1

Running head: LITERACY PROFILE

Literacy Profile
Alison Roberts
Longwood University

Literacy Profile
Contextual Framework
The focus school is a medium sized school in a rural community. Grades range from pre-

kindergarten through fifth grade. There are about 600 students in the school; about 20% of the

students qualify for free and reduced meals. About 80% of the student body is Caucasian, and

about 10% of the student body is African American. In this area of the county, some students do

not have internet access at home or internet is unreliable. There is active parental involvement in

the school, and the school is fully accredited. The climate in the school is very welcoming, and

students are viewed as active participants in their education.

In the school and classroom, there is a wealth of resources. The classroom has a smart

board, 4 desktop computers, and a few Chromebooks. The school also a computer lab, class sets

of Chromebooks, and class sets of iPads that teachers can schedule to use. The classroom has

areas for whole group meeting, desks for independent work, a table for groups to meet with the
2
LITERACY PROFILE

teacher, computer desks, a library, and a reading area. Parents are available to copy and help file,

but rarely work with students in the class. There is a school-wide behavior management system

where students have their color changed based on behavior. Expectations are clearly stated and

students know the routine of the day. The literacy period in this classroom is 2 hours long and

divided into phonics and reading times (see Appendix A). Literacy is valued in the classroom and

students have many chances to read throughout the day.

The student, who will be referred to by the pseudo-name Moana, is an 8 year old,

Caucasian female in second grade. She does not have any know special needs. She lives at home

with her three siblings, mother, and father. Her mother is very involved in Moana’s education.

Moana reacts positively to reading at home and loves going to the library with her mother but is

very negative towards reading in school. Her reading level is on track for grade level. However,

her comprehension is lagging, and she has trouble focusing when reading (see Appendix A).

Moana loves Disney and animals. She is a very active and social child who is eager to learn.
Many of these factors will influence the lessons. The school’s recognition of students will

be an important part of the lessons, with the goal aimed towards her informing the school of

changes they could make. Moana’s displeasure with reading in school will be considered when

planning; giving her choice over her work and tying lessons into her interests will be essential.
Assessment
Moana is technically on grade level for reading according to the school assessments. She

is not given additional instruction from the reading specialist and works with the on-level reading

group. However, Moana’s teacher has noticed that her comprehension of texts does not match

her ability to decode the words. She also seemed to struggle to engage in literacy activities for

any length of time. This, along with parental concern about how to help improve her academics,

led to a request for tutoring to help her bring her comprehension up to her reading level before
3
LITERACY PROFILE

this becomes a serious issue in third grade when comprehension becomes a bigger aspect of the

curriculum.
When completing assessments, I found the same comprehension difficulties (see

Appendix B). Moana was instructional when reading words in isolation for second grade words.

When reading passages, the percentage of words correct was instructional for second grade.

However, her comprehension of the passage was at frustration level. While reading the passages

and completing other assessments, I found that Moana did struggle to maintain her focus (see

Appendix A). When reading passages, this often led to her skipping words, sentences, and lines.
During interviews, I noted that Moana displayed negative attitudes about school. Moana

has a very positive attitude about literacy at home. She enjoys reading daily and loves to go to

the library. When asked about literacy at school, Moana’s outlook changes drastically. She is

opposed to any type of reading in the classroom. Moana has a strong relationship with her

classroom teacher and enjoys working with her except with reading.
Her struggles with attention and adverse feeling towards reading most likely play a large

part in her struggles to understand what she has read. A main goal of tutoring is to help her feel

more positively towards reading and feel confident about her comprehension.
Student Interview and Affective Measure
These tools measure the following topics:

 Interests (student interview)

 Recreational and academic reading attitudes (student interview and affective measure)
 Literacy activities at home (student interview)

Student interviews allows for instructors to get to the know the student. Interview topic

discuss interests, school, metacognition, attitudes, and motivation. This allows interviewers to

gain a understanding of how the child feels about literacy, as well as what interests the child. The

metacognition questions help interviewers see what the child knows about reading and how they

think about reading. The attitudes and motivation help start discussions about the child’s attitudes

and literacy habits. This provides valuable insight about literacy at home.
4
LITERACY PROFILE

The affective measure shows how students feel about literacy. The Elementary Reading

Attitude Survey was used during assessment. The student circles which Garfield pictures

describes about they feel about each statement. 10 questions are asked about recreation reading

followed by 10 about academic reading. Scores are given a percentile rank based on the raw

score of the student and the grade level. This helps show how a child is feeling about reading for

fun and for assignments. The percentile rank shows how this compares to other children in the

same grade who have taken the assessment.

The results of the interview show that Moana is very active (see Appendix C). While she

prefers to play, she does enjoy reading about Disney characters and animals. She was able to

identify strategies to help when reading. She says reading is her favorite subject, and math is her

least favorite. She describes herself as bring a good reader. She says she likes to read and go to

the library. She says she is not read to at home, though she does enjoy when she is read to, and

enjoys reading to herself at home. Continued conversations about reading over the assessment

period show excitement over reading at home. She vividly describes her trips to the library with

her family, and loves to tell about the books she is reading at home. When the discussion turns to

reading at school, she becomes more evasive. She says she does not like reading at school. At

first, she was reluctant to talk about why. After we spent time together, she revealed it is because

of the questions after reading. During most of the sessions, she starts by telling something about

reading at home that is exciting her, and ends the session by asking not to have to go back to

reading class.
On the Elementary Reading Attitude Survey, her results where different than that of the

interview (see Appendix C). Her raw score for recreational reading was 26 out of 40, which gives

her a percentile rank of 25. This indicates that her attitudes toward recreational reading are lower

than most children in her grade. Her raw score for academic reading was 29, which gives a
5
LITERACY PROFILE

percentile rank of 51. This indicates that her academic feelings are about average. Her total raw

score was 55, which gives a percentile rank of 38.

