Amber Breckenridge

10/25/2014

Professor Truxel

Literacy Assessment and Instruction Project

INTASC Principle 8A:

The teacher understands and uses formal assessment strategies to evaluate and ensure the
continous intellecutal, social and physical development of the learner.

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Assessment Strategies
Running record:
The purpose of a running record is to give teachers the opportunity to observe, score, and
interpret a students reading behaviors. Running records provide information about the students
oral reading. There are three steps included in a running record. The first is recording the
students oral reading through check marks and other conventions. The second step is examining
each error and determining which cueing system the student used when making the errors.
Cueing systems include: syntactic, semantic, or graphophonic. The third and final step is
determining if the passage is at the students independent, instructional or frustional reading
level. I used a running record to evaluate Martins oral reading skills, fluency, and
comprehension. I also was able to get an idea of what Martins frustrational and independent
reading levels are. This assessment went well in the sense that I was able to ask comprehension
questions related to a read-aloud story right after the student had finished reading the story aloud.
I like how the questions strictly relate to the key details of the text that the student has read and
that specific questions were included in my copy of the running record to ask the student. The
running record did not go well in the sense that Martin noticed that I was writing things down as
he was reading and became a little bit anxious. Another flaw that I found with giving Martin a
running record was that the text that he was asked to read aloud orally was too short. I feel that if
the running record had been longer then I would have been able to get a better evaluation of his
oral reading skills as well as his comprehension. After using running records, I am still unsure of
how well Martin can comprehend what he has just read, and what strategies he uses when
comprehending a text. I would use a running record in the future; however, I would make the text
that the student is asked to read longer. I would use a running record again because I think that it

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is a great way to take notes about students oral reading and comprehension abilities. I also think
that a running record is helpful in identifying what type of miscue errors a student makes and
whether certain miscues tend to be made more often and form a pattern. Through giving Martin
running records, I have learned more about how to take anectdotal notes of students while they
are reading. I have also learned how to help a student feel less anxious when doing a certain
activity in school and know what to look out for with students who tend to become more anxious
than others.
Kidwatching:
Kidwatching is an informal, continuous, systematic observation of how students learn. It
helps teachers get to know each child. It includes using observations to support instruction.
Kidwatching is a detailed report that teachers can refer to for tracking learning experiences and
growth. Kidwatching gives insight to student learning patterns. I used Kidwatching to take
observations of Martins reading and writing skills as well as to get to know him better as a
student. When kidwatching Martin, I was very discreet about observing him, and it was great that
he did not notice that I was observing him. Through kidwatching, I was able to take some great
notes on Martins reading and writing abilities. After kidwatching, I am still unsure of what
specific academic tasks cause Martin to feel anxious. I will definitely use Kidwatching in the
future. I think that Kidwatching will be a great informal way for me to get to know more about
my students academically. I think that by Kidwatching my students, I will be able to determine
what I need to work on with them individually as well as what academic areas they are strong in.
I would not change or alter Kidwatching. I think that the chart that I used for this assessment was
very helpful and organized, and I think that Kidwatching is a great way to observe students
without the students even knowing that they are being observed. By Kidwatching Martin, I have

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learned that in order to assess or evaluate a student, a teacher can simply do an informal
observation and still obtain some great, concrete data on the students strengths and weaknesses
that they are observing as well as what that students has been achieving academically.
C.13 Personal Interest Survey (Primary):
In this survey, students are given open-ended questions that allow them to tell personal
likes and dislike. This helps teachers to tailor instruction towards their preferences to better
motivate them to read and/ or write. Some examples of these questions are asking about favorite
things, free-time activities, fears, role models, and aspirations. It builds rapport and encourages
more open communications between the student and teacher. When giving Martin the personal
interest survey, I wrote down his answers to the suvery for him due to the fact that I know he
does not enjoy writing. When giving Martin the personal interest survey I discovered that
Martins favorite book that he ever read is, The Visa Book and that he knows that he is very
good at playing Minecraft. This survey was very successful and beneficial. This survey was
successful because Martin enjoyed being asked questions about himself. I could tell that Martin
was glad to know that I cared enough about him to want to know more about him personally.
This assessment proved to be very beneficial throughout the rest of the semester as I was
administering more assessments to Martin. When informally observing how Martin felt about
writing (Kidwatching), I was able to ask him to write about things that he was interested or not
interested in. For example, when planning a writing assigment with Martin, I had him show me
how he would write about playing Minecraft since I knew that that was something that he took
interest in. One thing that could be improved about this assessment is to make it interactive or an
online/computer version of it. I feel that Martin would have enjoyed the survey even more and
felt that he was taking ownership of it if he had been able to communicate his answers to each

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question of the survey on a computer. After using this assessment tool, I wonder if Martin would
be more engaged in a discussion and give his listener more eye contact if he were talking about
something that he was interested in, such as Minecraft or Visa credit cards. I also wonder what
type of book, The Visa Book is and if it is a certain genre (this may tell me what type of genre
Martin enjoyes reading).
Primary Reading Attitude Surveys:
This survey allows teachers to learn about how their students feel about reading through
use of pictures scales. It also gives teachers insight on what types of reading tasks/ genres their
students enjoy. By administering this survey teachers will have the opportunity to plan
instruction that interests their students and relates to their needs. I gave Martin this survey in
order to discover which learning styles he prefers best, what genres he likes to read, and in what
settings he likes to read in order to help him succeed in reading and give him the appropriate
supports that he needs. When giving Martin this survey, I read aloud the questions of the survey
to him and then filled in his answer to each question. I modified the survey by only asking him
questions that I thought would help guide me in the direction as how to teach him during reading
instruction as well as what further assessments I needed to give him. I learned by giving Martin
this survey what genres he liked to read and what type of setting he liked to read in. By giving
Martin this survey I was able to plan instruction that was catered to his learning style. This
assessment was successful because I was able to modify the questions that I asked Martin
relative to what I thought that I still needed to learn about him. This assessment was also
successful because I was able to orally ask Martin the questions of the assessment instead of
having him write his answers, which would most likely stress him out. I would definitely use
this assessment again with another student in order to find out what learning styles they prefer

