Jason is required to monitor his own comprehension and to use strategies when he struggles with comprehension. The text used to assess his comprehension was an excerpt from a World Book entitled Animal Lives: Amphibians. The selections I chose were titled How Are Amphibians Different from Reptiles? and What Are Features of Amphibians? The first selection compared amphibians and reptiles in several ways: skin coverings, being cold-blooded, and their eggs. The second selection spoke more specifically about amphibian bodies, whether they use lungs or gills, and the different types of amphibian skin. In this assessment, Jason shared in a think-aloud where he needed to stop at certain points in the text and answer the question What are you thinking? During a second reading of the text, Jason answered questions about the selection as well as created a PowerPoint presentation to compare and contrast an amphibian and a reptile of his choosing. Jason used several strategies to make sense of the text. He would often review the text and repeated key ideas from the text, agreeing and stating that the information in the article is true. He would then elaborate on the text by sharing his personal experiences with different amphibians. When the text discussed how cold-blooded animals have different ways of regulating their body temperatures, he agreed with the statements in the text and then expanded upon it by recalling how frogs stay in shady spots by the water at a lake nearby his house, Rose Lake. Jason also reasons with the text by integrating his own knowledge about other animals, fish, in this case, with what he had read about amphibians and reptiles. The text examined the skin of amphibians and the scales of reptiles. Jason used his own knowledge of fish to say fishes is actually have a similar trait to reptiles cause they have scales so there are certain types of animals they have similar traits to. You see the reason why amphibians have similar traits to fish as well. They can swim underwater. Several times throughout the think aloud assessment, Jason departed the text and elaborated on his own personal experiences or knowledge. For example, the text paragraph depicted how coldblooded creatures regulate their body temperatures in general terms. Jasons reply to this section was specific to frogs and snapping turtles. Another time, Jason incorrectly identified an animal in a graphic because he did not read the caption. This lead to a misconception that had to be corrected. Jason questioned the text once wondering how salamanders breathe. This question was precipitated by a passage on lungs, gills, and how some amphibians breathe through their skin. After the second reading of the passage, Jason was asked comprehension questions on the key concepts of the text that he did not address during his think aloud. When asked questions directly from the text and questions that required him to take what was in the text and combine that with his prior knowledge, Jason was successful. When asked how to organize the text, Jason struggled with the idea and eventually answered to circle or underline the important information. At eighth grade and preparing to move to high school, academic demands require a more flexible and elastic thinking on organization of text. Jason created a PowerPoint Presentation assessing his understanding of the concepts covered in the readings. He compared a blue-tailed newt with an Asian giant pond turtle on the following points:

skin covering, eggs, how they breathe, regulation of body temperatures, and protective instincts. His information was organized and he used graphics. He demonstrated understanding of the differences and similarities between amphibians and reptiles. Jason interacted with the text by reviewing and reasoning with the text. He used his schema and background experiences to expand and elaborate on the text in several places. Jasons comprehension of the story was demonstrated in the think aloud and in the comprehension questions asked. His responses demonstrate his ability to place himself in the context of the text. Jasons discourse focused on what he knew and what he thought and less on the text. At nearly each stopping point, Jason responded with a remark on the trueness of what the author said, then advanced directly to an experience he has had with an amphibian or reptile. Recommendations Jason comprehends text best when reading aloud with discussion and ample time to integrate the information with his own schema. High school will require Jason to read independently and monitor his own comprehension. Jason will understand and be able to use several comprehension strategies. He will create a tool box to rely on when he is reading silently. The tool box will contain different reading strategies that he can employ such as questioning, making inferences, predicting, setting a purpose, determining importance, and synthesizing. Jason will show that he has monitored his own comprehension with artifacts of his thinking, for example, sticky notes with his thinking, questions that he had while reading, or an oral or written retelling of what he has read. I want Jason to be able to monitor his own comprehension and use different reading strategies as it is clear through the informal reading inventory and the think aloud comprehension assessment that Jason struggles to remain focused on the text. The comprehension assessment revealed that Jason has competing information going on in his head when he is reading. This causes him to lose the thread of what hes reading. The comprehension assessment also showed that Jason was severely limited in his ideas on how to organize his thinking about a text.