There is some discrepancy between the interview and the Attitude Survey. During the

interview, Moana says she loves to read at home but does not like to read at school. On the

Elementary Reading Attitude Survey, she has a higher score for academic reading. After

discussion with the student, this can be accounted for because of her interests in other things.

While she does enjoy reading, she would rather receive a toy than a book for a present. This

example applied to many of the recreational reading questions. She enjoys to read, but it is not

her favorite thing to do when she could chose to play outside or with toys. Because of this and

multiple interviews with Moana about her feeling towards literacy, heavier weight is given

towards the interview than the affective measure when considering her literacy attitudes.
These results may influence Moana’s performance. She is reluctant to read at school and

would rather be doing other things. This may be a factor in her comprehension struggles. Her

lack of motivation and interest in her reading may cause her to not focus on what she is reading

and activate her background knowledge. Her unhappiness with questions asked about reading

may also cause anxiety during her reading, which could cause her to struggle to focus on the text.
Individual Reading Inventory
The Qualitative Reading Inventory 6 (QRI-6) was used to obtain these results. This tool

measures the following components:

 Automaticity (Timed WRI)

 Decoding (Untimed WRI)
 Oral reading fluency (WRC prosody scale)
 Oral reading rate (WRC)
 Oral reading accuracy (WRC)
 Comprehension (WRC silent/oral passages with narrative and expository structures)

Word Recognition in Isolation (WRI).

For this assessment, words were flashed on the screen for the student. If the student was able

to immediately read the word, the student received a check for the word, and it was counted as a
6
LITERACY PROFILE

correct word in the timed column. Correct words in the timed column means that the word was

automatically recognized. If the word was not automatically recognized, the word was shown

again. This time, the word would stay on the screen so the student has time to decode the word.

If the student is able to decode the word, it is listed correct under the untimed column. This

shows that the student is able to decode the word given time to process.
The assessment began with the Pre-Primer 1 word list (see Appendix D). Moana was able to

read 100% of the words in the timed flash. For the Pre-Primer 2/3, and Primer word lists, Moana

was able to read 100% of the words in the timed flash. For the First grade word list, Moana was

able to read 95% of the flashed words and 5% of the untimed words, resulting in a 100% total

score. Because the timed scores of the Pre-Primer 1, Pre-Primer 2/3, Primer, and First word lists

were all above 90%, these are all independent. For the Second grade word list, Moana read 70%

of the timed words and 15% of the untimed words, resulting in a total score of 85%. A timed

score of 70% is considered instructional. For the Third grade word list, she read 50% of the

timed words and 5% of the untimed words, resulting in a total score of 55%. The 50% timed

score is considered frustration. For the Fourth grade word list, she read 35% of the timed words

correctly and 25% of the untimed words correctly, resulting in a total score of 60%. This is

considered frustration level. Because the timed words corrected dropped below 50% for fourth

grade, test was stopped.

When a student is independent (90-100% timed correct) at a word list, this predicts that they

will be independent at this reading level. Due to the automaticity displayed at these word levels,

it suggests that a student will probably be able to read a passage at this level fluently without

needing to decode many words. For Moana, the highest independent word list score was First

(95% timed), which predicted that she will be independent when reading a first grade passage.
When a student is instructional (70-85% timed correct) on a word list, it predicts that they

will be independent at that reading level. For Moana, the instructional level was Second (70%
7
LITERACY PROFILE

timed). This suggests that she will be instructional at this level. This suggests that she will be

able to read at least 70% of the words in a second grade passage automatically. Because she was

able to get more words when untimed, this predicts that she will be able to decode more of the

unknown words when given time. The combination of the words automatically recognized and

able to be decoded at this level suggest that she will be able to read enough words in a second

grade passage to be considered instructional.

When a student is at frustration level in a word list (below 70% timed), this predicts that they

will be at frustration level when reading a passage at this level. Because they cannot

automatically recognize enough words, too much energy will be spent decoding the text, making

the text too hard. Moana’s Third grade WRI results (50% timed) predicted that a third grade

passage will be at frustration level.

Word Recognition in Context (WRC).
WRC testing began at the highest independent WRI level, which was First. When given this

narrative passage, she read 98% of the words correctly (see Appendix E). This makes this an

independent passage. Her words per minute was 101, which is very good for this level. Her

comprehension was 67%, which indicates only instructional level comprehension. For prosody

was a 4.
Next, the second grade narrative passage was administered (see Appendix F). Accuracy

was 96%, which is instructional. Reading rate was 88 words per minute, which is in the correct

range. Her comprehension was 62%, which indicates frustration level comprehension. Her

prosody was a 3; there was no expression and word groupings were awkward.
When the third grade level narrative passage was administered, she read 92% of the words

correctly, which is just instructional (see Appendix G). Her reading rate dropped at 70 words per

minute, which is instructional. Her comprehension score was 38% from memory and 44% with

look-backs, which is frustration level. Her scores for this passage were borderline for being

considered instructional. While there is a drop in comprehension, words per minute, and fluency,
8
LITERACY PROFILE

this level is still considered instruction. However, when reading at this level, she will need

additional teacher support and work on words and vocabulary prior to reading.
For the fourth grade passage, there was a large decline (see Appendix H). Her accuracy

dropped to 85%. This is frustration level. Her words per minute dropped to 33, which is too low.

Her comprehension was 38% from memory and 50% with look backs, which is frustration level.

Her prosody ranking was 2.

This comes to first grade being independent, second and third grade being instructional, and

fourth grade being frustration level. Third grade will be included as frustration with the

understanding that additional supports are needed for the student to be successful at this level.

Because extra support cannot be administered during assessments, the silent and expository

passages were given at the second grade level because this will provide the most useful

information.
The second grade silent passage had a reading rate of 103 words per minute, which is

acceptable (see Appendix F). Her comprehension is 88%, which is her highest comprehension

score and is considered instructional. For the second grade expository passage, her accuracy was

93%, which is instructional (see Appendix F). Her words per minute was 85, which is in the

target range. Her comprehension was 38%, which is frustration level.