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best when reading. This assessment could be improved by asking questions that relate to the
students confidence in their own reading abilities. I would have liked to know how Martin feels
about himself as a reader and what reading skills he feels that is successful with. After
administering the primary reading attitude survey to Martin, I still would like to know what
reading skills he feels comfortable with and which skills he feels that he could improve on. I
think that self-reflection is a great tool in student growth!
Writing Attitude Surveys for Primary Grades:
The purpose of writing attitude surveys is to gain insight into students attitude toward
writing: do they like it or dislike it overall, do they enjoy writing narrative or expository texts,
etc. For students who have strong dislikes for writing, it is important to understand why. They
may find it boring or too hard, or they may be afraid of failure. Once you understand what
writing events a student dislikes and why, you can help them build a more positive attitude. With
any survey, the quantitative score is not as important as the information the student shares about
each statement and the next steps the teacher will take to improve a students attitude. I
administered this survey to Martin because I wanted to learn how he felt about writing and in
what settings he felt most comfortable writing in. I already had an idea before administering this
survey to Martin that he did not enjoy writing, therefore; I administered this survey similar to the
way that I administered the reading attitude survey. I asked Martin the questions from the survey
and wrote down/circled his responses for him. This assessment went well because I wrote
down/circled Martins answers for him. By writing down Martins responses to the survey he
was able to focus on his thoughts to each question that he was asked instead of worrying about
having to write down his thoughts once they came to mind. Another aspect of this assessment
that was successful was that it asked a wide variety of questions about writing. By asking a wide

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variety of questions, I was able to obtain a lot of information about how Martin feels about
writing. The fact that this survey was related to writing made Martin feel anxious; this was the
only aspect of the assessment that didnt go well. After administering this survey, I learned that
Martin enjoys writing about Minecraft and cleaning supplies. I also learned that Martin enjoys
writing most with his peers and enjoys obtaining feedback from his peers on his own writing. I
will use this assessment again in the future due to the fact that it really helped me shape the way
that I formed Martins writing instruction and gave me some great ideas on how to adapt the
writing instruction that his general education teacher had planned for him in a way that would
best suit his needs and interests. After administering this survey to Martin I am still unsure of
whether or not Martin feels about editing his peers writing. I know that Martin enjoys obtaining
feedback from his peers on his own writing, however; I am unsure of the anxiety level that
Martin feels when editing his peers writing.
QRI Word List:
This list consists of 20 words in a section. Students must decode words within of a
second. The lists cover pre-primer grades through high school. Based on the number identified,
the teacher can determine if the student is reading at a independent, instructional, or frustrational
level. The lists allow flexibility for teachers to take note of student self- corrections and
mispronunciations. I gave Martin the QRI Word List to discover what grade reading levels were
independent, instructional, and frustrational for him. I also wanted to know what type of errors
Martin makes when reading words aloud. This assessment went well because I was able to give
Martin a few different lists to read. By giving him the prime, 1st, and 2nd grade lists, I was able to
get a good idea of what reading level Martin was at for each list. Although I gave Martin three
different lists to read, his reading of one list was too quiet to understand. This aspect of giving

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Martin the word lists did not go as well as I had planned. After giving Martin the prime, 1st, and
2nd grade lists I was able to determine that Martin is reading at second grade instructional level,
which is above grade level for him! I will definitely use this assessment in the future, especially
with students that Im not sure of what levels they can read at. After giving Martin this
assessment I am still wondering how to help him comprehend at a second grade level
independently in connection with being able to read a second grade level word list
independently.
Bear Invernezzi, Templeton and Johnston Spelling Inventory:
The Bear, Invernezzi, et. Al Spelling Inventory is a developmental spelling task to assess
what children already know. The inventory contains lists that progress from easy words (with
CVC & CVCe patterns) to more difficult (multi-syllabic words) and that are intended as
individual tests. The purpose of the inventory is to have students spell dictated words so you can
analyze what they already know about spelling; it will also identify those who need more help.
A students stage of spelling development can be determined by how many words they spelled
correctly: 0 = Emergent; 1-5 = Alphabetic; 5-10 = Within word patterns; 10-15 = Syllables &
affixes; 15-25 = derivational relations. I gave Martin the Bear Invernezzi, Templeton and
Johnston Spelling Inventory to gain more information about Martins spelling ability. I had not
seen Martin write much due to the fact that writing makes him feel so anxious, and I was hoping
that by giving him the Bear Invenernezzi, Templeton an Johnston Spelling Inventory that I would
be able to obtain a stample of his writing as well as see if he struggles with or is successful with
spelling words. I only gave Martin one row of words to spell due to the fact that I knew that he
would feel anxious about having writing the 5 words that I was going to be asking him to spell. I
was pleasantly surprised to find out that Martin did not feel anxious about spelling the five words

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that I asked him to; he even called out a word that he wanted to spell himself, yield. One
aspect of the spelling inventory that did not go well was that the spelling list that I gave to Martin
only asked him to spell 5 words. By only asking Martin to spell 5 words I was not able to get a
good idea of what types of spelling skills he struggles with and is successful with. If I were to
improve this assessment I would break up the word lists by grade level (words that are
commonly used and seen in that grade level) and make sure that in each list there was a different
type of spelling skill included for each word. One thing that was successful about the spelling
inventory that I had the flexibility to allow Martin to spell his own word and feel confident in
himself by doing so. I will not use this exact assessment again in the future; I will instead create
my own spelling list to give to my students to spell that is catered towards goals that they are
working on or grade level standards/sight words that are included in our specific curriculum.
After administering this assessment tool I still was unsure what spelling skills Martin struggles
with. I ended up giving him another spelling assessment with words that I thought were
important to his specific curriculum and instruction.
6+1 Rubric:
This assessment is a framework for assessing, talking about and organizing writing. The
6 checkpoints are ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency and conventions.
The extra component, or +1, is presentation. With this assessment, students are assessed based
on a scale, which is rated from established, extending, expanding, exploring, and ready to begin.
Every piece of writing at every grade level should include this rubric. I gave Martin this
assessment to determine what stage of writing he is in. By determing what stage of writing
Martin is in, I am able to now come up with strategies to help him develop to the next stage of
writing. I learned by using this checklist that Martin is in the exploring stage of writing. Martin