Qualitative Spelling Assessment
Words Their Way Primary Spelling Inventory was used to assess spelling. This

assessment gives information on the following components:

 Know word features (spelling inventory)

 Features that are used but confused (spelling inventory)
 Unknown features (spelling inventory)
 Developmental stage (spelling inventory)

Based on the Primary Spelling Inventory, Moana is in the Early Within Word Pattern stage

(see Table 1). She is strong with consonants, short vowels, digraphs, and blends. She is weaker

with and beginning to explore long vowels with the overuse of VCe pattern. Some other vowel
9
LITERACY PROFILE

patterns, such as ‘or’ and ‘or’ are beginning to be used. Some examples of her using but

confusing these vowel pattern are features are ROBE/rob, FRITE/fright, and COCHE/coach (see

Appendix I).
Instruction will begin with short ‘a’ vs. ‘a-e’ vs. ‘ai.’ This was chosen as the instructional

starting point because Moana is still overusing long vowels for short vowels, so studying the

short vs. long vowel will reinforce this. Studying the VCe pattern and another vowel

combination to make the same sound will introduce her to ways other than VCe, which is all she

used on the spelling inventory, to make long vowel sounds.

Table 1.
Known Using but Confusing Absent
 Initial and final  Common Long  Inflected endings
 Syllable juncture
consonants Vowels (overusing
 Short vowels (doubling)
 Digraphs and Blends VCe pattern; not

using other patterns)

 Other Vowels

A modest pace for word study instruction. Moana is slightly behind where she should be. Her

scores suggest that she is in the middle transitional reading stage. The spelling stage typically

seen with this is middle within word (Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton, & Johnston, 2016, p. 45). She

is slightly behind because she is still in early within word. Because she is only slightly behind, a

modest pacing is appropriate. She does not have enough knowledge to move through at an

advanced pacing, but she knows enough that an introductory pace would be too slow.
Her word knowledge skills are likely impacting her reading ability. She is unaware of many

vowel patterns and is unsure how to sound out many words with long vowel patterns that are not

VCe and other vowel patterns. This will cause a problem with her fluency when she struggles to

read these words and impact comprehension when she is unable to figure them out. In her
10
LITERACY PROFILE

writing, she tends to try to use words she knows how to spell or else she worries about the

spelling, so word knowledge is prohibiting her from writing what she would like to.
Written Language
The writing sample was evaluated using a 6 traits rubric (see Appendix J). The sample

and rubric provide information about the following aspects:

 Ideas (writing sample and six traits rubric)

 Organization (writing sample and six traits rubric)
 Voice (writing sample and six traits rubric)
 Word choice (writing sample and six traits rubric)
 Fluency (writing sample and six traits rubric)
 Conventions (writing sample and six traits rubric)

The topic Moana chose to write about was whether homework should be given to students or

not. She chose to write about why students should not have homework. She began by making a

web before moving on to her draft (see Appendix J).

One of Moana’s strengths when writing is voice. She was very passionate about not having

homework, which was our topic, and it showed in her writing. She used repetition of her key

phrase and gave examples of how homework impacted her life. Her statement of ‘I do not work

on it’ shows her feelings clearly. Another strength is her fluency. While she still needs to work on

this skill, she does well with changing sentences so they are not repetitive. When working on her

writing, I will use her use of voice to help her work on other aspects of writing.
One of Moana’s weaknesses is organization. She did not have developed beginnings and

endings of her writing, which detracted from her point. She attempts to have a beginning with ‘I

do not like it,’ but readers who did not already know her topic would not know what she was

talking about. These leads to ideas, which is another area where Moana struggled. She lacks

details to support her argument, and her argument is unclear because she never directly addresses

her stance on the topic. Because of this, the focus when planning instruction will be on

organizing writing and creating clear ideas. This will include looking at how prewriting can be

used to support drafts and making sure all ideas come together to create an argument.
11
LITERACY PROFILE

Summary of Data Analysis and Reading Levels

One of Moana’s greatest strengths is her decoding abilities. This is what allows her to

read texts that she cannot understand. Her has the orthographic knowledge of consonants, blends,

digraphs, short vowels, and some other vowels that help her figure out unknown words. When

faced with an unfamiliar word, she is aware of strategies to use to help her, such as tapping the

sounds, chunking, and analogy. She can read passages with many words she cannot

automatically recognize because of this ability. Her decoding abilities are a great asset when she

is reading and trying to sound out words when writing. Moana’s greatest weakness is her

comprehension. Part of this stems from a disconnect between the comprehension and decoding.

She is able to decode words or come close to correctly pronouncing words, but she is unaware of

the meaning. Another factor that is probably influencing comprehension is a lack of motivation

and focus. When reading, Moana is frequently distracted by other things that are going on

around her. This causes her to frequently lose her place and she starts back reading the passage at

other places. She also seems to forget what she is reading or writing about very quickly and has

trouble discussing what has been read, which likely stems from a lack of comprehension. Due to

these factors, the most essential thing lessons will address is comprehensions. If Moana can learn

strategies to help her comprehension match her reading level, she will be much more prepared

for third grade when students are expected to synthesize from readings. This focus will be on

building comprehension strategies. Weaknesses in organizing writing will be tied in to this to

help improve her comprehension of what has been read through thoughtful writing.
Based on the data from the assessments, Moana’s instructional range is second to third

grade. Moana’s WRI results indicated that she would most likely be independent at first,

instructional at a second grade level, and at a frustration level for third. For first grade, her
12
LITERACY PROFILE

reading rate was high and her words read correctly was 98%, making this independent. For

second grade, the WRI prediction proved to be true as well. She read 96% of the words in a

second grade passage accurately, making this a instructional level. However, her comprehension

was only 62%, making this a frustration level for comprehension. Though her comprehension is

low, second grade is still considered her instructional level because this is where she is able to

automatically recognize enough words but still struggle with some while having a good reading

rate. Comprehension will be a main focus during instruction so the passages are not too difficult

for her to understand. When reading a third grade passage, Moana’s results deviated from the

WRI prediction of a frustration level. She was able to read 92% of the words correctly, which

makes this an instructional level passage. Her comprehension was 38%, which improved to 44%

with look-backs; this is considered a frustration level for comprehension. Consideration was

given to labeling third grade passages as frustration level because her accuracy was borderline

instructional/frustration, her comprehension dropped by over 20%, her words per minute

dropped by almost 20 words, and her prosody was lower. However, the decision was made to

include third grade as instructional level because it is possible for Moana to be successful at this

level when given the proper supports, such as pre-taught vocabulary and teacher assistance.

When looking at the fourth grade passage data, the decline into frustration is marked by a words

per minute of 33 and 85% of words read correctly. This is clearly where frustration is reached.
It is suspected that the discrepancy between percentage of words read correctly and the

comprehension leads to struggles in the classroom. Moana does not receive any reading services

because her reading level, which is calculated by words read correctly, is on or above level.

However, this does not take her comprehension struggles into consideration. Moana’s

comprehension is below her reading level, with independent level texts having instructional

comprehension and instructional level texts having frustration level comprehension. This leads to
13
LITERACY PROFILE

her reading texts that she appears to be able to read based on what she says, but she is unable to

understand. This likely contributes toward her dislike of reading in school. When completing

reading tasks in the classroom, she likely struggles to gain meaning from anything she has read

enough to write about it or answer teacher questions. Her trouble with focus and lack of

motivation combined with comprehension problems cause trouble with her attentiveness during

reading lessons, such as her staring at the walls and staying off task, resulting in a greater loss of

comprehension.
Instructional Goals
Word Knowledge
Moana in Early Within Word Pattern stage. She can accurately use short vowels, blends, and

digraphs. She is using but confusing long vowel patterns and other vowel patterns. When

writing, she tends to only use VCe patterns to represent long vowels. Because of the time

constraints on tutoring sessions, the focus will be on only common long vowel patterns, which

will support her reading and writing. This goal of learning different ways to represent long

vowels will be reached through long vowel word sort and activities using the patterns from the

sort.
Fluency
Words per minute is not an area of instructional concern for Moana. Her reading rate was

on target or even above the expected rate for her reading level, as she often rushes through text

without paying attention to what she is reading or giving any expression. Instead, an instructional

goal will be to read with more expression and appropriate words groupings, which she struggles

with. The main accuracy focus for Moana will be to notice when she is skipping words and lines.

When reading for prosody, she will work on tracking and self-correcting when she does make an

error. While self-corrections, accurate tracking, and adding expression may slow her reading rate,

this will help improve her reading overall because she will be able to read more fluently and with

meaning. This goal will be met through repeated readings, modeling, and choral readings.
14
LITERACY PROFILE

Vocabulary
Vocabulary instruction will be a part of the word study and comprehension instruction.

Through word study, we will look at multiple meaning words and homophones to help her

understand how words in texts she read may have different meanings that the one she is most

familiar with. When working with comprehension, we will discuss words prior to reading to

activate her prior knowledge and help her build connections that will help make the word

meaningful. One of the main goals for vocabulary will be to use context clues to help figure out

what new words mean.

Comprehension
Comprehension will be the main focus of the tutoring sessions. During comprehension

work, she will work toward the following essential question: How can my school help the

environment? When considering how Moana did during the comprehension part of the QRI

assessments, there needs to be attention to implicit and explicit comprehension, as she only

answered 45% of the implicit and 62% of the explicit questions correctly. Instructional will be

more heavily focused on explicit comprehension because she needs to be able to understand from

the text itself before she can infer deeper meaning, though some implicit instruction will be

included. The main comprehension strategy used will be summarizing. This will help support

learning by helping her draw details from the text and combine them to gain meaning for smaller

sections of the text which can build to help her form a summary of what she has read overall.
Several techniques will be used to help Moana gain meaning from the texts. A before

reading strategy that will be implemented is previewing the text; another strategy will be

predicting what knowledge will be gained from the text and how it will relate to the essential

question. During reading, QAR will be used to help Moana understand different types of

questions and what she needs to do to find the answers. Directed reading-thinking activities will

also be used during reading. After reading, graphic organizers will be used to help her understand
15
LITERACY PROFILE

the importance of details and main ideas that she has summarized from the text. Writing will also

be used so she can apply her new knowledge.

Writing
Moana’s goal for writing is to improve organization and ideas. Much of this work will be

done through planning out writing. This will be done through organizers, modeling, and

discussion. A focus will be on having a beginning and ending to her writing. Planning will also

help her focus all of her ideas on supporting her main thought. Revision will also be taught to

help her improve her organization.

Evidence of Research Base: Individualized Instructional Goals (Lesson Planning)
Word Knowledge
The word knowledge goal is to learn common long vowel patterns. This is a shift in

thinking because it requires students to “choose from a variety of patterns that represent the same

phoneme” (Bear et al., 2016, p. 205). Gaining deeper understandings about orthography is

important to literacy development over all because it will help in decoding and writing more

complex words In order to accurately and quickly recognize and write words, students depend on

“their understanding of phonics and spelling patterns, word parts, and meanings” (Bear et al.,

2016, p. 5).
Fluency
The fluency goal is to read with expression and appropriate phrasing. This is a crucial

component of literacy instruction because there is a “strong connection between development of

expressive reading and reading comprehension” (Reutzel & Cooter, 2015, p. 178). Building

fluency has been tied to increased comprehension. In order for comprehension to happen, the text

needs to be read with appropriate fluency. The modeling that will be used in instruction has been

shown to improve fluent reading (Reutzel & Cooter, 2015, p. 186).