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characterized with 4 out of the 7 points on the checklist in the exploring stage. One aspect of this
assessment that went well was that I was able to informally observe Martins fluency skills
without him knowing that I was doing so; this prevented extra anxiety that he may have felt had
he known I was observing him. Another aspect of this assessment that went well was that I was
able to match up the different skills that are included in each stage of writing with the skills that
Martin was exhibiting on his writing samples that I collected as well as while I was informally
observing him. One aspect of this assessment that did not go well was that I did not have many
writing samples to use in comparison with the checklist. Martin does not write very often due to
the fact that he feels so anxious when asked to do so, and therefore; it was difficult to obtain
more than two samples of his writing. After using this Checklist with Martin I am still unsure of
what he has been taught relative to writing strategies and how to plan his own writing. I also am
unsure of how I can help Martin to show his individuality in his writing. I will definitely use this
assessment again due to the fact that it gives concrete examples of what types of skills and
writing behaviors students will exhibit during each stage of writing. I think that this assessment
will be a great tool in helping my students develop through the many different stages of writing. I
would not change or alter this assessment because I think that it is very organized and easy to
follow.
C43 Oral reading Fluency rubric (page 471)
This is an assessment that rates a students oral reading fluency. The rubric is broken into
four categories: oral reading, intonation (expression), punctuation, and pacing. The students are
then scaled from 1-5 with 5 being the highest. All four categories are then added together for a
total score. I gave Martin this assessment to better understand what fluency skills he was
successful with and what fluency skills he struggled with in order to know what skills I needed to

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either reteach to him or give him extra practice with when reading orally. By giving Martin this
assessment I learned that he struggles with his confidence in reading aloud as well as using
punctuation marks. I also learned that Martin does well with intonation, but could use a little
more practice with it due to the fact that he overexaggerates his inflections while reading
sometimes. By using the oral reading fluency rubric, I also was able to discover that Martin does
very well with pacing when reading orally and rarely has difficulties with the text. The aspect of
this assessment that went well was that I was able to informally observe Martin while using this
rubric without him knowing that I was doing so. This helped to prevent any anxiety that Martin
may have felt had he known that I was observing him. One aspect of this assessment that did not
go well was that the text that Martin read while I was observing him was not a very long text. I
feel that I would have been more beneficial to hear Martin read aloud orally a longer text. After
using this rubric with Martin I still do not know how to connect his successful fluency strategies
with comprehension strategies that will help him to improve his comprehension skills. I will use
this assessment again, especially with students that I do not get to hear read aloud often; this
assessment will help me obtain baseline as well as quarterly and end of the year data on their
fluency skills. When using this assessment in the future I will make sure to give my students a
longer text than the one that I gave Martin to read aloud.

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Analysis
Martin is a first-grader who was born on May 19, 2008. Martin is formally diagnosed
with Autism Spectrum Disorder and severe anxiety. This is Martins third year of being in school.
Martin receives a few different services throughout the school week. One service that Martin
receives is occupational therapy two times a week for 30 minutes each time. Another service that
he receives is speech/language therapy two times a week for 30 minutes each time. Martin also
receives pull-out special education services two times a day for 30 minutes each. Counseling is
another service that is given to him through school two times a week for 30 minutes each time.
Martin is on a sensory diet and is allowed sensory breaks during the school day. Martin lives
with his mother, dad, and older brother at home. He just moved to Maryland from New York. On
top of a big move, Martins family has been through a lot of difficult situations lately; his father
is in remission and his mother has multiple sclerosis.
Martin was chosen as the focus student for a few different reasons. One reason is due to
the fact that Martin is working on developing his expressive language skills. Martin struggles
with communicating to others what is on his mind. He also has difficulty understanding how
words are combined into phrases, sentences, and paragraphs. Martin needs support in his reading
skills and needs to be taught effective ways to develop his expressive language skills. Another
reason that Martin was selected was because he struggles with reading comprehension. By
focusing on Martin for this case study, I will be able to come up with ideas and strategies to help
him improve his reading comprehension. A third reason that Martin was selected for this case
study is because he is working on increasing his pragmatic language skills. Martin has difficulty
staying on task and giving background information to an unfamiliar listener. By kidwatching
Martin, I will be able to develop strategies to help him stay on task and discuss what he is

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learning/reading to others who are new to a story or piece of writing that he is reading or has
read. Martin was not only chosen for this case study because I will be able to effectively develop
strategies to improve what he struggles with, but he was also chosen because of some of his
strengths in reading and communicating that I can learn from as well. Martin is an inquisitive
student, which makes doing a case study with him very unique. I will be able to get great
feedback from Martin as well as be challenged as a teacher in the questions that he asks me.
Martin also does well with letter and word identification. By kidwatching Martin, I will be able
to take notes of what strategies Martin uses to succeed in letter and word identification to then
use his strategies to help other students that I work with improve their letter and word
identification skills.
Martin is generally enthusiastic when he is pulled from his general education classroom
to work on reading skills in a one-on-one teacher setting. Martin is always excited to see me in
his classroom when it comes time to pull him for re-teaching of skills that he has learned. Martin
approaches literacy events with a positive attitude. It is only when he has been focusing on
comprehending one story for more than about 20 minutes that he becomes exhausted from
working on reading skills. Martin smiles when he is reading stories and is usually full of laughter
during his thirty minutes of working on reading skills with me.
After observing Martin, I have noticed that he tends to use visual and syntactic cues when
reading. He is able to sound out unfamiliar words with accuracy and self corrects himself while
reading. I have also noticed that Martin is successful in using visual cues to help him
comprehend a text. Martin uses illustrations to help him make meaning of a text, and connects
the illustrations to details and ideas that he has read. Another thing that Ive noticed after
observing Martin is that he needs supports in reading comprhension as well as fluency. Martin