Vocabulary
The vocabulary goal is to use content clues to help support word meaning. Vocabulary

instruction is important to literacy as a whole because “vocabulary knowledge accounts for over

80 percent of the variance in students’ reading comprehension test scores” (Reutzel & Cooter,
16
LITERACY PROFILE

2015, p. 208). Students need expansive vocabularies to understand the texts they are reading,

especially when reading informational texts. The goal is to look at directive context to help

determine word meanings.

Comprehension
The main comprehension goal is to use the text to answer explicit comprehension

questions. Comprehension is an essential aspect of literacy instruction. As Ruetzel states,

“understanding the author’s message is what it’s all about” (2015, p. 242). Moana is a

transitional reader; her instruction is now focused on reading to learn instead of learning to read.

Being able to understand what has been read is a critical aspect of reading instruction. Being able

to understand the text and find what is explicitly said is important in to then be able to apply that

information. The main strategy that will be taught, summarization, is “a method for both

improving and checking comprehension” and is “the most effective comprehension strategy of

all” (Gunning, 2018, p. 339).

Writing
The main writing goal is to use organization in writing. Organization is essential to

creating a cohesive piece of writing; it is the “design and structure of a piece of writing” that

captures readers’ attention and ties ideas together to create a connected piece (Spandel, 2012, p.

6). Improving writing is important in overall literacy because it will also improve reading.

“[W]riting and reading are reciprocal processes and “share a number of traits or underlying

processes” (Reutzel & Cooter, 2015, p. 308). Working on improving writing skills will help

improve the reading ability. “Organizational structures do have commonalities,” so what is

learned about organizing writing can be used when looking at organization in reading (Spandel,

2012, p. 127).
Long-Range Instructional Plan
A long-range plan was constructed based on the assessment data and instructional goals

(see Appendix K). Tutoring will consist of 6 tutoring lessons. Lessons will be broken into 15
17
LITERACY PROFILE

minutes of fluency work, 15 minutes of word work, 30 minutes of comprehension work, and 15

minutes of writing. The long-range plan shows the skills that are expected to be developed and

practiced during the lessons, as well as what resources are expected to be used. The instructional

focus is on comprehension. The comprehension and writing sections will be used to answer the

essential question of how Moana’s school can help the environment. The essential question was

chosen in the first lesson. The following lessons will look at the topics of global warming,

energy, water, recycling, and gardening and how these topics are important to preserving the

environment.

References

Bear, D., Invernizzi, M., Templeton, S., & Johnston, F. (2016). Words their way: Word
study for phonics, spelling and vocabulary instruction (6th Ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Gunning, T. G. (2018). Assessing and correcting reading and writing difficulties (6th ed.). New
York, NY: Pearson.
Reutzel, D. R, & Cooter, R. B. (2015). Teaching children to read: The teacher makes the
difference (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Spandel, V. (2012). Creating young writers: Using the six traits to enrich writing process in
primary classrooms (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
18
LITERACY PROFILE

Appendix A

Literacy Environment Observation Instrument

(with the instructional stage learner in mind)

Observer: Alison Roberts Date of observation: 2/8/18

Teacher: Mrs. Frizzle Level/Class: 2nd grade Number of Students: 19

ELA Time Block: From 9:45 To 11:45 Total Minutes: 120

Brief description of ELA components observed in the time frame noted above (e.g., teacher read

aloud, small group instruction, independent reading time, etc.).

 Fundations (explicit phonics instruction): 9:45-10:30

 Reading: 10:30-11:45

o Guided reading groups

o When not in groups, options are:

 Read to self

 Read to someone
19
LITERACY PROFILE
 Word work (task cards involving the Fundations words, such as rainbow
writing and hiding words in pictures)
Elements of the Literacy Notes (presence, absence,
Environment evidence of use, quality,
quantity, etc.)
Classroom Spaces:  Large carpets-used
 Room for learners during reading
 Configurations for  Pillows-used during
whole class, small reading
group, and  Rugs-used during
independent work reading
 Comfort  Desks-used by students
during Fundations,
word work, and read to
self
 Kidney table with
stools-used by guided
reading groups
Student Work Honored  Students received
positive feedback
whether or not their
answer was right
 Helped students find
the right answer if they
got it wrong
Reading Materials:  Bookshelves with a
 Variety variety of books
 Accessibility  Leveled books placed
in students’ personal
book boxes to target
their reading levels
Writing Materials:  Wrote dictated
 Variety sentences during
 Accessibility Fundations
 Wrote words from
Fundations for word
work
 No writing instruction
observed
Classroom Climate:  There was a balance of
Note any evidence or
observations of your tutee’s
engagement, connection,
response, etc. to the elements
of the literacy environment.
 Had trouble sitting in
her chair at desk
 Kept moving her stool
around or balancing on
it during guided reading
 Sat on carpet with a
friend to read to during
reading
 Did not engage when
other students
responded
 Reacts positively when
given feedback
 Had trouble picking a
book from book box
 Changed mind about
which book to read
often part way through
the book
 Did not do word work
 Wrote sentences for
Fundations but forgot
capitalization and
punctuation
 Had trouble keeping
20
LITERACY PROFILE
 Balance of quiet quiet and talk during
and talk Fundations
 Engaged &  Quiet buzz during
respectful reading time from read
interactions to someone/guided
 Transitions are reading groups but
smooth working noise
 Smooth, quick
transitions
 Students are expected
to and do listen to and
respect what other
people say
Instruction:  Instructions are clear
 Expectations are and students know
clear expectations
 Higher-level  Students are reminded
thinking is of expectations when
promoted needed
 Formative  Students are expected
assessment is used to draw conclusions
from the text
 Students are monitored
as they read for guided
reading
 Students are monitored
and checked during
Fundations
ELA Components:  No read aloud
 Read aloud  No writing instruction
 Word awareness (other than dictated
(explicit or sentences)
imbedded word  Guided reading groups
study) based on level, changed
 Guided Reading as needed
 Independent  Fundations is word
Reading study
 Writing  Independent reading
time
Student Choice  Choose between read to
self, read to someone,
word work
 Choose books from
talk to the book during
read to someone
 Very social and friendly
 Did not pay attention to
other student responses
during guided reading
and had to be prompted
for her turn
 Struggled with
questions involving the
text
 Needed help when
asked to look back in
the book
 Most engaged during
Fundations when
activities are brief
before being given
further directions
 Focused during reading
part of guided reading,
but stared at the wall
during discussion
 Changed books
frequently and started
talking during reading
time
 She liked picking her
own book but wanted to
change books
frequently
21
LITERACY PROFILE