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struggles with recalling a text without guiding questions from the teacher, which usually have to
be repeated a few times before Martin is able to accurately recall details from a story. Martin also
struggles with knowing when to pause and stop at punctuation marks when reading orally.
After observing Martin I feel that I will be able to come up with some strategies that will
help him improve his reading skills. One way that I think I can help Martin is by giving him
opportunities to use syntactic and visual cues with reading, but also challenge him to use other
types of cues. This will help Martin be aware of the many cueing systems that he can use to help
him comprehend text as he is reading. Another way that I will be able to help Martin is by giving
him a thinking chart while he is reading. The thinking chart will have guided questions included
on it to help Martin think about important details as he is reading to help him recall the text
afterward and in turn comprehend what he read. The last idea that I have, as of now, is to give
Martin a stoplight while he is reading orally. When the light is green that means that he can read
a sentence without stopping. When the light turns yellow, that means that there is a period in the
sentence that he is reading and that he needs to slow down and pause. A red light will indicate
that there is a period in the sentence and that he needs to stop, pause, and start a new sentence.
By observing Martin, I feel that I have a great sense of what strategies and cueing systems that
he uses while reading. I also feel that I now know more of his strengths and weaknesses in
reading. With all of the information that I have collected about Martin and his reading
skills/attitudes, I will be able to help him increase skills that he is struggling with as well as
continue to practice ones that he is successful at.
When I observed Martin on his book-handling skills I noticed that he read from left to right
without using his finger as a pointer, however; when prompted to use his finger or find a tool to
use as a pointer he did so. Martin looked at the pictures often to use as a guide to make meaning

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of the text. Martin was mindful of reading the title page before opening a book, and often
predicted what the book would be about before beginning to read it. He was aware of the
different parts of the book, and was able to point at and identify the spine, front cover, back
cover, page numbers, author, and title of the book.
Martin is working hard on building up his fluency, however; there is room for
improvement. Martin is strong in his intonation when reading. He makes intonations that are
meaningful to the text, however; often exaggerations when making his intonations. For instance,
when reading a quote that shows excitement, Martin will exclaim the quote, but he will do so in a
deep voice that is often not relative or characteristic of the character that he is reading the quote
from. Martin is also strong in his pacing. Martin reads at a pace that is appropriate for the texts
that he is reading. Martin pauses occasionally, but this is usually only due to the fact that he is
having difficulty with an unknown word. Martin struggles with the oral reading and punctuation.
When reading aloud Martin isnt confident in himself and often pauses and hesitates. As for
punctuation, Martin often skips over puncutation and does not pause or take a quick breath for
the appropriate amount of time when reading.
Martin is excellent in his sight word recognition. When completing his running records,
Martin was able to identify all of the sight words that were included in each reading. He only
seemed to struggle with words that were unknown to him, such as, goat and hippopotamus.
On the other hand, Martin struggles when trying to read words that he does not know. Martin
becomes anxious when he comes across a word that he does not know and starts to repeat
himself, talk fast, ask the teacher what the word is, and say, I dont want to do bad. Martin was
able to identify all of the words on the Prime Examiner Word List automatically (100%
accuracy). He spoke too quietly (most likely due to his anxiety) when reading the First Grade

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Word List, and therefore; not enough data was able to be collected on how many words he could
identify on that list. He was, however; able to identify 14/20 (70% accuracy) of the words on the
Second Grade Examiner Word List automatically. Martin is able to identify unknown words
when he takes the time to stop and think about all of the sounds that are in the word.
On the running record, Everybody In! Martin was able to decode words with a 98%
accuracy level. Martin only had two miscues when reading, Everybody In! and they did not
affect the meaning of what he was reading. The two miscues that Martin made were words that
he was unfamiliar with, goat and hippopotamus. When trying to read goat, Martin said,
got. This shows that Martin analyzed the structure of the word correctly to blend the g o
and t sounds together, but struggled with the silent a in the word, goat. When Martin
struggled with the word, hippopotamus, he tried to sound it out at first, and then asked for
help. When trying to sound it out, Martin was able to read the first part of the word, hippo with
no misuces. This shows that Martin analyzed the structure of the word and then sounded out the
first two syllables of the word as well as blending the h i p and o sounds together. Data
has proven that Martin is able to recognize unknown words with 95% accuracy, however; he is
unconfident in his abilities to do so, and often asks for assistance with unknown words instead of
trying to sound them out himself.
When asked comprehension questions related to, Everybody In! Martin was able to
answer 7 out of 14 questions correctly, and 5 of the 7 questions that he answered correctly were
unprompted. Martins comprehension accuracy with, Everybody In! was 50%. Martin
struggles when asked to retell a story, especially if pictures are not available to him to use as a
guide in retelling. Martin was able to identify two characters in the story (the goat and the
hippopotomus), however; he did not mention whether the goat in the story was a big goat or a