library or book box

 Choose where to sit in
the room (desk, carpet,
rugs, pillows) during
reading
Technology:  SMARTboard used for  Took an AR test, but
 Availability Fundations could not get the right
 Effective use  A few desktop test without teacher
computers and help
Chromebooks are
available
 Students are allowed to
take AR tests on
desktops after they
finish a book
Use of Time:  Transitions minimal  She was usually the last
 Teacher talk vs and quick to finish a transition
student talk  Call and response for and get to work
 Engaged in Fundations  Good participation
learning vs  Good balance of during Fundations
transition teacher and student talk  Last time spend on
 Minutes actually during guided reading print that most
consuming or  Most of the reading classmates (staring at
producing print part is spent reading wall, talking, fidgeting)

Reflection Prompts

Reference evidence from above to support your conclusions.

Was there anything you expected to see but did not?

I expected to see more writing instruction in the classroom. I know there is some writing taught

when time permits on other days, but I was surprised it was not a daily choice like word

work/read to self/read to someone.

Was there anything remarkable or unique?

The transitions were remarkable. For the most part, the teacher just had to call the group and the

students would stop what they were doing and go do what they needed to without hesitation.
22
LITERACY PROFILE

Very little time was spent on transitions and students clearly knew what to do and what was

expected.

Does the environment communicate a value and appreciation for literacy?

I think the students did value and appreciate literacy. Most of the students were very serious

about picking books and giving thoughtful answers during Fundations and guided reading

groups.

Debrief

The classroom teacher has noticed the same lack of engagement that I saw today. The teacher has

noticed that Moana struggles with transitioning to new activities. She is never defiant or

disrespectful when it is literacy time, but she also does not engage like the other students do. She

is very social and tries to do anything she can to avoid reading. Mostly, her disengagement

results in staring at the wall or objects, needing multiple prompts to regain attention, and talking

to friends during literacy time. She is easily distracted by new stimuli and has trouble getting

back to the task she was previously working on. When she does return to the task, she has trouble

remembering what she is supposed to be doing.

23
LITERACY PROFILE

Appendix B

CASE SUMMARY SHEET

Student Name: Moana Age: 8 Grade: 2

Date: 1/31/18
Tutor: Alison Roberts
Passage Reading Reading Rate
Word Lists (WRI) Comprehension
(WRC) (FLUENCY)
% questions
WRC answered correctly
Difficulty Timed Untimed ORA SILE
(% read LIS
Level Timed Total L NT
correctly ORA SILE TE
 %age %age WPM WPM
) L NT NI
NG
Preprime
100 100 Preprimer            
r1
Preprime Preprimer
100 100            
r 2/3 2/3
Primer 100 100 Primer                        
101(N
1st 95 100 1st 98       67(N)
)
96(N) 88(N) 103(N 62(N)    
2nd 70 85 2nd 88(N)
93(E) 85(E) ) 38(E)   
38(44
w/    
3rd 50 55 3rd 92 70(N)            
LB)   
(N)
38(50
w/    
4th 35 60 4th 85 33(N)            
LB)   
(N)
   
5th             5th                              
  
   
6th             6th                              
  
UM             UM                                  
24
LITERACY PROFILE

  
   
HS             HS                              
  

Comments
Spelling Writing Affective Measures
WTW Strengths Weaknesses Affect for Reading:  Moana is a
Inventory:  Her voice is  Her writing Raw %ile very active
Primary evident in does not Academic 29 51 child. She has
Spelling her writing. have a clear Recreation 26 25 trouble sitting
Inventory  She sounds beginning or Total 55 38 still and
Score: 43/ out words as ending. working on one
56 Feature she writes.  Word choice The results for affective task for more
Points =  She is not reading are interesting than a few
77% referenced deliberate. because she expresses a minutes.
11/ 26 her pre-  She does strong dislike for any type  She is
Words writing web not have a of reading in school and confident is her
Correct = when she lot of an extremely positive reading
42% was unsure stamina attitude for reading at abilities and
Stage what to when home during our considers
Placement write. writing. conversations. herself a strong
: Early  She did  She did not reader. She has
Within some self- go back to strategies she
Word correction edit, revise, uses when she
Pattern as she or without does not know
(still using wrote. prompting. a word, such as
but  She knows sounding it out
confusing what the and tapping it.
common conventions She thinks that
long vowel are even good readers
patterns, though she have to read a
-ck forgot some. lot.
endings,  She is very
overuses interested in
VC-e Disney and
patterns books about
but animals.
correctly  She likes to
uses read by herself
digraphs, at home and
blends, and says she goes to
short the library
vowels) almost every
Examples day with her
of mother.
Confusion
25
LITERACY PROFILE

s:  She does not

Common like reading in
Long school because
Vowels: the words are
 RO hard and it’s
BE/ not fun.
rob
 WA
TE/
wai
t
 DR
EM
/dre
am
 CO
CH
E/c
oac
h
INDEPENDENT LEVEL 1st INSTRUCTIONAL LEVEL 2nd-3rd
FRUSTRATIONAL LEVEL 4th

Other Assessments and/or Anecdotal Notes:

Moana is instructional at 2nd and 3rd grade levels. However, she needs additional
supports, such as teacher guidance and pre-taught vocabulary, to be successful with 3rd
26
LITERACY PROFILE

grade level texts. She struggles with comprehension. When her reading level is
independent, her comprehension is instructional. When her reading level is
instructional, her comprehension is frustration level (with the exception of the silent
narrative passage).
27
LITERACY PROFILE