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little goat. Martin was able to identify two parts of the sequence of the story (what happened in
the very beginning and what event followed directly after). He was able to retell that the goat
jumped in and another goat cried with prompting. Martin was able to identify the problem of,
Everybody In! (the water wasnt deep enough) but was not able to identify the solution to the
problem (the hippo sat in the water and the water became deep enough for all of the animals to
swim). Martin was given a second (informal) running record of the story, Sammy the Seal in
which he struggled with his fluency.Martin paused often when reading, however; it was not due
to the fact that he did not know the words. Martin paused often due to the fact that he was feeling
anxious because we had a lot of activities that we needed to get done during our time together
that day. I only see Martin for 30 minutes during reading instruction each day, and during the day
that the second running record was administered, Martin also had a math test that the special
educator was going to be reviewing with him. I decided not to ask Martin the comprehension
questions to this running record because of our lack of time as well as the anxiety that he was
feeling. I administered a third running record to Martin in order to determine his frustrational
reading level. The text that I gave Martin to read was a second grade text titled, A Scary Noise.
Martin did well with his fluency when reading the passage. Martin only struggled with two
words, factory and potatoes. When asking Martin comprehension questions, he struggled
answering all but two comprehension questions. Martin was not able to retell the main ideas of
the story without prompting, and was only able to recall the setting of the story. After
administering the third running record to Martin I determined that Martin is able to read at a
second grade level when it comes to fluency, however; Martin is not able to comprehend text at a
second grade level. When considering Martins fluency and comprehension relative to the three
different running records that I administered, I have determined that Martins independent

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reading level is at a Kindergarten level. Martin needs a lot more practice with comprehension in
order to be able to read and understand a first grade text.
Based on my data and observations of Martin, Martin needs to work on his
comprehension skills as well as his confidence in his decoding and oral reading abilities. In order
to help Martin work on his comprehension skills I will start to give him a story map to use for
taking notes as he reads. On the story map will be a section for the title, setting, main characters,
beginning, middle, and end of the book that he is reading. I will have Martin read aloud a few
pages at a time, and then will stop him to take notes on his story map. I will then have him
continue to read and repeat the process of reading, stopping, and taking notes on the story map
until he finishes the book. Another activity that I will do with Martin to help him improve his
reading comprehension is give him focus questions to reference while he is reading. The focus
questions will relate to important topics, events, or characters that he needs to know in order to
be able to retell the story. I will focus his attention on these focus questions before he starts
reading as well as while he is reading. After he finishes reading we will talk about the focus
questions and take notes about each of them. In order to help Martin improve his confidence in
himself, I will record him reading aloud (as long as he says that this is alright with him), and will
then play the recording for him to hear how amazing of a reader he is! I will discuss what I loved
about his reading while him and I are listening to the recording. Another idea that I have for
improving Martins confidence in himself is having a reading journal. I will have a mini
notebook in which I write strategies and skills that Martin used while reading each day that I
loved. I will put a smiley face on the page each day to show him how great of a reader he is. I
will have him take his mini notebook, with my notes in it, back to his classroom to show his

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teeacher and adult assistant, as well as home to his family to share what strategies he used when
reading as well as what a great job he did reading that day.
Overall, Martin is a student who loves to read and has great strengths in doing so.
Although Martin has great strengths in reading, he also has a few areas of reading that he needs
to improve on. Martin is strong in his ability to decode unknown words and recognize sight
words. Martin needs extra practice in reading comprehension, intonation, and also needs to build
up his own confidence in his reading abilities.
Martin does not enjoy writing, and often becomes anxious when asked to do so. When
assessing Martins writing skills, I had to do so strategically in order to avoid causing him any
stress or anxiety. When assessing Martins writing skills, I took a look at two writing samples
that were collected from him this schoolyear. Neither of the writing samples were more than a
half of a page long, and both were in response to a few questions that he had been asked about a
story that he had previously read. Due to the fact that Martin is so young, as well as the fact that
becomes anxious when writing, his writing samples are chunked into brief questions about what
he has read instead of more complex prompts.
When looking at Martins writing samples I first noticed that Martin wrote no more than
one short sentence in response to each of the questions that he was asked. For example, when
asked the question, What did you learn from My Dog? Martin responded by writing, HeR
paLYs baLL Also, in response to a question, Where did the lion live? relating to a short
paragraph that he had read, Martin responded by writing, He Livd In tHe jungLe In both of
Martins responses he started his sentence with a pronoun and wrote no more than 5 words in
each sentence. A strength of Martins writing that can be seen through each of his writing
samples is that he is able to write on topic. The two sentences that Martin wrote in his two

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writing samples both relate to the topic of the stories that he had read. For instance, the dog in
the story, My Dog, liked to play ball, and the lion in the paragraph about the jungle animals
lived in the jungle.
Another strength of Martins writing is that he is able to accurately spell a majority of the
words that he writes. For example, in the sentences that Martin wrote that were previously noted
in this paper, Martin only spelled two words wrong, play and lived. Martin was even able to
successfully spell, jungle, which was an unknown word (in the sense of reading it aloud and
spelling it) to him before reading the paragraph about the lion. This places him in the Letter
Name-Alphabetic stage of spelling development. When I gave Martin the Bear Spelling
Inventory, he was able to spell one out of five words correctly, however; when spelling the
words, he sounded them out and included each sound that he heard in his spelling of the words.
For example, when asked to spell float, Martin wrote, flot; he was only missing the silent
a in the word float. Also, when asked to spell the word,when, Martin wrote, win. I
forgot to say the word, when in a sentence, so therefore; without context, he spelt the world
correctly. Martin needs extra practice with digraphs. He struggles in spelling words that have two
letters next to each other that make the same sound. He also needs more practice with letters that
make a silent sound in certain words, such as a and w.
According to the 6+1 Traits of Writers Martin is in the exploring stage of writing.
Martin is able to string letters and words together with a hint of the topic that he is writing about.
Martin needs extra practice in the areas of punctuation and capitalization when writing. Martin
did not include ending punctuation in either of the two sentences that were included in his
writing samples. Martin also wrote with an inconsistent mixture of uppercase and lowercase
letters. In order to help Martin improve his punctuation skills, I would have him play an online