Instructional Goals:
Comprehension &
Word Knowledge Fluency Writing
Vocabulary
Goals: Goals: Goals: Goals:
 Learn more  Pause at  Find answers to  Think about
common long periods and explicit what words
vowel patterns read words in comprehension would best
(a-e, ai, o-e, oa, more questions in the support the
u-e, oo, etc.) meaningful text meaning she is
groups  Practice trying to
Recommended  Track reading understanding convey.
supporting activities: with finger or implicit  Plan out
 Word hunts pointer when at messages in beginnings and
 Word sorts, speed higher levels to books ending
sorts, blind sorts, keep from
writing sorts skipping lines Recommended Recommended
 Letter tiles supporting activities: supporting activities:
Recommended  QAR  Look at mentor
supporting activities:  DR-TA’s texts that are
 Reader’s Theatre  Graphic quality word
 Separating organizers (story choice examples
sentences into maps) and try to write
meaning chunks  Think aloud and her own
 Poetry for models for  Shades of meaning
expression and comprehension (WTW p. 226)
phrasing strategies  Look at previous
 Repeated reading (summarizing, pieces of writing
 Choral reading inferring, to add clear
monitoring) beginnings and
endings
 Written responses
to reading
 Graphic
organizers
28
LITERACY PROFILE

Appendix C

Student Interview and Affective Measure

29
LITERACY PROFILE
30
LITERACY PROFILE
31
LITERACY PROFILE
32
LITERACY PROFILE

Appendix D

Word Recognition in Isolation (WRI) Scoring Sheets

33
LITERACY PROFILE
34
LITERACY PROFILE
35
LITERACY PROFILE
36
LITERACY PROFILE
37
LITERACY PROFILE

Appendix F

Word Recognition in Context (WRC) Scoring Sheets: Level Two (Oral, silent, and expository)
38
LITERACY PROFILE
39
LITERACY PROFILE
40
LITERACY PROFILE
41
LITERACY PROFILE
42
LITERACY PROFILE
43
LITERACY PROFILE

Appendix G

Word Recognition in Context (WRC) Scoring Sheet: Level Three

44
LITERACY PROFILE
45
LITERACY PROFILE
46
LITERACY PROFILE
47
LITERACY PROFILE

Appendix I

Primary Spelling Inventory Feature Guide and Spelling Sample

48
LITERACY PROFILE
49
LITERACY PROFILE
50
LITERACY PROFILE

Appendix J

Writing Sample and Rubric

51
LITERACY PROFILE

Student: Moana
Date: 1/31/18
Scorer: Roberts

Please give a score of

Writing Trait Score Evidence
Ideas 3 The topic she chose to write about is that she does not
The content of the think students should have homework. She never
piece, the main theme, directly addresses this other than the title “no
together with the
details that enrich and
homework.” Her details of not liking it and it taking up
develop that theme. time support this. Her last sentence of “I do not work
on it” does not seem in line with the rest of her writing.

Organization 3 The beginning and ending are not developed, though

The internal structure
of a piece of writing,
the thread of central
meaning, the pattern of
the ideas.
she seems to have attempted one. Her opening is “I do
not like it,” which readers would not understand if it
was not for the title. You can follow her thought
process, but the thoughts do not support each other to
make a stronger piece. Her last sentence, “I do not
work on it,” is different than her other sentences and
sounds final, but it does not follow along with her
thoughts of not liking homework.

Voice 5 Her voice is evident in the piece. It is appropriate for

The feeling and the topic of trying to convince teachers that they should
conviction of the not give homework. Her repetition of “we can not play”
individual writer
coming out through
shows her passion about not having homework.
the words.
52
LITERACY PROFILE

Word Choice 3 There is nothing wrong with the word choice, but the
Word choice is the use word selection does not seem deliberate. Her words are
of rich, colorful, common, such as ‘like’ and ‘good’ to describe her
precise language that
moves and enlightens
feelings. Her word choice does not energize the writing
the reader. and is not vivid.

Fluency 4 She has some control over sentence structure. She does
Sentence fluency is the not use the same structure over and over again. Her
rhythm and flow of the writing does not have a good flow, but it is not choppy
language, the sound of
work patterns.
either.

Conventions 3 She forgot to use capital letter at the beginnings of

The mechanical
correctness - spelling,
grammar and usage,
paragraphing, use of
capitals, and
punctuation.
sentences three times, but was able to correct herself
during the writing process twice. She remembered
periods at the end of every sentence. She wrote ‘it’
instead of ‘is’ and read the word as ‘is’ after writing.
She wrote ‘take’ instead of ‘taking;’ when she read it
back, she changed it to ‘takeing.’
53
LITERACY PROFILE

Appendix K

Long-Range Plan

Long Range Instructional Planning Guide

Tutor’s Name: Alison Roberts

Student(s) Name(s):Moana
Age: 8
Grade: 2nd

Instructional Reader Stage: (circle one) Transitional Intermediate Advanced

Independent reading level: 1st

Instructional reading level(s): 2nd and 3rd
If a range, optimal instructional reading level for intervention: 2nd
Frustrational reading level: 4th

Notes on reading: She often skips lines and words. She has trouble with comprehension in
passages. She does not know strategies for looking back when reading. She does not have a lot of
stamina. She does not read with any intonation; her pauses are when she runs out of breath.

Word Study Stage: Early Within Word Begin instruction with which features: Common
Long Vowels (Long A Patterns)

Focus instruction on (select 1 main area): (circle one) Fluency Word Knowledge
Comprehension

What Essential Question will guide our lesson sequence?

 What can my school do to help the environment?

What primary comprehension strategy will we work with to develop independence?

We will do a lot of work with summarizing. Summarizing will help her understand how to find
important information from the text and synthesize it.

What writing genre and/or focus will we include in our studies?

Persuasive writing and planning writing.