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game from Starfall that teaches him when to use appropriate punctuation marks, but also
provides him with an opportunity to practice adding punctuation to sentences that are already
written. Martin loves online games and is very engaged in learning when he plays them,
however; he does not enjoy writing; I think that an online puntucation game would be perfect for
him because he would be able to be engaged in learning about and practicing punctuation skills,
but would not have to write in order to to do so. Hopefully, the punctuation skills that he learns
and practices in the online game will carry over into his own writing samples. I would also
model with Martin on the chalkboard or whiteboard how lowercase and uppercase letters should
be used in a sentence. I would then write sentences that were mixed with uppercase and
lowercase letters in a way that was inappropriate, and would ask him to fix the sentences that I
had written in a way that the uppercase and lowercase letters in my sentences were written
appropriately. I would also provide Martin with a reference guide on when to use uppercase and
lowercase letters for him to keep in his desk or taped to his desk to look at when he is writing.
I have only seen Martin perform first step of the writing process, pre-writing. When
observing Martin pre-write I have seen him complete a web. The web that he completed was
about how he likes to clean his room and what he does in order to clean his room. When
completing this web, Martin did not generate his own ideas without prompting. In order to come
up with what Martin does first, second, and last when cleaning his room, my mentor teacher had
to ask him guiding questions about cleaning. Martin did not start filling in his pre-write guide
either without prompting of my mentor teacher. Martin drew pictures before we started writing,
but his pictures werent relative to the topic that he chose to write about.
Overall, Martin does not enjoy writing and gets a lot of anxiety when asked to complete
any type of writing activity. Martin is strong in the areas of relating his writing to a topic or

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question that he has read and spelling. Martin needs more practice with punctuation and using
uppercase and lowercase letters appropriately. In order to engage Martin in writing, he needs to
be able to write about topics that interest him, and the writing that he is required to do needs to
be chunked into small portions.
This week I collected further data on the first-grade student that I work with in a pull-out
setting for 30 minutes each day. I felt that I needed more data on Martins comprehension skills
as well as his attitude towards writing. I gave Martin a quick informal comprehension check to
check his comprehension skills and a small, four question writing attitude survey (different than
the one I had previously given him).
I felt that I needed more data on Martins comprehension skills due to the fact that he is
excellent at decoding, but struggles when it comes to understanding what he has just read. Martin
is learning the three ways to read (using the pictures, using the words, and retelling). Martin is
very successful in telling a story using the pictures and words, however; when asked to retell a
story he struggles greatly.
When giving Martin the informal comprehension check, I had him first watch a book that
we had previously read aloud, Sammy the Seal on a YouTube read-aloud version. Before
watching the video I discussed with Martin what he remembered from reading, Sammy the
Seal the week before to get a quick mental note of how much he retained from the story. Martin
was able to identify the characters in the story, but struggled when it came to identifying the
events that happened in the story. Martin was able to remember that Sammy was a seal in the
story, however; he was not able to identify places that Sammy visited in the story. I asked Martin
to identify three places that Sammy the seal visited in the story, and with prompting, Martin was
able to identify one place that Sammy visited, the school. After preassessing Martins

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comprehension of, Sammy the Seal, I had him listen to the YouTube video of it. Once he had
listended to the story on YouTube, I asked Martin to recall four events from the story and to tell
me which events happened in the beginning, middle, and end. Martin was able to correctly
identify when three of the four events happened in the story. By giving Martin this informal
comprehension check, I was able to take note that Martin is able to differentiate between the
beginning, middle, and end of a story. I was able to notice that Martin is successful in retelling a
story if he is given the events that happened and then asked to put the events in the order that
they happened.
The second assessment that I gave to Martin this week was a writing attitude survey. The
survey included four questions about writing relative to how Martin feels about his own writing
and what type of writing he is interested in. I already knew that Martin was not a fan of writing
and becomes very anxious in doing so. This writing attidue survey was perfect for him in the
sense that all he had to do was circle the Garfield character that pertained to how he felt about a
specific area of writing. By giving Martin this survey I was hoping that I would be able to
determine what type of writing he enjoys or is interested in, in order to decrease his anxiety
relative to writing in the future. By giving Martin the writing attitude survey I learned that
Martin likes writing about things that have happened in his life as well as writing in a journal.
Martin also stated that he would like for his classmates to talk to him about making his own
writing better.
Giving students appropriate and worthwhile assessments is key to meeting their needs
and coming up with beneficial strategies in teaching them. By giving Martin assessments
throughout the course of my internship thus far, I have been table to learn a lot about his reading
and writing attitudes and skills. I have in turn been able to come up with strategies to help him

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improve his reading and writing skills as well as limit his anxiety when it comes to writing. By
giving Martin the reading comprehension informal check and the writing attitude survey this
week, I have been able to come up with some great ideas for helping him improve his reading
comprehension as well as feel less anxious about writing! One thing that I plan to do with him to
help improve his reading comprehension is to give him the events that happened in a story and
simply ask him to put them in the order that they happened (instead of asking him to retell the
events himself). To help alleviate some of Martins anxiety towards writing I am going to have
him write in a journal daily (no more than one to two sentences though) to help him practice his
writing and get used to doing it as a daily task. I also am going to have Martin talk to his peers
about his writing since he seems to feel comfortable around them and enjoy their feedback.
Finally, I am going to give Martin writing prompts that relate to things that have happened in his
own life. I may even have to email his mom to ask her what types of ideas she thinks that he
would enjoy writing about.

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After concluding all of my literacy evaluations of Martin, I have constructed the following
goals for him:
1. Martin will be able to identify the long l and silent w sound when reading orally.
2. Martin will change his language in order to be appropriate to his listener and will be able
to rephrase statements or questions when misunderstood.
3. Martin will use appropriate phrasing when reading orally and will know when to stop at
and pause at punctuation marks.
4. Martin will be able to spell words on a first grade level with 80% accuracy.
5. Martin will be able to read a first grade text and define and use 90% of the vocabulary
words in the text.
6. Martin will be able to read a 1st grade text orally with appropriate intonation.
7. Martin will write in accordance with on grade level prompts with persistence.
*8.

Martin will be able to retell key details about a story that he has read without
prompting by the teacher with 80% accuracy.

9. Martin will be able to use editing marks appropriately to edit his own writing.
*10. Martin will be able to plan and discuss his ideas on a writing topic prior to writing.
(The goals with asterisks next to them are incorporated into lesson plans at the end of this
document).

Breckenridge

What does the learner do well? (Statement

about the behavior)
1. Martin is sucessful in decoding words
that he does not know.
2. Martin self corrects when reading
aloud.
3. Martin uses pictures/illustrations to
help him orally read a text.
4. Martin uses context clues when
reading to help him figure out unknown
words.
5. Martin understands the concepts of
print and can locate the parts of a
book.
6. Martin is sucessful in sight word
recognition.
7. Martin recognizes the difference
between complete and incomplete
sentences.
8. Martin reads with appropriate rate for
the text that he is reading.
9. Martin uses his finger to track as an
oral reading strategy.
10. Martin activates prior knolwdge to
help him predict what he will be
reading about.

P a g e | 26

How do you know this? (Source)

1. I used Kidwatching notes to observe
that Martin can successfully decode
unknown words using the syntactic and
graphophonic cueing system.
2. I uses a running record to note that
Martin goes back to words that he has
read incorrectly to self correct as he
reads aloud.
3. I used a running record to note that
Martin looks at the
pictures/illustrations as he is reading to
help him decode unknown words.
4. I used Kidwatching notes to observe
that Martin looks back at the text to
help him decode unknown words.
5. I used Kidwatching notes to observe
that Martin read from left to right and
could identify: the spine, front cover,
back cover, page numbers, author, and
title of the book.
6. I used the prime word list and the
second grade word list to note that
Martin could automatically recognize
20/20 of the prime word list and 14/20
of the second grade word list.
7. I used an informal assessment (online
sorting game) to note that Martin
knows the three things that a complete
statement must include.
8. I used running records to note that
Martin reads at a rate that makes sense
and is clear to understand.
9. I used Kidwatching notes to observe
that Martin uses his finger when
reading aloud to keep his place on the
page.
10. I used running records to note that
Martin connected what he already knew
with the front cover of a book to make

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P a g e | 27
a prediction about what the book would
be about.

What is the child ready to learn? (Be specific)

1. Martin would benefit with more instruction on
phonics, such as reading the long I as well as
the silent w sound.
2.

3.

4.

Martin would benefit from extra practice with

his pragmatic language. He struggles with
changing his language according to his listener,
staying on topic, and rephrasing when
misunderstood.
Martin would benefit from instruction on how
to pause at punctuation marks while reading
orally.
Martin would benefit from extra spelling
practice and instruction that is tied into
writing practice as well.

5.

Martin would benefit from being taught more

vocabulary words in order to help him with
reading comprehension as well as writing.

6.

Martin needs extra practice with intonation in

order to sound less monotone when reading and
to practice reading with more expression.

7.

Martin needs strategies that will help him have

a more positive attitude towards writing.

8.

Martin needs extra practice in retelling

something that he has read.

9.

Martin is ready to learn how to edit his own

writing; he knows how to use editing marks,
and may enjoy writing more if he is able to
focus on not only the grammar aspect of it, but
also the mechanics aspect.

10. Martin needs more practice with the planning

part of the writing proces; he has difficulty
thinking of a topic to write about as well as
how to get his ideas onto paper.

What instructional strategies would help the learners?

1. An online phonics game on Reading Wonders, that
includes practice saying the long l and the silent w
sound would help Martin due to the fact that Martin
enjoys and performs best when he is engaged through a
computer.
2. Making sure that Martin is always provided with
illustrations and graphic organizers such as a story
map to use while he is reading, as well as visual cues
when he is asked to write will be beneficial to him.
3. Modeling how to pause at punctuation while
reading out loud to Martin as well as choral reading
would be beneficial to Martin in learning how to pause
at punctuation marks.
4. Practicing spelling and writing words on a
chalkboard with water and a paintbrush or even on a
Promethean board are instructional strategies that would
be beneficial to Martin in practicing his spelling skills.
5. A word wall with definitions of words that will
appear often in 1st grade text would be a great tool for
Martin to look at as well as giving him a dictionary to
use while reading in the case that he wants to look up
words that he does not know the meaning of.
6. Modeling intonation for Martin while the teacher
reads aloud would be beneficial to him as well as having
him talk as having him imitate the teachers intonation
but only by humming.
7. Martin should be given writing topics that interest
him and should be given opportunities to participate in
free-writes in which he can write about whatever is on
his mind.
8. Story maps, repeated interactive read-alouds, and
retelling with puppets are instructional strategies that
should help Martin practice his retelling skills.
9. Giving Martin opportunities to practice editing on an
online computer game in the Reading Wonders
curriculum will benefit him due to the fact that he enjoys

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working on the computer; this would be a great way to
engage him in starting the process of editing.
10. Giving Martin graphic organizers such as writing
webs and flowcharts will help him to plan his writing.

Mini-Lesson 1:
Purpose:
When Kidwatching Martin as well as when administering running records to him, I noted that he
struggled to answer comprehension questions without prompting. I also noticed that Martin was
only able to recall 50% of the main ideas and details from the story that were included in the
comprehension questions that he was asked. This activity was created to improve Martins
comprehension and retelling skills.
Materials:
*Book
*Story Map
*Cards with pictures on them that relate to the parts of a story and what they mean (SettingWhere, Characters-Who, Beginning-First, Problem-What went wrong, Middle-Then, SolutionHow was the problem fixed, and End-Last)
*Informal checklist of comprehension questions for assessment
Procedures:
1) Read the story,
2) Fill in the Story Map while reading.
3) Model how to follow the yellow brick road while retelling the story. Ask Martin each
question on the yellow brick road as he is following it in order to retell: the setting
(where), characters (who), beginning (first), problem (what went wrong), middle (then),
solution (how was the problem fixed), and end (last).
4) Allow Martin to follow the yellow brick road and retell the story using his story map.
Post-Assessment:
Orally ask Martin 7 comprehension questions, wording them in a way that Martin will
understand, and then check whether or not he is able to answer them, using the book as a
resource.
1) Where did the story take place?
2) Who was in the story?
3) What happened in the beginning of the story or how did it start?
4) What went wrong in the story or what was the problem?