Instructional Goals from the Case Summary Sheet(s)

54
LITERACY PROFILE

Fluency Word Knowledge Comprehension Writing

 Pause at  Learn more  Find answers to  Think about
periods and common explicit what words
read words in long vowel comprehension would best
more patterns (a- questions in the support the
meaningful e, ai, o-e, text meaning she
groups oa, u-e, oo,  Practice is trying to
 Track reading etc.) understanding convey.
with finger or implicit  Plan out
pointer when messages in beginnings
at higher books and ending
levels to keep
from skipping
lines

Lesson Reading for Word Comprehension Writing

Fluency Knowledge ___30__ minutes __15___
__15___ minutes __15___ minutes minutes
1 Text title: There General feature: Introduce & Task:
Was An Old Lady Short/long a Explore Social Write in
Who Swallowed a patterns Justice Topics – response to
Fly Sort categories: Select one to article why they
Text source: NIH Short a, a-e, ai pursue think it is
Text level: 400- Read an article on important.
500L Activity: the selected topic-
OR -Introduce the DRTA Skill focus:
Text title: The concept of word Plan out writing
Boy in the Box sorting (she has before draft.
Text source: RAZ never done sorts
Text level: M before)
-Guided practice
Skill focus: -Speed sort
Reading with -Blind writing
expression, sort check
pausing in
appropriate places

Activity: Model
reading, choral
reading,
independent
reading

2 Text title: Our General feature: Text title: Big Task: Write to
School Play Long a patterns Questions: How persuade that
55
LITERACY PROFILE

Text source: Sort categories: Can Kids Help the kids can help
Reading AZ a-e, ay, ai Planet the environment
Text level: L Text source:
Activity: Newsela
Skill focus: -Guided practice Text level: 460L Skill focus:
Appropriate word -Writing sort Organizing
groupings and -Blind sort check Content focus: thoughts during
expression Global prewriting
Warming/Why
Activity: Should We Work to
Repeated reading Help the
Environment

Skill focus: Main

idea/summarizing

3 Text title: The General feature: Text title: Where Task: Write to
Great Snifferoo Long e We Get Energy persuade to try
Text source: Sort categories: Text source: different energy
Reading AZ e, ea, ee Reading AZ sources
Text level: L Text level: K
Activity:
Skill focus: -Guided practice Content focus: Skill focus:
Appropriate word -Word hunt Conserving energy Organizing
groupings and not -Blind sort check thoughts during
skipping words Skill focus: Main drafting and
idea/summarizing revise
Activity:
Repeated reading
and tracking along

4 Text title: A poem General feature: Text title: Earth’s Task: Write to
student selected Long e Water convince
from I’m All Sort categories: Text source: someone why
Right ee, e, ea Reading Az we need to
Text source: Text level: K conserve/take
Reading AZ Activity: care of water
Text level: L -Guided practice Content focus:
-Word Study Uno Importance of
Skill focus: -Blind sort check water Skill focus:
Expression and Organize
tracking Skill focus: Main writing, word
idea, inferencing choice
Activity: Track
with finger first
time and without
56
LITERACY PROFILE

for repeated
readings

5 Text title: A poem General feature: Text title: Pizza Task: Write to
student selected Short/Long i and Plastic: What persuade
from I’m All Sort categories: Can Be Recycled someone how
Right i-e, y, i Text source: they can help by
Text source: Newsela recycling
Reading AZ Activity: Text level: 400L
Text level: L -Guided practice
-Speed sort Content focus: Skill focus:
Skill focus: -Blind sort check Recycling Organize
Grouping and writing, word
expression Skill focus: choice
Inferencing,
Activity: Choral finding answers in
reading and text
independent
reading

6 Text title: Candy General feature: Text title: Task: Write to

Text source: Short/Long o Landon’s someone at the
(note Reading AZ Sort categories: Pumpkins school (teacher,
progress Text level: L o, o-e, oa Text source: principal,
monitoring Reading AZ school board,
to include Skill focus: Activity: Text level: P etc.) about how
here) Tracking, -Guided practice the school can
expression, -Writing sort Content focus: make changes
groupings -Blind sort check Recycling, to help the
composting, environment
Activity: gardening
Repeated reading
Skill focus: Skill focus:
Finding answers in Word choice,
text, inferencing organization,
revision
7 Fluency rating on Spelling WRI Writing
(wrap-up) WRC inventory WRC
SOL ELA skill SOLs: ELA skill SOLs: ELA skill SOLs: ELA skill
Connection 2.1 The student 2.5 The student 2.9 The student SOLs:
s will demonstrate will use phonetic will read and
an understanding strategies when demonstrate 2.12 The
of oral language reading and comprehension of student will
structure. b) spelling. a) Use nonfiction texts. a) write stories,
Create and knowledge of Preview the letters, and
participate in oral consonants, selection using text simple
57
LITERACY PROFILE

dramatic consonant blends, features. b) Make explanations. a)

activities. and consonant and confirm Generate ideas
digraphs to predictions about before writing.
2.8 The student decode and spell the main idea. c) b) Organize
will read and words. Use prior and writing to
demonstrate b) Use knowledge background include a
comprehension of of short, long, and knowledge as beginning,
fictional texts. r-controlled context for new middle, and end
j) Read and reread vowel patterns to learning. d) Set for narrative
familiar stories, decode and spell purpose for and expository
poems, and words. reading. e) Ask and writing. c)
passages with answer questions Expand writing
fluency, accuracy, about what is read. to include
and meaningful f) Locate descriptive
expression. information to detail. d) Revise
answer questions. writing for
g) Identify the clarity.
main idea. h) Read
and reread familiar
passages with
fluency, accuracy,
and meaningful
expression.

Content SOLs:
2.5 The student
will investigate and
understand that
living things are
part of a system.
Key concepts
include a) living
organisms are
interdependent
with their living
and nonliving
surroundings; b) an
animal’s habitat
includes adequate
food, water, shelter
or cover, and
space; c) habitats
change over time
due to many
influences;
58
LITERACY PROFILE