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5) What happened in the middle of the story?

6) How was the problem fixed or what was the solution?
7) How did the story end or what happened last?
Mini-Lesson 2
Objective:
Martin will be able to plan and discuss his ideas on a writing topic by using a graphic organizer
and then orally discussing and acting out his graphic organizer.
Purpose:
After Kidwatching Martin, collecting some of his writing samples, and giving him the writing
attitude survey, I noticed that Martin struggles in getting his ideas down on paper. I also noticed
that Martin struggles in getting started on his writing and knowing what details to include when
writing. This activity was designed to help Martin become more comfortable in planning his own
writing, as well as learn strategies that he can use when thinking about, planning, and discussing
own writing. This activity was also designed to help Martin have a better attitude toward writing
and feel that he can enjoy it more.
Materials:
-Minecraft graphic organizer for pre-writing (Who, What, Detail 1, Detail 2, Why)
-Chalkboard
-Whiteboard and dry erase marker
Procedures:
1) Ask child to complete graphic organizer by writing who plays Minecraft/what his name
is, what Minecraft is, two things about Minecraft, and why Minecraft is important to him.
2) Ask child to draw something related to what he wrote on his graphic organizer on
chalkboard in each designated block (Who-draw a person, What-draw what minecraft is,
Detail 1-Draw one thing about Minecraft, Detail 2-Draw one thing about Minecraft,
Why-Draw why Minecraft is important to him).
3) Ask child to talk about what he drew in each box on the chalkboard.
4) Write on Whiteboard each aspect of the graphic organizer one by one and have student
act out each part. For example: Write what on the whiteboard and have the student act
out what Minecraft is.
Post-Assessment:
The next time that Martin is asked to write, the teacher can give Martin a graphic organizer and
ask him to complete it as well as talk about it. The teacher can observe whether or not Martin can
complete the graphic organizer, what strategies he uses to plan his writing, and how well Martin
can discuss what he is writing about with someone else.

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Outcomes:
Martin was very engaged throughout the entire lesson. Martin was able to come up with some
great ideas when completing his graphic organizer and elaborated on those details when he was
asked to talk about what he drew on the chalkboard. Martin was excited to start writing about
Minecraft using his graphic organizer once the lesson was over. Martin stayed on topic while
completing his graphic organizer, drawing on the chalkboard, and acting out the details that he
planned for writing about Minecraft. The next day, when Martin actually started to write his draft
about Minecraft he was able to use his graphic organizer to get started on his writing and even
drew on his draft to help him continue to think about what he was writing and plan on how to
finish his draft.

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Culturally Responsive Home/School Materials

Hello!
Martin is such a bright young boy, and an excellent reader/writer, and you
should be very proud of his efforts this year in 1st grade
Here are some things that you can do at home as a family with
Martin to continue to help him help him grow as a reader and writer!

***Play games on this website to help

Martin practice his reading comprehension
and phonics skills.

***Read informational texts at home to

practice
reading
comprehension
and
fluency. Martin loves to read informational
texts!

***Practice using vocabulary words by

playing games with weekly spelling lists
that can be given to you by Martins
teacher. Make it fun for the whole family by
playing the games together!

***Practice writing with comic strips about

information
texts that you
have read as
family
to
practice writing
skills as well as
reading comprehension skills. Martin loves
to connect his drawings with his own
writing.

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***Practice editing with daily fix-its! Have

family races to see who can fix the sentence
the fastest each day to make it fun. You can
even draw the sentence after you fix it for
some extra creativity!

There are a few reasons why these culturally

responsive/home/school

materials

were

chosen

for

Martin.

The

culturally

responsive/home/school materials that were chosen for Martin were: Spelling City, Comic Strips,
Daily Fix-Its, Starfall and Informational Texts. I chose to include Spelling City as a resource for
Martins family because it is a great way to practice not only spelling, but also phonics. Martin
needs extra practice with spelling words that are on a first grade level, and he loves interactive
games, therefore; spelling city will be a great tool for him to improve his spelling skills. Martin
also needs extra practice with phonics relative to the long l and the silent w sound. He will
be able to practice these specific sounds on spelling city as well! I decided to include Comic
Strips as a resource for Martins family because Martin does not enjoy writing, however; he
thoroughly enjoys drawing. I gave Martin the opportunity to create a comic strip one day after
reading about an informational text to recall the beginning, middle, and end of the text. Martin
loved this activity and did very well with it! The comic strip writing activity ties into another
resource that I included as a resource for Martins family; informational texts. Martin loves to
read informational texts (I would beg to differ that informal text is his favorite genre), and by
continuously reading this genre, he will be able to practice his fluency (using punctuation marks
appropriately when reading), his intonation, as well as his reading comprehension. Another
resource that I chose to include as a resource for Martins family is Starfall. Starfall is a great
interactive website that Martin is comfortable with using at school. Starfall has great interactive

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games that Martin can play with his family to practice his reading comprehension and phonics
skills. Martin knows how to navigate around Starfalls website pretty well, which is why this is
such a great resource for him to use (he can take ownership of his own learning). The last, but
certainly not least important resource that I decided to include as a resource for Martins family
is an activity called a daily fix it. This is an activity in which Martin can practice his editing
skills on a piece of writing that is already written for him. Martin can then draw the sentence that
he fixed to visualize it. This activity will not only help Martin with his editing skills, but it will
also help him with his reading fluency skills and confidence in writing without making him feel
anxious. Martins family can even make this activity a competition in which they all race to fix a
sentence each day.